John Wick co-directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski have plenty of history with Marvel on both an individual and collective basis, so nobody would be surprised if either of them were welcomed back into the fold to take the reins on a project set in Kevin Feige’s cinematic universe.
Of course, Leitch already helmed Deadpool 2, but he also worked as part of the stunt team on Blade, Daredevil, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, while he acted as second unit director on James Mangold’s The Wolverine. As for Stahelski, he put his body through the wringer on Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, Iron Man 2, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, while the pair of them oversaw second unit on Captain America: Civil War.
Suffice to say, they’re well acquainted with the Marvel machine, but Stahelski revealed to ComicBook the one project he’d spoken directly to Feige about ended up being one that was already taken.
“Marvel was very influential in my career. I owe them a great deal. Kevin is an awesome guy and I’ve worked for him many times on second unit. After John Wick 3, he was nice enough to carve out a big chunk of time and have nice talk. He’s been a…in a way…a very strong mentor, even though it was a short period of time. I’ve only talked to him a few times, but he has been very influential in mindset and how to do it. And he actually asked me, ‘What could we ever do?’ I was like, ‘Look, I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t know if I fit that kind of studio mold, but Blade would be the one interesting thing I’d like to do’.
I don’t know if I would’ve been the best choice for that in the direction they wanted to go. If you want to do the edgy rated R version, yeah, give me a call. If you want to be non-apologetic, yeah. That’s me. But I think they’re protecting their brand, they’re doing their thing. The individual they selected, I think is a very good director, and I think will do a great job in the direction that I think they want to take the property.”
An MCU blockbuster being directed by the brains behind John Wick is a tantalizing prospect, and while Stahelski may be fairly unwilling to step outside his uncompromising R-rated wheelhouse, let’s hope the two parties can reach an agreement one day, because the evidence hints the results would be awesome.