The Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s approach to choosing directors has always been to pluck filmmakers who you wouldn’t expect to be handed the reins of mega budget comic book blockbusters, and then allowing them to imprint a certain level of their own style onto the proceedings while still sticking to the established formula, which typically leads to much bigger and better things for their careers.
Jon Favreau is one of the most powerful names in Hollywood and Disney’s current golden boy, but his last movie before Iron Man was box office bomb Zathura. The Russo brothers, meanwhile, hadn’t directed a film in eight years before boarding the MCU, Taika Waititi was known for his offbeat low budget indies before tackling Thor: Ragnarok, Jon Watts’ two previous features cost a combined $6 million before he was hired for the $175 million Spider-Man: Homecoming, and the list goes on and on.
The two most established names to helm an MCU installment, at least before Sam Raimi replaced Scott Derrickson on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, were arguably Joe Johnston, who was a veteran journeyman with a career dating back decades before Captain America: The First Avenger and Kenneth Branagh, who had an Academy Award nomination for Best Director under his belt years prior to Thor, although Chloe Zhao could be an Oscar winner by the time Eternals releases in November.
However, we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us War Machine was getting his own Disney Plus show long before Armor Wars was announced – that Kevin Feige is reportedly considering Michael Bay as a future MCU director, which would be a hugely unexpected development.
After all, Bay is a notoriously fiery on-set presence that’s become accustomed to getting his own way, and it would be hard to imagine him bowing down to Feige’s requests. However, should it happen, it would at least guarantee some of the most spectacular action sequences in the MCU‘s illustrious history.
