Though much of the media spotlight on Marvel these days has been focused on next year’s Captain America: Civil War, there are currently far many more moving parts at the company than just that superhero blockbuster. Case in point: Captain Marvel, the studio’s first female-led tentpole.
Meg LeFauve and Nicole Perlman are hard at work hashing out the details of the pivotal pic, which will simultaneously introduce a key Avenger and revolutionize superhero cinema by showing that a strong female character can power a blockbuster without overt sexualization or damsel-ification.
Speaking recently with Wired, Perlman spoke to the pressures of the screenwriting process:
“We’ve been talking a lot about archetypes and what we want this movie to be about and just how to write a strong female superhero without making it Superman with boobs… Meg and I are doing a lot of brainstorming and we’ll catch ourselves and say, ‘Wait a minute, what are we saying [here] about women in power?’ Then we have to say, ‘Why are we getting so hung up on that? We should just tell the best story and build the best character.’ And then we have this constant back-and-forth about how to tell a story that is compelling, entertaining, moving, kick-ass, and fun, and also be aware of what those larger implications might be. It’s a lot more complicated than just writing Guardians of the Galaxy.”
Don’t worry, that’s not a snipe at Guardians – Perlman’s writing was instrumental in getting that James Gunn-directed pic the green light. But it’s terrific to hear that so much back-and-forth is going into making sure Captain Marvel features a strong, interesting and multi-faceted female protagonist instead of just using its protagonist’s gender as a gimmicky hook.
Captain Marvel is still hunting for a director, with news expected on that front by summer’s end. There are rumors that Angelina Jolie was being courted to direct, with Charlize Theron possibly playing the hero, but those are definitely less than reliable.
The pic opens November 2, 2018.
