When it comes to directing a blockbuster movie that’s part of a beloved franchise, you don’t have to be a fan to get the job, or excel at it for that matter. Eventually the Marvel Cinematic Universe will go the way of Star Wars, where every filmmaker or creative who boards the latest project will have been a lifelong fan of the property, but we haven’t reached that stage quite yet.
That being said, The Marvels‘ Nia DaCosta has been shouting from the rooftops that she’s an avid comic book nut, even getting so carried away during her early meetings with the studio that she was pitching all sorts of wild crossovers featuring Galactus and the X-Men.
In a new interview with Inverse, the Candyman filmmaker explained how she’s been researching The Marvels, diving deep into comic book lore and finding inspiration for the cosmic sequel.
“I like to call myself Marvel trash. Actually, my friends call me that. I will go see all the movies. Even if it’s bad, I’m like, ‘Well, there are some good things about this.’ I grew up with the comics. I grew up watching the Spider-Man cartoon and the Fantastic Four. I knew a lot about the Marvel universe in general. My research was going into the history of Carol Danvers first and foremost. And then with Monica [Rambeau], she’s really fun, her origin story and her introduction in the comics.
I tried to not get overwhelmed because, as with most comic book heroes, there are like seven different origin stories and there’s different power sets that kind of contradict and don’t really overlap well. It was really choosing what’s been established already in terms of the MCU and then what’s going to work, most compellingly, for our story. You read enough so you can stop reading, in a way.”
At least Captain Marvel got the origin story and some of the world-building out of the way, giving DaCosta a much greater canvas on which to craft a new adventure that’s set to be markedly different from the solid if unspectacular opener. The Marvels has all of the ingredients to be one of the MCU’s top-tier efforts, something that can’t be said of its predecessor, so DaCosta’s extensive research will come in very handy.
