Some exciting news for both Marvel fans and fans of seeing talented young filmmakers getting a shot at the big time: Captain Marvel 2 has officially found its director and it’s Nia DaCosta.

Deadline broke the news that the Candyman reboot director nabbed the job and will take over for directing duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who directed the first film. While the Russos have handled the throughline of the Captain America to Avengers movies and James Gunn has taken the reins for the MCU’s cosmic side of things with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel has often preferred to change up the directors on individual franchises when they felt a fresh, new voice was needed. While Captain Marvel was a box office smash, the general consensus was that the story was somewhat lackluster and generic at points. The news of DaCosta taking over one of the most sought-after directing gigs in Hollywood is exciting.

After months of it being all but official, Captain Marvel 2 was officially confirmed by Marvel in January. It was also announced at the same time that Megan McDonnell, a staff writer for Marvel’s upcoming WandaVision series for Disney+, was penning the script. DaCosta taking over for Boden and Fleck, who are reportedly potentially directing a Disney+ series, immediately vaults the Captain Marvel sequel to the top of many “most anticipated movies” list.

DaCosta is one of the most exciting young filmmakers out there. Her debut feature, Little Woods, starring Tessa Thompson and Lily James, was raw and layered. The upcoming Candyman, which Jordan Peele hand-picked DaCosta to direct, is getting crazy good buzz. Though its release got pushed back thanks to the COVID-19 shutdown, the first trailer had the internet talking and amped up excitement for the reboot.

Marvel Studios clearly has high hopes for her, as well. While the studio had been meeting with potential directors for the past few months, DaCosta reportedly had an edge and was the frontrunner for some time. This past weekend, Deadline reports, the last few candidates met with Kevin Feige for a final decision before DaCosta officially landed the job. Whatever vision she painted for Marvel was clearly one that had the studio on board from the start.

At the time of the official announcement, it was reported that Marvel was looking at a 2022 release date for the Captain Marvel sequel with a July 8, 2022 release date later being announced. That date was set after every upcoming movie in the Marvel slate got bumped back by a release slot after the pandemic delay. Otherwise, it likely would have had the March 25 spot now held by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness seeing as how the first Captain Marvel movie had been released in March. Even if there are continued coronavirus-related delays for the next few months, keeping that release date is extremely doable assuming the script is finished and cast set by the end of the year it can shoot in the first half of 2021.

We’ll keep you updated as more news about Captain Marvel 2 breaks.

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