Marvel Wants Selma Director To Helm An Upcoming Project

Back in February, Selma director Ava Duvernay was quoted in an interview explaining why she would be interested in making a superhero movie - and now it looks like she may actually get a chance. According to new reports, Marvel Studios is courting the filmmaker to consider helming one of their upcoming projects.

But which project will it be? According to The Wrap, which first broke the story, there are two projects in particular that may be a fit. The first is Black Panther, which is currently dated for release in summer 2018, while the second is Captain Marvel, scheduled to come out in the winter of that same year. Nothing is set in stone just yet, and the company is also looking at other potential filmmakers for the gigs as well, but there is reportedly "mutual interest" in making things work between Duvernay and Marvel.

Right now, not much is known about either Black Panther or Captain Marvel, but at the very least the former has a lead actor cast. It was announced last October that Chadwick Boseman has signed a deal that will see him play Black Panther a.k.a. T'challa in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The reason for this early casting is because the character is set to make his live-action debut in Captain America: Civil War, which is currently in production, and will be released next May. That puts whoever gets the Black Panther directing gig in an interesting position, as they will actually be inheriting a character instead of introducing one. (It should also be noted that Ulysses Klau would make a prime villain for the film, and was just introduced into the MCU played by Andy Serkis in The Avengers: Age of Ultron).

As things stand, Captain Marvel is pretty much a blank slate. We know that the film will center on the Carol Danvers iteration of the character, but nothing has been confirmed beyond that. There were plans for a while to have her potentially show up in The Avengers 2, which would have required an early casting decision akin to what happened with Black Panther, but those plans were scrapped and so we currently don't know what direction the studio may decide to go in.

Ava Duvernay broke out as a director with Selma last year, and moving to a big Marvel blockbuster would be a big step. If she were to sign on, she could be the first female director to make a movie with the company, which would certainly be refreshing (Patty Jenkins was attached to Thor: The Dark World for a while, but ultimately dropped out due to creative differences). Duvernay has not said what she has planned for her next project, but even if she does sign on for Black Panther or Captain Marvel, those films are so far off that she could possibly work on another feature in between.

Would you like to see Ava Duvernay take the reins of either Black Panther or Captain Marvel? Hit the comments below with your thoughts!

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.