Kevin Feige Says ‘Captain Marvel’ Director and Casting Will Be Revealed This Summer
Thank goodness we have all this excitement over Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, a new Spider-Man and Black Panther to keep us busy while we wait (and wait…and wait…and wait) for more intel on Captain Marvel. Last we heard, Nicole Perlman and Inside Out scribe Meg LeFauve had been tapped to develop the screenplay, but…that’s it. Not a peep since then. According to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, that’s going to change pretty soon. How soon? This summer, apparently.
Feige told iO9 that Marvel plans on announcing both the director and the star of Captain Marvel this summer, which means — should everything go according to plan — we’ll have our answers during Comic-Con. Says Feige:
[You’ll have] a filmmaker and cast by the summer. Maybe before. Maybe after. Filmmaker announcement first.
Of course, this isn’t a guarantee that Marvel will make the announcement during Comic-Con, but since there won’t be a D23 convention this year, San Diego seems like the ideal setting. But as iO9 points out, things tend to happen that are beyond studio control — a contract may not get signed in time for Comic-Con, for instance. You may recall a couple of years back when Joaquin Phoenix was thisclose to signing on for Doctor Strange, but with the contract still unsigned, Phoenix didn’t show up in Hall H. (And ultimately backed out, giving the job to Benedict Cumberbatch.)
Captain Marvel is set for a March 2019 release, but she’ll more than likely show up in at least one or two films before then, which makes now the perfect time to lock in that casting. There’s been plenty of speculation over the last couple of years about who might play the title role in Marvel’s first female superhero movie, with favorites including Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain. Meanwhile, Marvel was rumored to be eyeing Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation star Rebecca Ferguson last fall. Hopefully we’ll find out who nabbed the role sooner rather than later.