Nia DaCosta is currently riding the crest of a wave, with production on the director’s Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel The Marvels now underway, while her most recent effort behind the camera is sitting pretty at the top of the box office.
Candyman saw DaCosta become the first Black female filmmaker to helm a movie that opened at number one in the United States, and now she’s set to deliver a superhero blockbuster that blows the middling origin story for Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers out of the water and into the stratosphere.
We don’t know much about The Marvels, but based on the superlatives being bandied around by the cast and crew, it certainly sounds much bigger and a lot bolder. Larson teased trips to insane worlds, WandaVision star Teyonah Parris says we’re not ready for what’s coming, while DaCosta has called the film a wild ride.
In a new interview, DaCosta spoke about her initial meetings with Marvel Studios before she even landed the gig, where she instantly outed herself as a massive comic book nerd to exec Mary Livanos, and started pitching crossover movies for characters that are years away from making their MCU debuts.
“I just nerded out. I was like, here are the movies I think you should do! Galactus, Storm and Scott Summers team-up movie! Blah blah blah! She just endured me going in super-deep. And she also gave me a lot of confidence that I would have the creative latitude to not just basically be a puppet on a string.”
When the X-Men reboot finally gains some real traction, maybe DaCosta will get the call to direct. Jon Watts is jumping from Spider-Man to Fantastic Four, following the precedent set by the Russos going from Captain America to The Avengers, and the architect behind The Marvels evidently knows her stuff when it comes to comic book lore.