For the most part, the Marvel Cinematic Universe delivers light and breezy comic book adventures with broad action sequences and no shortage of quips, but the franchise has also been known to tackle some weighty thematic subjects, and that looks to factor into Phase Four more heavily than at any other point in the mythology’s existence.
WandaVision was an exploration of grief and loss viewed through fictional sitcom realities, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier reflected on the current sociopolitical climate, Loki was a lament to one trickster trying to redeem himself for a lifetime of bad deeds, and Black Widow saw a family torn apart and then brought back together by the same lie.
That’s some heavy stuff on paper, and even though star Brie Larson has teased trips to insane worlds and we’re gearing up for another bout of big budget cosmic spectacle, The Marvels director Nia DaCosta revealed in a new interview that she’s not planning to shy away from real human emotion, despite the project’s fantastical trappings.
“I can say it’s a very different beast. But I am obsessed with how we all deal with our pain and trauma, and there’s some of that in the story.”
DaCosta’s upcoming Candyman is poised to be a riveting psychological horror rooted in topical subtext, so it stands to reason that the fast-rising directorial star will continue to apply those underlying messages to The Marvels, even when next November’s MCU sequel teams Captain Marvel up with Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan to deal with a threat that’ll no doubt have intergalactic consequences, looking at how most fans are expecting it to tie closely into Disney Plus series Secret Invasion, with Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury heavily involved in both.