The Future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Bright, Especially for Female Directors

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to look very different after the Infinity War arc concludes with Avengers 4. And in this case, different is good.

Marvel President Kevin Feige has already stated that the studio will produce another round of twenty films once Phase 4 gets up and running. There are plans to release Marvel titles through at least 2028, with three being released each year through 2022. While this is old news, Feige recently spoke at the PGA Produced By Conference and, thankfully, confirmed that Marvel is making proper changes to the MCU so that the franchise can continue to involve. For example, while Phases 1 through 3 have not yet featured any female directors, the future is bright for the women still in line for the job.

“I cannot promise that all twenty [future] Marvel movies will have female directors, but a heck of a lot of them will,” Feige said. And the ball is already rolling on that front. Anna Boden is directing Phase 3’s penultimate opus, Captain Marvel, alongside Ryan Fleck. The film, set in the nineties, will also be the first to feature a standalone female lead, with Brie Larson (Room, Kong: Skull Island) playing the titular character. If you saw Infinity War, you know that Captain Marvel will also be playing a big role in Avengers 4.

Another detail Feige divulged is one we already anticipated: “different incarnations of characters we know” will appear after Infinity War. The MCU fan base has been floating this idea ever since Robert Downey Jr. considered leaving the role of Iron Man. The writers at Marvel can handle such a scenario by simply killing the character off, but there are more elegant narrative solutions than that. If an actor or actress leaves a role, their character has the potential to return in some new form that allows them to be recast. Just look at the Captain America: Civil War scenario. When fans feared that the movie would spell the end of Steve Rogers, they theorized that Bucky could take his place as the new Captain America. Storytelling options like this allow Marvel to organically continue their many interweaving plot arcs, even if a character at their center departs.

With a cast of characters as large as the one Marvel has accumulated, there are possible substitutions and changes aplenty, which means many of our favorite heroes might be around for at least another decade.

Featured image:  Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN MARVEL. Brie Larson (left) gets hands-on help from Brigadier General Jeannie Leavitt, 57th Wing Commander (right), on a recent trip to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada to research her character, Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel, for Marvel Studios’ “Captain Marvel.” Photo: Brad Baruh ©Marvel Studios 2019