Black women are having one heck of a summer, including Nia DaCosta, the director behind the upcoming horror film “Candyman.” DaCosta has been tapped to direct the sequel to “Captain Marvel,” making her the first Black woman to lead a Marvel movie.
According to Deadline, who first broke the story, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck directed the first film. However, after searching for talent over the past few months, the corporation landed on DaCosta to direct “Captain Marvel 2” after she proved to stand out among the competition.
DaCosta has been making her directorial rounds since the creation of the indie film “Little Woods.” The critically acclaimed film put her on the radar of executives and producers suck as Jordan Peele, who hand-picked her to direct the reboot of “Candyman.”
DaCosta’s hiring comes as Marvel continues to add diversity to its films, especially when it comes to behind the scenes. While the budget for this film is still unknown, it’s said to become the biggest-budgeted project with a Black female director. This would follow Ava DuVernay, who became the first Black female director to make a film with a budget over $100 million, with the 2018 Disney movie “A Wrinkle in Time.”
However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the release date for the film has been pushed back. The delay hasn’t stopped people from freaking out over the news, including Marc Bernardin, who tweeted, “It is one thing for Black filmmakers to get hired to make studio films with Black stars. That took long enough to make a reality. But this…this is the next step.” He added, “This is huge. And it is welcome.”
Another user wrote, “I think this is an awesome hire. I can’t wait for her CandyMan take and now the Captain Marvel sequel. An exciting filmmaker to watch.”
A third fan tweeted, “This tell me a lot about Candyman that she directed, they must have loved what they saw.” They added, “@NiaDaCosta congrats.”
Meanwhile, another user chimed in, saying they were more appealed by the mystery surrounding DaCosta. “I’m more excited by the fact that I don’t know who she is,” they wrote before adding, “Marvel hiring fairly unknown directors to helm their films have been working out pretty good for them. I mean Feige basically gives them the blueprints anyways.”
