Marvel’s third phase – the bit where Thanos gets off that giant astro chair of his and gets busy – gets underway as soon as Ant-Man is out. With two of its new properties, Black Panther and Captain Marvel, making their bow, the studio is looking to get staffed up. The Wrap reports that Selma’s Ava DuVernay is in talks to direct one or other, with sources pointing to **Black Panther **as the likely pick.
DuVernay would be the first female director to enter the MCU. If it is Black Panther she’ll be calling the shots on, she’ll be working towards a release date of July 6, 2018. Captain Marvel lands four months later as Marvel’s winter tentpole that year.
Black Panther sees Chadwick Boseman take on the mantle of T’Chella, prince of the vibranium-rich African nation of Wakanda, whose superhero alter ego makes his bow in Captain America: Civil War.
The Wrap’s sources stress that Marvel has been eager to sign up an African-American filmmaker for **Black Panther **and a female director for Captain Marvel. The studio’s fall-out with Patty Jenkins on Thor was dragged back into the spotlight when Jenkins signed on for Warner Bros./DC’s Wonder Woman movie. It's no doubt keen to position itself as an equal opportunities employer at a time when Hollywood's relationship with its female directors in under heavy scrutiny.
Of course, it would be grossly unfair on both parties to paint this as some form of cynical PR move. DuVernay’s Martin Luther King drama earned a Best Picture nod and her pedigree is well-established across smart documentaries and smaller indies. Next up for the Californian filmmaker are a couple of TV properties – an adaptation of Natalie Baszile’s Queen Sugar for Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network and a Civil Rights pilot for CBS – with a Hurricane Katrina movie also set up with another Selma alumnus, David Oyelowo.