The Marvels director, Nia DaCosta, spoke frankly about the difficulties of working with Marvel Studios in a peak behind the curtain that will certainly be disappointing for MCU fans. The Marvels was the sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel and followed up storylines from the Disney+ series WandaVision and Ms. Marvel. The film made history as the first box office bomb in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, grossing just $84 million domestically and $206 million worldwide against a reported budget of over $300 million. The critical reaction was also mixed, as many critics, even those who were positive about the movie, noted The Marvels seemed to have been heavily recut in the editing process to likely shorten the film.
Nia DaCosta spoke at Dublin’s second annual screenwriting festival, Storyhouse, via Deadline, with filmmaker Kate Dohlan. DaCosta revealed she had always wanted to direct a Marvel movie because of how big of a comic fan she was, but her experience working on The Marvels turned out to be less than what she imagined. She spoke frankly about the behind-the-scenes process at Marvel Studios and how she tried to lean into their style of filmmaking, which was very different from her own. In the end, DaCosta says that the finished product was not the movie she pitched to Marvel Studios and wasn’t even the film she originally shot. DaCosta said:

“They had a date, and they were prepping certain things, and you just have to lean into the process hardcore. The way they make those films is very different to the way, ideally, I would make a film, so you just have to lean into the process and hope for the best. The best didn’t happen this time but you kind of have to trust in the machine. It was interesting because there was a certain point when I was like, ‘Ok, this isn’t going to be the movie that I pitched or even the first version of the movie that I shot’ so I realised that this is now an experience and it’s learning curve and it really makes you stronger as a filmmaker in terms of your ability to navigate.”

Working on a Marvel Studios Project is More Complicated Than Fans Can Imagine

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Nia DaCosta certainly has moved on to better things, as she has just finished work on 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, but it is disappointing to hear about the troubled time she had working on The Marvels, especially given her love for comics. She previously revealed that she pitched an X-Men film involving Cyclops, Storm, and Galactus to Marvel Studios. While that obviously didn’t pan out, she did get what on the surface should be every Marvel fan’s dream of getting to direct an MCU film. From DaCosta’s comments about Captain America being at fault of the Snap to the critique of Avengers: Endgame’s girl-power moment, her hiring alongside Chloé Zhao for Eternals seemed to signal that the MCU was looking for auteur directors to help shape its future. However, Marvel Studios seemed to second-guess these directors’ visions and fall back on bad habits.

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While filmmakers like Ryan Coogler, Takia Waititi, and James Gunn were able to see their visions through on their MCU projects, DaCosta joins a list of filmmakers who struggled within the Marvel Studios system, like Edgar Wright and Patty Jenkins, who both dropped out of directing Ant-Man and Thor: The Dark World, respectively. DaCosta’s comments about The Marvels’ failure came down to the studio needing to stick to a release date will likely ring the alarm bells for Avengers: Doomsday, which is set to go into production in a week, just a little over a year before it is set to hit theaters. Rumors are now circulating that even the Russo Brothers, who were seen as a safe bet for Avengers: Doomsday, are now under close watch from Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige following the disastrous reception to The Electric State.
When The Marvels came out, many fans noted that the blame was being placed on DaCosta when stories started to emerge that she was not as active in the final edit because she was prepping her next film, Hedda. DaCosta pushed back against the narrative that she wasn’t involved in The Marvels anymore, saying the film had been delayed twice, and due to prior commitments, she had to start working on the new film. While that is true, this adds a new layer, as Marvel Studios took greater creative control on The Marvels, one that ended up being for nothing. Maybe The Marvels would have done better if the studio had trusted DaCosta as a filmmaker.
Source: Deadline

The Marvels

3.5
/5

Release Date

November 10, 2023

Runtime

105 minutes

Director

Nia DaCosta

Writers

Megan McDonnell, Elissa Karasik, Nia DaCosta

Producers

Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Matthew Jenkins, Jonathan Schwartz