Captain Marvel 2 has finally found a director

(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Captain Marvel, the Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel coming in 2022, has found a director. That's according to Deadline, which says the director of the upcoming Candyman reboot, Nia DaCosta, will be making the film.

The report says DaCosta was one of several directors in contention, but has been the favorite for some time now. DaCosta has previously directed the movie Little Woods, as well as two episodes of Top Boy on Netflix. DaCosta will be the first Black woman to direct a Marvel movie, and the first woman to have sole director credit. 

The highly-anticipated Candyman, which is due out in October of this year, is also produced and co-written by Jordan Peele. Captain Marvel 2's script is written by Megan McDonnell, who's a writer on the upcoming WandaVision series for Disney Plus

Captain Marvel 2 is set to release on July 8, 2022, assuming Disney's movie release schedule doesn't move again. 

Why Captain Marvel needs a new director

Captain Marvel was the subject of review bombing on Rotten Tomatoes when it was released, awakening a now-familiar angry portion of the internet by featuring a female main character. Critics mostly liked the film, though, with 78% of critics giving it a positive review, according to the site. 

The film was just okay, really – a very by-the-numbers origin flick that the Marvel universe has done many, many times by now. Compared to Black Panther, which felt a lot grander than just an origin tale, Captain Marvel was a little pedestrian, as good as Brie Larson was in the lead. 

As Deadline's report notes, Marvel Studios now has a track record of shaking things up between sequels – like how Iron Man 3 is distinctly a film in the style of its director, Shane Black, or how the two Captain America sequels by the Russo Brothers were closer to spy thrillers than the period piece original. 

Captain Marvel 2 should benefit from different talent behind-the-scenes, too. 

Samuel Roberts

Samuel is a PR Manager at game developer Frontier. Formerly TechRadar's Senior Entertainment Editor, he's an expert in Marvel, Star Wars, Netflix shows and general streaming stuff. Before his stint at TechRadar, he spent six years at PC Gamer. Samuel is also the co-host of the popular Back Page podcast, in which he details the trials and tribulations of being a games magazine editor – and attempts to justify his impulsive eBay games buying binges.