As the Marvel team starts gearing up to promote November’s Doctor Strange, the company is also looking towards and answering questions about the future phases of the MCU. Den of Geek has reported that while promoting the new film, Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios president, dropped some news about both the upcoming Captain Marvel and Black Panther films.
Feige confirmed that Captain Marvel will indeed be an origin story. This makes sense. People are not as familiar with Carol Danvers as they may be with some other characters. We need to see her get her powers to understand her journey. Also, because this is Marvel’s first female lead title is important to see a woman and how she reacts to the challenges and pressures of becoming a hero. On the other hand, if there are any kind of Uncle Ben dying flashbacks in Spider-Man: Homecoming, fans may riot.
Captain Marvel is something new and different, it makes sense to introduce her character from its inception rather than making us jump right into her using her powers. This also means that (unfortunately) we probably will not see Brie Larson as the Captain until her solo film in 2019. Like Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange, it makes sense to save a lesser known character for their own film. (That doesn’t mean we can’t hope for a post credit teaser with her at some time in the future.)
Conversely, the Black Panther film will not be an origin story. Feige explained the reasoning for the decision saying, “Panther is not really an origin story, since we saw him already in Civil War…But his standalone certainly introduces you to 99% of his world that you never saw.” The opportunity to explore the culture and politics of Wakanda is a huge one. There is so much to explore from T’Challa’s position as both the leader and hero of the nation, to the role of the Doja Milaje and their relationship to the King, as well as T’Challa’s relationship with his family and carrying on his father’s legacy. These are all much more interesting topics than watching a man learning to use his powers yet again. And with a cast that now includes Forest Whitaker alongside Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, and Danai Guria, with Chadwick Boseman reprising his role as the newly crowned king, it already looks to be one of Marvel’s strongest acted films.
Black Panther is set to hit theaters on February 16th, 2018. It is being directed by Ryan Coogler. Captain Marvel will be released on March 18th, 2019. The search for a director is currently ongoing. Marvel’s next film, Doctor Strange comes to theaters next month on November 4th.