Marvel Studios is going to drastically change the way it selects directors for its upcoming movies, as it’s been announced that they plan to introduce as many female directors as they can for the next 20 movies. Variety is reporting that studio head and president Kevin Feige promised a “heck of a lot” of female directors this afternoon during the Produced By conference in California.
Feige was given the suggestion by a conference goer that all of the upcoming 20 Marvel movies should be directed by a woman when he made his proclamation.
“I cannot promise that all 20 Marvel movies will have female directors but a heck of a lot of them well,” he claimed.
The audience was overjoyed with his statement, as, to date, there is only one female director in all of the MCU. Anna Boden is co-directing the upcoming Captain Marvel film alongside Ryan Fleck, which made her the first female director out of 24 MCU films, including all those past and upcoming movies Ant-Man and the Wasp , Captain Marvel , Avengers 4 , Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 , and the untitled Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel.
The MCU roster of directors has been as follows:
- Iron Man — Jon Favreau
- The Incredible Hulk — Louis Leterrier
- Iron Man 2 — Jon Favreau
- Thor — Kenneth Branagh
- Captain America: The First Avenger — Joe Johnston
- Marvel’s The Avengers — Joss Whedon
- Iron Man 3 — Shane Black
- Thor: The Dark World — Alan Taylor
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier — Anthony and Joe Russo
- Guardians of the Galaxy — James Gunn
- Avengers: Age of Ultron — Joss Whedon
- Ant-Man — Peyton Reed
- Captain America: Civil War — Anthony and Joe Russo
- Doctor Strange — Scott Derrickson
- Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 — James Gunn
- Spider-Man: Homecoming — Jon Watts
- Thor: Ragnarok — Taika Waititi
- Black Panther — Ryan Coogler
- Avengers: Infinity War — Anthony and Joe Russo
- Ant-Man and the Wasp — Peyton Reed
- Captain Marvel — Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
- Avengers 4 — Anthony and Joe Russo
- Spider-Man: Homecoming Sequel — Jon Watts
- Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 — James Gunn
#ProducedBy Conference: Kevin Feige promises more female directors on @Marvel movies https://t.co/gQtpNO37zz
— Variety (@Variety) June 9, 2018
A call for more female directors has been growing over the last several years, especially after the success of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman . The film was highly received by critics, despite all others in the DC Extended Universe taking a beating by reviewers and moviegoers alike.
Kevin Feige Promises More Female Directors in the #MCU ‘s Future https://t.co/qHN2OgwCeu pic.twitter.com/25h7tBoesK
— Comic Book Resources (@CBR) June 10, 2018
While the 20 upcoming Marvel Studios films are still fairly secret at this time, fans are likely to see a female director attached to the upcoming Black Widow solo film, which has no current release date. What Feige meant by a “heck of a lot” remains to be seen, but even adding just one more female director would be a step in the right direction.
