Captain Marvel was released back in March and ended up grossing a mighty $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office. That ensures the character's future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for many years to come, and we were recently given the opportunity to talk to directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck about introducing Carol Danvers to the world of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
We've already brought you some highlights (all of which you'll find here if you missed them) but among the topics covered here are the secrecy surrounding Yon-Rogg's identity before the movie was released, whether Talos' daughter has a villainous future, Captain Marvel's sexuality, and more.
The filmmakers are clearly riding high on the success of
Captain Marvel and while I couldn't get them to commit to saying much about their MCU future, they do touch on the hero's role in
Avengers: Endgame and what could come next for her in this shared world. It's a fascinating conversation and we're sure you guys are going to enjoy it, so check it out below.
Captain Marvel is available on Digital in HD and 4K Ultra HD™ and Movies Anywhere May 28, and lands on Blu-ray™ and Blu-ray 4K Ultra HD™ June 11.
As I'm sure you're aware, a lot of fans are rooting for Captain Marvel to the MCU's first openly gay superhero, so I was wondering what your thoughts on that are and whether you ever considered exploring her sexuality in the film?
Fleck: That was one of those things when we were in the writing stage, and the sky was the limit and the movie could be anything, we were just discussing, 'Are we going to get into any type of romantic relationship with this character?' It wasn't like there was a philosophical opposition to pursuing that storyline; it just came down to real estate in the story we were telling. We knew we were telling a story of self discovery and we wanted friendship, and her friendship with Maria, to be a huge part of that. There was no room for any romantic storyline for us. I know people have made their own conclusions about that and I think that's part of the fun of making these movies is that they become the audience's movies and they get to create any kind of narrative they want for what's happening off the screen. For us, as storytellers, it's a friendship and a story about that and self discovery.
One of the most intriguing scenes for me was that split second the camera lingers on Talos' daughter as she watches her father gunning down the Kree. Was that your way of setting something up for the future or was there another reason you showed that moment?
Boden: It was really about capturing that moment in a movie that's so much about finding your family and reconnecting with your loved ones. What does this mean for Talos, in this moment, to be reconnecting with his family and the cost of what they've been through? This little girl sees him still trying to be a dad while being in this brutal situation when he says, 'Cover her eyes.'
Before the movie was released, there was a lot of secrecy surrounding Yon-Rogg's identity, so why was it important to you to keep Jude Law's role under wraps beforehand?
Boden: We tried to as much as we could but, you know, the fans are very savvy and they figure out everything just before you want them to. Except maybe the Skrull reveal that they weren't the bad guys you thought they were, that we managed to land pretty well. I think he is Carol's nemesis from the comics so we knew as soon as we said his name, there might be some inclination that he might not be the good guy mentor that we see him as at the beginning of the film and we wanted to preserve that turn as much as we could.
I loved how Nick Fury lost his eye in the movie but did you ever consider another way that was going to happen or was it settled on early on that it would be down to Goose?
Fleck: There were definitely a lot of discussions and that was not the first idea on the table. You're probably going to ask me what some of the other ideas were and I don't know if I can tell you that, not because I'm hiding anything, but because there were just so many absurd ideas we had. There was a strong contender for a while that a fight with the Skrulls seemed like the most obvious choice but then the more we thought about it, it just became too obvious. Since this is just as much Nick Fury's origin story as Captain Marvel's, we thought that it would be a fun piece of his backstory that moving forward, he was creative a new narrative for himself that he didn't really talk about but he was fine with people wanting to muse about a potentially more serious way he could have lost his eye.
Boden: Yeah, he didn't go around flaunting that he basically got a cat scratch!
Another big challenge in the movie must have been finding an explanation for why Carol was missing from Earth for all those years, so did you ever consider a contemporary setting or, again, was the 90s locked in from the start?
Boden: It was locked in from the start, yeah.
Did being locked into that setting make developing the movie harder for you, though?
Boden: No, it was a really fun challenge of the puzzle pieces creating an origin story after the fact not just for Carol but, like Ryan said, for Nick Fury and The Avengers and the Avengers Initiative. It was really fun because in some ways, you're kind of locked in to certain events that come later but in other ways, you're given this freedom to explore a character before they are the person you've always known them to be. Imagine getting to go back in time and meet your father as an eight year old or something! This idea of getting to experience somebody before they became the jaded, seen it all guy Fury has actually become.
Thinking back to Guardians of the Galaxy, I don't think Marvel anticipated Baby Groot being such a breakout star. Did you ever expect Goose to take off the way he has since the movie has been released?
Fleck: [Laughs] You know, we had a sneaky suspicion that Goose might become a fan-favourite but I don't think we knew quite the extent that would become true. I think that Kevin Feige probably knew better than we did as he kept insisting after the first draft of the script, he was like, 'You know what, we're going to need about 200% more Goose in this movie,' and, you know what, he was right!
Captain Marvel has now appeared in Avengers: Endgame, a movie that was shot before your film, so even though she only had a very minor role there, how much of an impact did her appearance and the way her powers were portrayed have on what you did in her origin story?
Boden: It was all very fluid. We were developing our story when they were starting to shoot Avengers and they shot both before and after we shot our film. We were sharing scripts and cuts of the film and our own visual effects development of what we were doing with her powers with them. So, it was all very fluid and, of course, both impacted each other in terms of the development of that character and what her powers would be.
Would you say it was difficult for you both seeing her in someone else's hands for Avengers: Endgame or were you pleased with how she was handled and what that might mean for what you can do with her moving forward?
Boden: I mean, [Endgame] is one of my favourite movies! I loved it so much. It was such a rush to see her in that film when she comes in during the third act for that final battle, I literally almost jumped out of my seat and I definitely screamed very loudly [Laughs]. It was really exciting.
With that huge time jump and the amount of time that's left to be explored, is that something you're excited to go back to or do you think that now we've seen Carol in Endgame, it's better to stick with that present day setting?
Boden: I think that there are a ton of options for Carol and different storylines that could be explored. There's just a wealth of opportunity and I'll just leave it at that [Laughs].
Very good answer! However, the Russo Brothers have said they're moving on from the MCU for now and this year, you both helmed a $1 billion blockbuster, so would you have any interest to move on to an Avengers or A-Force movie that puts Captain Marvel front and center?
Boden: Are you offering us a job? [Laughs]
Fleck: I think we're fans of all these characters just like everyone else and we're just as excited to see what the potential is for all of them moving forward.
Finally, how does it feel to see the way fans have embraced the character and to see the huge box office success the movie had?
Fleck: It feels great. We've made movies before and they've been received well critically and sometimes people go and see them but the scale of this is just astronomical and we're beyond thrilled.