After "Avengers: Endgame", the MCU will be less white and less masculine

The universe of the Marvel superhero movie – responsible for much of the Hollywood box office in recent years – has begun to see a broad push for diversity and inclusion, ahead and behind the camera. The studio is beginning to recognize that fans of these films are extremely diverse and more vocal than ever, and ask to be properly represented and to talk to. To this end, Marvel has stated that it will respond to these challenges.

Until here everything is fine.

"Black Panther" made its debut in box office history, while becoming the first superhero movie to be nominated for the Best Film Oscar.

Captain Marvel, Marvel's first solo film with a superheroine in Brie Larson's Carol Danvers, has already grossed more than $ 1 billion worldwide.

Not to mention that, if you look beyond the Marvel film universe itself, "Spider-Man: Towards the Spider-Verse," centered on the Afro-Latino Miles Morales, won the # 39, Oscar for the best animated film.

In addition, there was a training effect behind the camera, which is just as important for this change to be maintained. For example, Ruth Carter, Spike Lee's longtime collaborator as a costume designer, became the first African-American to win the Oscar in this category for her work on "Black Panther". And Hannah Beachler became both the first African-American to be nominated for production. Oscar, and the first to win, also for "Black Panther".

Finally, "Captain Marvel" features the first director of the MCU, Anna Boden (who co-directed the film with her frequent collaborator, Ryan Fleck).

These recent box-office and Oscar-winning successes should all prove that Marvel's efforts for diversity and inclusion have not only been successful, but can also give an idea of ​​what the show might look like. future of the MCU in phase 4 and beyond.

"Captain Marvel"

Marvel Studios

Speaking in Variety's podcast titled "Playback with Kris Tapley" in December 2018, Marvel's chief Kevin Feige acknowledged that the incredible success of "Black Panther" had spurred the campaign to promote diversity. studio, while recalling that she was already in clbad.

Describing the film directed by Ryan Coogler "from the beginning", and certainly not from an isolated film, Feige said, "That it works and that it works only encourages us to go in the direction we were going to take from. anyway. You watch this movie and the movie experience … it was amazing. This movie, of course, would not have been what it was so everyone sitting around the table looked like us or looked like. "

Feige went on to explain that the Marvel Studios team is now almost equal in terms of the number of men and women on the staff.

Thus, a concerted effort to bring about significant change seems to be underway, resulting in Marvel's most diverse films and some of the most profitable ones. If this commitment were to be maintained, what might seem like an initial trend might well become the norm. And the Phase 4 projects announced so far help support Feige's claims.

"Black Panther"

wonder

Here are some highlights of future Marvel films that are official:

• There is obviously "Black Panther 2": Ryan Coogler has signed to write and direct the sequel of the global blockbuster of 2018, which is expected to go into production at the end of 2019 or early 2020. And as long as it does not happen. has not been announced, Even evoked, an autonomous film of Storm is really a possibility in the future of Marvel. One of the most popular and formidable superheroes of the Marvel Universe, Storm is a longtime love for Black Panther in comics and is one of the leaders of the X-Men. It would not be a surprise if she made an appearance in the sequel to "Black Panther", getting ready for a movie of her later. And with the acquisition of Disney / Fox IP now in the history books, a restart of the X-Men franchise under Disney is also likely.
• "Shang-Chi": A film based on the comic Shang-Chi of the early 1970s, to be written by the Sino-American writer Dave Callaham. Destiny Daniel Cretton, who is Japanese-American, is about to lead. This will be the first Asian superhero movie and it will be paramount to avoid whitening characters, as in Tilda Swinton's Ancient One in "Doctor Strange". In the original comic strip, the character is represented as Tibetan. male.
• A story of origin "Black Widow": the spy character of Scarlett Johansson should currently direct an independent film. Marvel has not yet updated, but its author is a woman – Jac Schaeffer – and the film will also be directed by a woman at Cate Shortland. The film will take place before the events of the first film of the Avengers.
• "The Eternals": The director of "The Rider", Chloe Zhao, will direct Angelina Jolie and Kumail Nanjiani, according to a script by Matthew and Ryan Firpo. The Marvel comics series follows the battles between almost immortal beings, Eternals and Deviants, created by cosmic beings called Celestials.
• A sequel to "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" is under development. Joaquim Dos Santos and David Callaham should respectively direct and write the story of Miles Morales. There is also a spin-off in the works, featuring three generations of female characters related to Spider – Spider-Gwen, Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman and Cindy Moon / Silk. It will be written by a woman, Bek Smith, with Lauren Montgomery in discussion to lead.

"Spider-Man: In the Spider-Verse"

Sony Photos

And although it is not official, a restart of the franchise "Blade" should not be counted. Released by New Line Cinema in 1998, the original movie "Blade" was a financial success, recording $ 131 million worldwide, which was quite an achievement for a R-rated superhero movie at the time. It spawned two sequels to complete a trilogy that has sometimes been given the credit needed to revive the modern domination of comic films in Hollywood.

At present, there are still a dozen slots for which Marvel has planned "Untitled" films until 2022. Any number of these slots could be used to realize the diversity mandate of the studio. and inclusion.

For Feige, who faces the challenge of weighing fans' expectations against the studio's goals, keeping an eye on the content, it is clear that the future of the MCU should be clear.

"When you have different voices, you get better stories. and you get more exciting stories; and you get more surprising stories. and it's something very very clear to us, "he said.

"Avengers: Endgame" is now in theaters.

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