Captain Marvel 2 Director Nia DaCosta Calls Critics “Cowards,” Then Claims She Was “Joking”
John F. Trent
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Captain Marvel 2 director Nia DaCosta called critics of the Captain Marvel franchise “cowards” after Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige confirmed the film was in the works during the Disney Investor Day 2020.
During his presentation, Feige stated, “The fact about Ms. Marvel is that her idol is Captain Marvel. And Captain Marvel 2 is currently in the works with director Nia DaCosta.”
“And today I’m excited to announce that Ms. Marvel played by Iman will be joining Brie Larson and co-starring in Captain Marvel 2 along with a grown-up Monica Rambeau played by Teyonah Parris, who you will have already met in the upcoming WandaVision,” Feige added.
Related: Eric July: What Marvel Did to Monica Rambeau in Captain Marvel was Racist
He concluded, “So by now you should start getting a sense of the interconnectedness that infuses all of our storytelling.”
The official Marvel Studios account would then echo Feige’s comments stating, “Brie Larson as Carol Danvers in Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel 2, directed by Nia DaCosta. Joining the cast are recently announced Ms. Marvel, Iman Vellani, and Monica Rambeau played by WandaVision’s Teyonah Parris.”
They added, “Captain Marvel 2 flies into theaters Nov. 11, 2022.”
Related: New Rumor Provides Details On Captain Marvel 2 Villains And Spider-Man’s Role In The Film!
DaCosta would respond to this tweet writing, “Tag me, you cowards.”
In a subsequent tweet, DaCosta would claim she was just joking.
She wrote, “Tweeted this and was like, oh no, what people don’t know I’m joking.”
As Cosmic Book News points out, DaCosta’s comments do seem to imply that she and Marvel Studios are aware of the ongoing controversy surrounding Captain Marvel and its actress Brie Larson.
Larson infamously riled fans leading up to and throughout the promotion of Captain Marvel.
Related: Captain Marvel Star Brie Larson Wants More Diverse Critics Not Just “White Dudes”
One of the most notable instances was when she appeared at the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards and defended Ava DuVernay and Disney’s box office bomb, A Wrinkle in Time.
.@brielarson‘s Crystal Award acceptance speech was characteristically wonderful and I’m sorry I didn’t capture the whole thing on video. It was centered around @Inclusionists‘ film critics diversity study that was released this week. #CrystalLucys pic.twitter.com/qPjzjSjfKz
— Rebecca Sun (@therebeccasun) June 14, 2018
Larson stated, “I don’t need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn’t work about A Wrinkle in Time. It wasn’t made for him! I want to know what it meant to women of color, biracial women, to teen women of color, to teens that are biracial.”
She continued, “For the third time, I don’t hate white dudes. These are just facts. These are not my feelings.”
The actress would later add, “She would later add, “Am I saying I hate white dudes? No, I am not. What I am saying is you make a movie that is a love letter to women of color, there is an insanely low chance a woman of color will have a chance to see your movie, and review your movie.”
Related: Brie Larson: Captain Marvel is “My Form of Activism”
Then during the promotion of the film, Larson made it clear she was using it to promote her own political activism.
Larson stated, “The movie was the biggest and best opportunity I could have ever asked for. It was, like, my superpower. This could be my form of activism: doing a film that can play all over the world and be in more places than I can be physically.”
As for what that political activism was, she would later reveal it was to remove white men from reviewing movies.
Related: Brie Larson Doubles Down – Wants Fewer White Men on Captain Marvel Press Tour
She told Marie Claire, “About a year ago, I started paying attention to what my press days looked like and the critics reviewing movies, and noticed it appeared to be overwhelmingly white male.”
“So, I spoke to Dr Stacy Smith at the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, who put together a study to confirm that. Moving forward, I decided to make sure my press days were more inclusive,” Larson continued.
She then added, “After speaking with you, the film critic Valerie Complex and a few other women of colour, it sounded like across the board they weren’t getting the same opportunities as others. When I talked to the facilities that weren’t providing it, they all had different excuses.”
Following her bluntness about removing white men from reviewing movies, Larson would attempt to backtrack.
She appeared on Fox 5 where she said, “What I’m looking for is to bring more seats up to the table. No one is getting their chair taken away. There’s not less seats at the table, there’s just more seats at the table.”
Related: New Reports of Empty Theaters at Captain Marvel Add to Movie’s Controversy
When Captain Marvel did release in theaters, there were reports of empty theaters and people not showing up for tickets that had been previously purchased.
A theater manager we spoke to told us they had “exactly 25 no shows for every showing of Captain Marvel on Thursday through Saturday.”
They added, “I’m not sure if they were bought all at once because Fandango doesn’t give us that information, but exactly 25 no shows for every show is probably statistically impossible.”
The manager also speculated as to why people weren’t showing up despite tickets already being purchased. They stated, “I would say it’s someone trying to make the ticket sales look better than they really were.”
Not only were there reports of empty theaters and no shows, but Rotten Tomatoes radically changed their website in response to the film receiving an initial rotten 32% Audience Score.
They redesigned their website in order to remove their Audience Interest Score.
Not only did they remove their Audience Interest Score, but they also removed their ‘Want to See’ percentage score.
In addition they also removed the ability to comment on a movie before it was released into theaters.
They would later add in a verified audience score.
Related: Rumor: Captain Marvel Actress Brie Larson Could Be Replaced By The Mandalorian Actors
In the wake of all of this controversy a recent rumor from YouTuber Doomcock indicates that Marvel Studios might write Larson’s Captain Marvel out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe following the release of Captain Marvel 2.
Doomcock detailed that she could be replaced following Captain Marvel 2 because her character will make a heroic sacrifice in order to save everyone.
Another option he details is that “Brie goes on a trip with the time travel device and simply gets lost never to return.”
This rumor came just days before Feige confirmed that Teyonah Parris will play Monica Rambeau in the film. Comic book fans know that when Rambeau was first introduced into Marvel Comics she went by Captain Marvel.
It’s possible that Parris’ Rambeau will replace Larson’s Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel.
What do you make of DaCosta’s comments regarding critics of Captain Marvel?
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