Nia DaCosta tipped to direct Brie Larson in Captain Marvel 2

Candyman director Nia DaCosta has reportedly secured one of the movie world's most coveted jobs, directing Brie Larson in Captain Marvel 2.

Deadline reported that the young director has secured the backing of Marvel Studios and Disney, although neither of the companies has yet confirmed the news. The pressure to deliver on Captain Marvel 2 will be immense, as the first movie, the first female-fronted film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, went onto earn more than $1 billion worldwide after its release in March 2019.

DaCosta captured the attention of the industry with her indie film, Little Woods, but it's the upcoming "spiritual sequel" to the 1992 horror movie Candyman that has elevated her standing. Oscar-winning director of Get Out Jordan Peele hired her for Candyman and they wrote the script together.

Brooklyn, New York-born DaCosta, 30, is a versatile talent, having directed two episodes of Netflix's revival of London gang drama Top Boy in 2019. Her debut, Little Woods, about two sisters living in poverty in North Dakota, was funded through a Kickstarter campaign.

At the time Little Woods was released in 2018, she said: "I’m most concerned with my films being active and having women in my films who are active."

A good match for Captain Marvel, then, because there is no woman more active than her.

The script for Captain Marvel 2 was written by Megan McDonnell, a staff writer on the Marvel-based series WandaVision, while Larson was announced in February as reprising her role as Carol Danvers, the human in the middle of the war between two alien races, the Kree and shape-shifting Skrulls.

Danvers acquired superhuman powers after she survived an explosion, turning her into Captain Marvel and making her one of the most powerful heroes in the MCU.

Captain Marvel 2 is scheduled to hit cinemas sometime in 2022.

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