The Marvels director Nia DaCosta hoped for the best, but "the best didn’t happen" (2025)

Last Updated on April 12, 2025

While doing press for her addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Marvels, back in November of 2023, director Nia DaCosta had to defend the fact that she wrapped up her work on that film remotely while prepping another movie, her upcoming drama Hedda. She explained to Jake’s Takes, “It was literally just that they moved the date of the film four different times. So instead of it being a two year process, which I was deeply committed to, it became a three and a half year process. I pushed [Hedda], and then I pushed it again, and then I pushed it again, and then eventually, we all knew ‘Okay, if this pushes again I’m not gonna able to be in L.A. to do the rest of [The Marvels] in person.’ We figured out a way to do it remote. … Everyone was so clear about what the film was, what we wanted, everyone knew what I wanted. So it really wasn’t the dramatic thing that I think people are sort of feeling it is.” But, during a recent appearance at the screenwriting festivalStoryhouse, DaCosta admitted that working on The Marvels was not a great experience for her, which is why she put Hedda on the fast track.

DaCosta told the Storyhouse audience (with thanks to Deadline for the transcription) that she was excited to get the Marvel job because she was “a big comic book nerd growing up,” but stepping “into the system” didn’t go as she hoped it would. “They had a date, and they were prepping certain things, and you just have to lean into the process hardcore. The way they make those films is very different to the way, ideally, I would make a film, so you just have to lean into the process and hope for the best. The best didn’t happen this time but you kind of have to trust in the machine. It was interesting because there was a certain point when I was like, ‘Okay, this isn’t going to be the movie that I pitched or even the first version of the movie that I shot’ so I realized that this is now an experience and it’s learning curve and it really makes you stronger as a filmmaker in terms of your ability to navigate.” As her time on the movie was coming to an end, “I called my team, and I said that I need to makeHedda. I had written it years ago and I said that I really needed to go back to that because this isn’t fulfilling in the way I need it to be.“

Scripted by DaCosta, Megan McDonnell, and Elissa Karasik, The Marvels has the following synopsis: In Marvel Studios’The Marvels,Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team up and learn to work in concert to save the universe asThe Marvels. Brie Larson reprised the role of Carol Danvers and was joined in the cast by Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan, Zawe Ashton as Dar-Benn, and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

DaCosta delivered the shortest movie in the MCU (it has a running time of 105 minutes), a fast-paced and light-hearted movie that is, as our reviewer Alex Maidy described it, “fun, but ultimately disposable.” It was also a box office disappointment, making $206million at the global box office against a gross production budget of $374million. As Wikipedia lets us know, it’s the lowest-grossing film in the MCU and one of the few MCU films not tobreak-evenin its theatrical run. Disney CEO Bob Iger said he thought the problem was that “The Marvels was shot during Covid, and there wasn’t enough supervision on set” from executives.But from what DaCosta said, it sounds like she had plenty of executive interactions while making the movie.

What do you think of what Nia DaCosta had to say about her experience working on The Marvels? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Amazon MGM is planning to release Hedda this October. The film stars Tessa Thompson and is based on the play Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen. Following that, DaCosta has also directed 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple, which Sony will be releasing on January 16, 2026. The director said that Danny Boyle handed the 28 Years Later helm over to her after she had “long conversations with producers. I told them that I wasn’t going to make a Danny Boyle movie because that would be impossible and also not of interest to me as a filmmaker.” She tried to bring a fresh take and individual language to her 28 Years Later sequel.