{"id":224216,"date":"2019-07-24T03:56:58","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T07:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=224216"},"modified":"2019-07-24T03:56:58","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T07:56:58","slug":"marvels-next-films-will-bring-diversity-onscreen-and-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/07\/24\/marvels-next-films-will-bring-diversity-onscreen-and-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Marvel’s next films will bring diversity, onscreen and off"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In addition to a slew of women and people of colour at the helm of the upcoming Marvel films, the weekend’s announcements promised more diversity on screen. (File Photo<\/a>: @Marvel\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Marvel’s push for more women and people of colour in its immensely popular film franchise is extending to behind the camera as it launches its next round of films after the massive success of \u201cAvengers: Endgame.\u201d Of the five films the superhero studio announced at Comic-Con on Saturday, only one is set to be directed by a white man.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s about fresh voices and new voices and great filmmakers who can continue to steer the (Marvel Cinematic Universe) into new places,\u201d Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in an interview after the studio’s explosive Hall H panel. \u201cAnd I am as proud of that lineup of directors as you saw today as any.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to a slew of women and people of colour at the helm of the upcoming Marvel films, the weekend’s announcements promised more diversity on screen.<\/p>\n

First up for release is the long-awaited solo film starring Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow, the lethal assassin she has played for nearly a decade. The film is set for release in May 2020.<\/p>\n

Johansson said the search for \u201cBlack Widow\u201d director Cate Shortland wasn’t easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s really interesting because when we were looking for a director, you start to see some of the systemic problems,\u201d Johansson said. \u201cEven looking for a female director who has had enough experience \u2014 who has had the opportunity to have the experience to sit at the helm of something huge like this, you know, choices are limited because of that. And it sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The actress added that she was proud to see the diversity on stage during Marvel’s Hall H panel.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking out on that stage tonight, it was incredible. It was really moving, also just to see how incredibly diverse the universe is \u2014 and reflects what we see all around us. It’s incredible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In terms of more diversity, \u201cBlack Widow\u201d is just the beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Eternals\u201d will feature a cast full of actors of colour, including Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, and Salma Hayek. Simu Liu will become Marvel’s first big screen Asian American superhero when \u201cShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings\u201d is released in February 2021. Natalie Portman will play a female Thor in the new \u201cThor: Love and Thunder,\u201d which will also feature Tessa Thompson’s character, Valkyrie, as the MCU’s first LGBTQ superhero.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, as new King (of Asgard), she needs to find her queen, so that will be her first order of business. She has some ideas. Keep you posted,\u201d Thompson said during the panel. Feige later confirmed the news in an interview with the website io9.<\/p>\n

The studio is also reviving one of Marvel’s most iconic black characters, Blade (previously played by Wesley Snipes), with the help of Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali. Feige told The Associated Press that right after winning his second Academy Award for \u201cGreen Book\u201d earlier this year, Ali set up a meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin 10 minutes, he basically was like, ‘What’s happening with ‘Blade’? I want to do it.’ And we went, that’s what happening with ‘Blade.’ Let’s do it,\u201d Feige said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCaptain Marvel,\u201d released in March, was the first of Marvel Studios film to be centred entirely on a female character. It earned $427 million domestically, and along with the DC Comics film \u201cWonder Woman\u201d has created momentum for more films with female heroes leading the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarvel is really focused on having very strong female characters at the forefront of their stories,\u201d said actress Rachel Weisz, who also stars in \u201cBlack Widow.\u201d \u201cAnd I think that’s great. This film has got three. It’s Scarlett, Florence Pugh, myself. So I think yeah, they are doing wonderful work to represent women, people of colour, and tell different kinds of stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sliver of Hollywood still on the outside of the Marvel’s cinematic empire was paying close attention to the news.<\/p>\n

Actress, writer and director Lena Waithe tweeted Sunday: \u201cCaptain America is black. Thor is a woman. the new Blade got two Oscars. 007 is a black woman. And The Little Mermaid bout to have locs. (Expletive). Just. Got. Real.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Marvel’s push for more women and people of colour in its immensely popular film franchise is extending …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":224218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-ryan-pearson","mauthors-katie-campione","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224219,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224216\/revisions\/224219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}