Who do you blame for Thanos’ “Snap” in Avengers: Infinity War, the one that instantly wiped half of all life in the universe from existence? There’s a good chance Captain America doesn’t instantly spring to mind, but one Marvel director has cast blame onto poor Steve Rogers, claiming his mantra not to kill got in the way of the greater good.
After previously helming movies Candyman and Little Woods, Nia DaCosta will now become the youngest director ever to helm a Marvel movie with The Marvels, the follow-up to 2019’s Captain Marvel. “I grew up watching the Spider-Man cartoon and the Fantastic Four,” she told Inverse. “I knew a lot about the Marvel universe in general.”
And as with any Marvel fan, she has opinions on the big moments from the franchise, including that Snap. “Something I like to say a bit flippantly about Captain America is that the Snap is all his fault because he was trying to do his best, trying to do the right thing,” DaCosta said. “There is a world in which he’s a villain because, at the end of the day, he should have just sacrificed Vision. He chose one robot’s life, albeit a sentient one, over literally the entire universe. There’s a sort of anti-hero in that if you want to look at it through that lens.”
"People would say I’m crazy for thinking that way, but there’s something connected to the journey of the anti-hero and the hero. The hero’s pain is something that spurs them to martyr themselves, and an anti-hero’s pain is a thing that kind of starts their journey as opposed to ending it."
Of course, it’s easy to point things out in hindsight. For instance, a lot of fans cite the moment when Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, lost his cool and attacked Thanos when the rest of the Avengers had him under control as the moment when all was lost. Then, and perhaps most infamously, there was the moment when Thor threw his hammer at Thanos but didn’t aim for his head, giving the Mad Titan a last chance to Snap half the universe away. DaCosta definitely has a point, but to say it’s “all” Captain America’s fault feels like a bit of a stretch.
The Marvels will explore who Carol Danvers really is
Looking ahead to The Marvels, DaCosta talked about her approach to Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and the rest of the characters. “For The Marvels, my biggest thing going into it was making sure I approached these characters as human beings and not necessarily as superheroes,” she said. “I want to know more about Captain Marvel. Who is she? What are her fears? What drives her? How do you actually deal with being the most powerful being in the universe?”
Other characters featured in The Marvels include Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) and WandaVision veteran Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). After a recent shift in release dates across the MCU, the movie has been pushed back from November 22, 2022, to February 17, 2023.
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