It was recently announced that director of indie hit Little Woods, and the upcoming reboot of Candyman, Nia DaCosta has joined the MCU as the director of Captain Marvel 2. In the midst of the buzz generated by the news on social media, Ryan Fleck, co-director of the original Captain Marvel, took to Twitter to extend his support for DaCosta's hiring.

With the hiring of DaCosta for Captain Marvel 2, comic book movies continue their push to include female filmmakers in their franchise-building efforts with the likes of Patty Jenkins, Cate Shortland, Chloe Zhao, and Cathy Yan.

The first Captain Marvel told the tale of Carol Danvers, a US Navy pilot who comes into contact with a mysterious alien artifact that transforms her into a human-alien hybrid with superpowers. After spending many years on a distant planet with no memory of who she was, Carol returns to Earth to rediscover her human heritage and put a stop to the war between the alien Kree and Skrull races that threaten the planet's existence.

All those events took place decades before the start of the MCU with the first Iron Man. With Captain Marvel 2, the story of Carol will jump forward into present times. Rumor has it that a number of important characters will be introduced in the upcoming film, including fan-favorite hero Ms. Marvel, and a new roster of superheroes for the Avengers, now that Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Black Widow are no longer a part of the superteam.

After the original Captain Marvel became the first movie starring a female lead to do over a billion dollars business at the box office, expectations are high for the sequel to perform even better. That might be why Marvel is looking to hedge their bets by turning Captain Marvel 2 into a mini-Avengers movie, in much the same as Captain America: Civil War was a team-up movie disguised as a Captain America standalone feature. As to the specifics of the plot, which is said to be an adaptation of the Secret Invasion storyline from the comics, even lead actor Brie Larson is in the dark regarding the sequel, as she once stated in an interview.

"Honestly the craziest thing about this is I've just been really clear with Marvel where I've been like 'Please just don't tell me anything. I'm really bad at secrets. I'm just really bad at it and it's hard because like it's really cool stuff. I had to hold the fact that I was Captain Marvel for I think a year before I could tell anybody, that was hard! I don't want to go through that again."

Written by Megan McDonnell, directed by Nia DaCosta, and starring Brie Larson, Captain Marvel 2 is scheduled to arrive in theaters on July 8, 2022.