Captain Marvel Script Was Constantly Changing While Filming, Says Director

According to co-director Anna Boden, the script for Captain Marvel changed constantly during filming. The MCU’s first 2019 movie, Captain Marvel, actually represented multiple firsts for the blockbuster franchise. It was the first film to center exclusively on a woman (following the prior year’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, which offered dual billing to Evangeline Lilly’s Hope van Dyne) and the first to have a female director in Boden, who helmed Captain Marvel alongside her creative partner Ryan Fleck. Starring Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, the movie became a box office sensation upon release, grossing over $1.1 billion worldwide atop mostly positive reviews.

Taking the MCU back to the 90s, Captain Marvel took a unique approach to Carol’s origin story. It picked up with the hero, whose powers were created by the Tesseract, living as a Kree up in space. Carol uncovers the truth about her existence – that she’s a human who was brainwashed by the Kree – throughout Captain Marvel and vows to protect those who the Kree would try to hunt. Carol would then go on to play a pivotal role in Avengers: Endgame, though her second solo movie remains over a year away.

The release of The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has led several interesting behind the scenes stories to emerge online. The latest involves Captain Marvel and its ever-changing script (via The Direct). According to Boden, it changed so much simply because the movie itself was always evolving, and she and Fleck wanted to be responsive to that. “So the script is constantly changing because the movie is constantly changing and growing, all throughout development, all throughout production, and all throughout post,” Boden said. “And there is a real desire to be responsive to what the movie is becoming in any moment.” This appeared to go against Boden’s own nature, though the director added it actually made her more prepared to adjust on set as needed:

“I am a super planner. I like to know what I’m doing, have a lot of private time to meditate on it, to really think about it, and to figure out how to best execute it. And then to come on set on the day with a plan that I understand so well that when something comes and changes, I can be very flexible in the moment – because of all the preparation I’ve done ahead of time. That is my style.”

Captain Marvel‘s critics might be quick to say the many script changes were what led to a convoluted plot, and it probably is fair to say that the movie’s story doesn’t unfold in an easily digestible way. At the same time, it sounds more like Boden and Fleck adopted a method that was the most useful for them and allowed them to come up with new ideas as they went forward. The end result, while a bit different by Marvel standards, is still pretty solid.

Carol Danvers is set to return for 2023’s The Marvels, and she’ll be joined by a pair of new heroes: Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani). Little is known about the plot for that one, but Candyman director Nia DaCosta is taking over from Boden and Fleck. Whether she will also have a flexible approach to the story remains to be seen, but it will still be interesting to evaluate how the sequel compares to the original Captain Marvel. Different directors should make for different styles, and that’s an intriguing prospect.