'Captain Marvel' Directors Address When 'Captain Marvel 2' Could Take Place

Captain Marvel hasn't even made its run at the box office yet, but that isn't stopping Marvel fans from already looking down the road to the all-but-inevitable Captain Marvel sequel.

In fact, while doing the Captain Marvel press junket, directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck didn't quite reveal so much as hint about some early ideas for Captain Marvel 2 - like when it could take place!

Here's what Comicbook.com learned from the Captain Marvel directors while doing the junket, regarding whether or not Captain Marvel sequels would still be set in the past era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe - i.e., "Could Captain Marvel's future be her past?":

Ryan Fleck: "Woah. You blew my mind with that question."

Anna Boden: "It's interesting that you say that because the very first Kelly Sue DeConnick Captain Marvel comic I read is like traveling through the past and almost like a rewriting of her origin story - which, this has some elements of that."

That's a pretty good way to weave around actually answering the question, but Boden's answer does offer a few hints of where things could go. DeConnick's groundbreaking (and time-hopping) origin retcon "In Pursuit of Flight" kicked off her run with the character; it was followed by "Down", which sees Carol team with former Captain Marvel Monica Rambeau, only to learn a lesion in her brain is disrupting her powers - including flight, at a time when a flight-based Marvel villain re-enters the picture. The storyline "Higher, Further, Faster, More," saw Carol take to space alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy and her cat. Clearly these later portions of DeConnick's run are both fertile ground for the next Captain Marvel film, or an entire three-part story, which could work in the present-day MCU, following Avengers: Endgame.

The MCU Captain Marvel films is already positioning Monica Rambeau's mother, Maria (Lashana Lynch) as Carol's BFF; and seeing Carol faced with her own mortality would be a sensible follow-up to both Captain Marvel's self-empowerment theme, and the expected moment of Carol's full might on glorious display in Avengers: Endgame. Carol's crossover with the Guardians could also be a useful tool in bolstering that franchise since James Gunn dropped out - especially if all the Guardians characters don't make it back after Endgame.

It's much harder to see Captain Marvel 2 continuing to play in the '90s or '00s era of the MCU, as it instantly gets harder to weave the sequel back into the continuity, instead of making it a generic standalone space adventure with little to no connection to Earth. Granted, the film could reveal that Carol has been back to Earth several times before the rise of Tony Stark as Iron Man, but other than that, it seems like exploring an older, wiser, more powerful Carol Danvers is the best place for all this to go.

Avengers: Infinity War is now available on home video. Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8th, Avengers: Endgame on April 26th, and Spider-Man: Far From Homeon on July 5th.

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