Rumor: ‘Captain Britain and the Black Knight’ Movie in Works From Marvel and Director Guy Ritchie?

Could Marvel’s Captain Britain be headed to the big screen? A new rumor suggests it’s possible, but fans may not want to get too excited.

Ain’t It Cool News reports that a source the site refers to as “Super Grip” has tipped them off to the unannounced Marvel Studios film. Captain Britain and the Black Knight would reportedly be directed by Guy Ritchie. The studio is said to be trying to take advantage of the studio vacancies created by Danny Boyle’s departure from the next James Bond movie.

Here’s what Super Grip had to say:

“I work at various movie studios in the UK and have been situated at Pinewood for a few weeks, and I’m moving to Cardiff on a project soon. I haven’t seen anything about this online anywhere, so I thought id send the info on to you: Space at Pinewood has been booked for November & December 2018 to hold auditions for a Marvel project called CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND THE BLACK KNIGHT. The name of the director booked in for all these dates is GUY RITCHIE. Marvel seems to be moving fast with it to fill in the space left behind by Danny Boyle’s aborted Bond 25. Everyone is excited because it looks like another few months of solid work when we thought we would have to wait a while.”

Again, fans should take this report with a grain of salt. AICN admits that it hasn’t vetted this information in any way, instead stating that “The report is so cool I just had to share it, whether real or not it is a fun thought to bounce around one’s noggin.”

Marvel Studios is usually a forward-thinking operation with many projects in some form of development. That makes the idea of Marvel taking quick action to claim unexpectedly vacant lots seem out of character. One might think that Marvel is fast-tracking this movie to replace the indefinitely delayed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. But, even if that was the case, why wouldn’t Marvel use the studio space it already had reserved to film Guardians 3?

There’s also the fact that Guy Ritchie is about to start filming Sherlock Holmes 3, which is set for a Christmas 2020 release.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has admitted to discussing bringing Captain Britain to the MCU. His comments made it sound like these were only most preliminary, theoretical talks.

“We have discussed it,” Feige said. “There are a lot of actors that come in and ask about that part, so we’ll have to see.”

The actors who have put themselves out there for the role of Captain Britain are Lord of the Rings star Orlando Bloom and Star Trek star Simon Pegg.

For those unfamiliar with the character, Captain Britain is Brian Braddock. Christ Claremont, Fred Kida, and Herb Trimpe created him in 1976 for Marvel UK. Braddock was empowered by Merlyn and his daughter Roma to defend Britain. He was originally intended to appear only in the United Kingdom. Claremont later brought Captain Britain to American audiences as a member of the UK-based X-Men spinoff team Excalibur (Brian is not a mutant himself, but his twin sister Betsy, aka Psylocke, is).

Black Knight is likely referring to Dane Whitman, a Marvel Comics character created by George Tuska and Roy Thomas. Whitman comes from a family of supervillains, but chose to become a hero and joined the Avengers. Black Knight carries the mystical Ebony Blade. He has fought alongside Captain Britain due to their connections shared connection to the realm of Otherworld.

Would you like to see Captain Britain and the Black Knight? Let us know in the comments!