Ava Duvernay Fangirls Over Stan Lee at D23 Expo

Even an accomplished director like Ava DuVernay can’t contain their enthusiasm when in the presence of Stan Lee.

DuVernay and Lee crossed paths at this year’s D23 Expo and DuVernay shared the moment on Twitter, tweeting out two photos of herself and Lee, including one in which Lee is kissing her on the cheek.

“Fangirling over legend Stan Lee. 94 years dapper. Creator of Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, X-Men, Black Panther. I mean, c’mon!” DuVernay tweeted.

Lee, along with collaborator Jack Kirby, was honored with the Disney Legends award at this year’s D23 for his contributions to Disney. Lee and his collaborators birthed the Marvel Universe beginning with Fantastic Four #1. Lee co-created such Marvel, and now Disney, icons as Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, the X-Men, and Daredevil. You can watch his acceptance speech here.

In 2015, it was rumored that Marvel Studios had approached DuVernay about directing the Black Panther movie. Ultimately the discussions were not fruitful and the job went to Ryan Coogler.

DeVernay attended D23 to promote A Wrinkle in Time, her film adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s science fantasy novel. The first trailer for the film debuted during Saturday’s movie panel. You can watch the trailer for A Wrinkle in Time in the video player above.

In A Wrinkle in Time, Meg Murry and her little brother, Charles Wallace, have been without their scientist father, Mr. Murry, for five years, ever since he discovered a new planet and used the concept known as a tesseract to travel there. Joined by Meg’s classmate Calvin O’Keefe and guided by the three mysterious astral travelers known as Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, the children brave a dangerous journey to a planet that possesses all of the evil in the universe.

A Wrinkle in Time is based on Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 novel of the same name. The film is directed by Ava DuVernay and written by Jennifer Lee. The film stars Storm Reid, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Levi Miller, Deric McCabe, Chris Pine, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Peña, André Holland, Zach Galifianakis, and Oprah Winfrey.

A Wrinkle in Time opens in theaters on March 9, 2018.

More Stan Lee: Stan Lee Gets Emotional During His Disney Legends Acceptance Speech/ Stan Lee Visits The Set Of Avengers: Infinity War / Stan Lee’s Wife, Joan Lee, Dies At 93 / How Joan Lee Saved The Marvel Universe