Marvel Studios Producer Reveals Why They Don’t Want Comic Fans Making MCU Movies

If you’re a screenwriter that grew up on Marvel Comics, you may have an uphill battle for you when trying to land a gig at Marvel Studios. According to longtime producer Nate Moore, it’s a bit of a “red flag” for the studio to seek out a writer who’s been a lifelong fan. Moore said in a recent podcast stop he thinks those who love the brand may already be set on a certain storyline from the source material instead of being flexible enough to explore another story.

“One thing I think is interesting, and specifically for writers, I would say, a lot of times, we’re pitched writers who love Marvel. And to me, that’s always a red flag. Because I go, ‘Oh, I don’t want you to already have a pre-existing idea of what it is, because you grew up with Issue 15 and that’s what you want to recreate…,’” Moore said on an episode of The Town with Matt Belloni (via The Direct).

He added, “I want somebody who’s hard on the material, who goes, ‘What is this? I think there’s a movie here, but maybe we should be looking at it in this way.’”

Moore then pointed out the likes of Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, and Taika Waititi. According to the producer, not a single one of those three grew up as major comic book readers, and they each oversaw drastic changes to characters—changes that became a hit with movie-goers around the world.

“The best example of that for me was Markus and McFeely, who weren’t comic guys coming up, but were like, ‘Wait, Captain America, this seems a bit weird. What if we kinda looked at it in this way?’ And they weren’t married to anything, nothing was, you know, there was nothing sacrosanct,” the producer added. “And I think that’s important to be able to go, ‘Look, the source material is great, and I love it, and comics work in the medium they were built in, but that’s not a direct, one-to-one translation to the best version of the movie.’ And sometimes it takes someone who’s out of this culture to go, ‘Hey, I know you think it should be this, but maybe it should be this other thing.’”

The film sees the return of Letitia Wright as Shuri, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Angela Bassett as Ramonda, and Martin Freeman as Everett Ross. New cast members will include Tenoch Huerta as Namor, Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams / Ironheart, Michaela Coel as Aneka, Mabel Cadena as Namora, and Alex Livinalli as Attuma.

What do you think of Ryan Coogler’s open letter about Black Panther: Wakanda Forever? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is currently playing exclusively in theaters.