The Marvels Director Purposely Set Out To Make film Jarring

Something like The Marvels, which not only follows Captain Marvel but also builds off the events of three Disney+ series: WandaVision, Ms. Marvel, and Secret Invasion, is likely to require at least some prior knowledge of certain earlier movies/shows, as Marvel Studios projects on both the big and small screen are starting to become more interconnected than ever before.

This has given rise to the idea that less serious theatergoers might feel as though they have "homework" to do before heading to the show. When Nia DaCosta agreed to direct the MCU sequel, she did so with full awareness that it is a legitimate concern. She even leaned into it!

“I definitely wanted, because they’re so disoriented with the switching, for people to be inside of their experience,” DaCosta said during an interview with Total Film. “I wanted it to be very subjective; and each of them is doing very different things when the switching starts so, yeah, I wanted it to feel as jarring for the audience as it is for them.”

“We have Ms. Marvel, the TV show, Captain Marvel, WandaVision, and it was kind of a constant negotiation to figure out, ‘Okay, how much information do people need?’ It was a real trial and error,” she added. “We don’t want people to have to watch anything else but, of course, you also have to be honest and be like, ‘This is the [33rd] project in this universe. It’s sort of a sequel to five different things. So at a certain point, you have to just be like, ‘Okay, yeah, there are some things that we can’t get in here, but it’ll be fun.'”