Selma director will reportedly become the first black female director to take charge of a Marvel superhero film as the franchise continues diverse recruitment

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Reports were circulating on Monday that Ava DuVernay would direct Marvel’s new Black Panther film.

The Selma director has long been rumoured to be a strong candidate, and would follow in the footsteps of Kenneth Branagh, Jon Favreau and Joss Whedon as a high-profile, but counter-intuitive, director of a big-budget superhero film.

Black Panther, which stars Chadwick Boseman – who played James Brown in the biopic Get On Up – in the lead role, is set for release in 2018. DuVernay would be the first black female director to helm a Marvel film.

The move sees Marvel continue to increase diversity in its projects, after it cast Idris Elba as Heimdall in Thor and Michael B Jordan as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in the Fantastic Four, both of which caused outrage online with far-right groups boycotting Thor because Marvel chose non-white actors.

Marvel’s first big-screen adaptation that starred a black lead was the 90s hit Blade, which saw Wesley Snipes star in the lead role of the day-walking vampire across a trio of films.

Black Panther was the first ever black superhero, appearing in the 60s as a supporting character in the Avengers comics before his back story in the fictional African nation of Wakanda was expanded in the 200-page Panther’s Rage.

DuVernay recently held an event dubbed the Rebel-A-Thon on Twitter where she along with more than 40 black directors gave advice to aspiring young creatives, and while at SXSW in March she lamented the lack of Hollywood films with black protagonists.