Captain America 4 will be directed by Julius Onah, according to an exclusive report shared by The Hollywood Reporter.
Onah is best known as the director behind The Cloverfield Paradox, the third installment of the Cloverfield film franchise that began streaming on Netflix in 2018. The film was originally scripted as a standalone story, but J. J. Abrams, who produced the feature, decided to tie it into the previous Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane films, tacking on a scene at the very end that saw the franchise’s iconic monster burst through a layer of clouds.
Not surprisingly, Anthony Mackie will return to star in the fourth installment of Captain America, having adopted the mantle of the superhero and leading Avenger in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier series for Disney Plus. The finale of the show saw Sam Wilson donning his new Captain America costume, a faithful recreation of the one that he wore in Marvel’s comic series.
Chris Evans, who last played Captain America in Avengers: Endgame, has continued to stamp out any speculation that he might have a surprise appearance in the film. “Sam Wilson is Captain America,” the actor tweeted today, giving the notion that his Captain America run has definitely ended with the most recent Avengers film.
“No, I don’t think so,” Evans said during a recent D23 Inside podcast. “I mean it was a really unbelievable ride and the character’s just so dear to me and I’m just so precious with it. To return to the role, I mean the truth is, the role isn’t even mine anymore. The role is Anthony Mackie’s.”
Penning the script for Captain America 4 is Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson. Spellman is the head writer and creator of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, while Musson served as a staff writer for the series.
Sam Wilson is Captain America
— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) July 9, 2022
Onah was born in Markurdi, Nigeria and lived in locales around the world thanks to a diplomat parent before settling in the U.S. His shorts made the festival rounds, while his NYU film school thesis movie attracted Spike Lee as an exec producer.
J.J. Abrams tapped him to direct a feature set in the producer’s Cloverfield world and while that studio movie misfired, he gained strong notices for his return-to-his-roots rebound, the 2019 indie drama Luce. The Neon movie starred Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Octavia Spencer and debuted at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It garnered three Indie Spirit Award nominations, including best director.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter