Ava DuVernay Jumps Into the Superhero Film Genre With DC’s New Gods

In one of the more exciting bits of news to come out last night, Ava DuVernay will be throwing her hat into the superhero movie ring as the director of the upcoming New Gods film from DC Entertainment!

I’ve gotta say, this is a bit surprising. Especially considering that not that long ago, when doing press for A Wrinkle in Time, DuVernay responded to the question “Would you rather direct a Star Wars movie or a Marvel movie?” with “Neither.” At the time, it seemed as though she was saying no to the entire idea of superhero or sci-fi/fantasy films. Now, it just seems like she knew she had something in the works with DC/Warner Bros. and so didn’t want to express interest in any epic properties from her Disney family.

Surprising, too, is DC’s choice of material! New Gods will be based on Jack Kirby’s legendary pantheon of gods created in the ‘70s for DC Comics that includes characters like Darkseid, Orion, Mister Miracle, and Big Barda. We’ve obviously seen them in comics, and we’ve also seen them on DC animated series. While it’s a surprise that DC would be taking their live-action cinematic universe in this cosmic direction, it’s not a shock that DuVernay would want the gig.

Last year, when asked who her favorite superhero was, her response was Big Barda, a former member of Darkseid’s female band of warriors, known as the Furies, who eventually escapes Apokolips:

The idea of DuVernay doing a Barda-centric New Gods movie damn near has me in tears. Especially when I think about the possibilities of her teaming up with Wonder Woman:

And, of course, where there’s Wonder Woman, there’s Patty Jenkins! Jenkins recently reached out to congratulate DuVernay on Wrinkle, saying that her young son loved the film. DuVernay responded to thank her and hinted at the soon-to-be-announced New Gods news:

I’ll admit it. The idea of DuVernay and Jenkins sharing studio space being all director-y and talking about the superhero movies they’re working on? THAT is giving me so much life right now.

(via io9, featured image: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for Disney)

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Teresa Jusino

Teresa Jusino (she/her) is a native New Yorker and a proud Puerto Rican, Jewish, bisexual woman with ADHD. She's been writing professionally since 2010 and was a former TMS assistant editor from 2015-18. Now, she's back as a contributing writer. When not writing about pop culture, she's writing screenplays and is the creator of your future favorite genre show. Teresa lives in L.A. with her brilliant wife. Her other great loves include: Star Trek, The Last of Us, anything by Brian K. Vaughan, and her Level 5 android Paladin named Lal.

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