Captain America 4 has a director.
Nigerian-American filmmaker Julius Onah, perhaps best known as the director of the 2018 thriller The Cloverfield Paradox, will direct the fourth installment in the Captain America film series for Marvel Studios.
Anthony Mackie stars in the feature film, reprising his longtime Marvel character Sam Wilson but not Wilson’s longtime alter ego and Captain America sidekick Falcon. That’s thanks to the events of Marvel’s 2021 Disney+ series, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which saw Wilson finally accept Captain America’s shield and cloak after much self-doubt.
It’s unknown what the next paths will be for the character, but something thought-provoking is likely. Malcolm Spellman, the creator and head writer of Winter Soldier, is co-writing the screenplay with Dalan Musson, a staff writer on the series.
It’s unclear if Chris Evans would reprise his role as Steve Rogers, aka the first Captain America (although if the question of who is entitled to wield the shield persists, all bets are off. Plus, having stacked casts in solo movie outings is a key Marvel ingredient at this point.)
No start date has been announced.
Born in Markurdi, Nigeria, Onah has lived in places around the world thanks to a diplomatic parent before settling in the United States. His short films made the festival rounds, while his NYU film school graduation film attracted Spike Lee as executive producer.
JJ Abrams hired him to direct a feature film set in the producer’s Cloverfield world, and while that studio film failed, it received strong attention for his return to his roots, 2019 indie drama Luce. The Neon Film starring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Octavia Spencer made its debut at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It received three Indie Spirit Award nominations, including Best Director.
Onah is repeated by WME.