The Marvels director reveals they used the Final Fantasy 7 spin-off movie to land their MCU gig

gamesradar.com:

Director Nia DaCosta says she referenced Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children when pitching The Marvels.

"One of my references when I was pitching for the film was from Advent Children. A couple of scenes from that, because it’s just amazing. Amazing movie and has really great fight scenes and has a really great ending sequence with the main character being thrown into the sky by all the other characters," DaCosta told IGN. "I actually didn’t want [The Marvels] to look like a video game, in the sense of what you think of when you think video game."

Directed by Tetsuya Nomura, Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children is a 2005 computer-animated film that takes place two years after the events of the 1997 JRPG Final Fantasy 7. The movie follows Cloud Strife as he goes on to save kidnapped children who are suffering from an unexplained disease – that he himself is suffering from.

Continued DaCosta: "[The Marvels] is more linear, but, obviously, [video games] are so cinematic now as well – like, think about The Last of Us cutscenes, or Horizon Zero Dawn cutscenes. But it’s a very different style. So, for me, it was from the best kinds of games, the best stories that you get, that’s sort of what inspires me to play and I think inspires people to watch movies like this."

The newest Marvel movie sees Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) team up with Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Paris) after they suddenly start swapping places with each other every time they use their powers. The film marks DaCosta's third feature film after helming 2021's Jordan Peele-produced Candyman reboot. Larson previously praised DaCosta's presentation and pitch for the film, calling her the best person for the job.