A Wrinkle in Time director and Hollywood hot property, Ava DuVernay, has been snapped up by Warner Bros to helm their latest venture in the DC Universe, New Gods.
The New Gods is a part of the so-called “Fourth World Saga,” a series of four interconnected comic book series are written and drawn by comic book artist Jack Kirby – the man who co-created Black Panther with Stan Lee – when he arrived at DC from rival Marvel in the early 1970s. Mixing social commentary, mythology and science fiction, it sees a war between two alien planets — New Genesis and Apokolips — arrive on Earth when the ruler of the dystopian Apokolips, Darkseid, discovers that humanity holds the key to the Anti-Life Equation, which allows its user to control all living beings in existence.
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DuVernay had previously considered entering the Comic book world, but she turned down the opportunity to helm Black Panther which went on to fall at Ryan Coogler’s feet. Both filmmakers now head up the top two box office slots in the US, Coogler with Black Panther and DuVernary with Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time.
Kirby is also the co-creator behind Captain America, X-Men amongst others and his stories and characters have come to life in both animated series and live-action features such as Steppenwolf and the Mother Box in last year’s Justice League.
DuVernay won the directing award in the U.S. dramatic competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere, becoming the first African-American woman to win the award. For her work in Selma (2014), DuVernay was the first black female director to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award as well as an Oscar.
