There’s an abundance of amazing screenwriters that have been involved in many MCU projects. Working on something so popular and successful surely encourages writers to exceed the expectations of themselves, as well as the audience that they need to satisfy. One can only imagine how nerve-racking yet also exciting it must be to get the call from Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige to write a movie so grand from scratch and make it work. This is especially so with how connected each story running through the MCU must be — it’s arguably a much-coveted collaborative and creative experience for many in the industry.
Now that the MCU has made its foray into superhero TV shows on Disney+, MCU screenwriters have effectively branched into television media, which is completely different form of screenwriting than film. Writers like WandaVision’s Jac Schaeffer, of course, have succeeded in delivering incredible stories on the small screen and, in some cases, have even earned prestigious industry awards nominations. Given how it’s no easy feat, here is our list of the best MCU screenwriters.
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7 Jac Schaeffer
Disney Platform Distribution
Inspired by filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez at a young age, Jac Schaeffer naturally gravitated towards the film industry. Although she is best known for her debut feature film TiMER, the filmmaker has had hands in multiple MCU projects. She helped co-write Captain Marvel with three other screenwriters and wrote the original story for Black Widow before she was replaced by two other male co-workers. Her biggest achievement in the MCU, of course, was her work as the head writer for the Disney+ miniseries WandaVision. She managed to perfectly capture what it was like to be sisters in Black Widow, as well as the experience of grief in WandaVision. Given how successful her projects are, we’re happy to hear that she has signed a three-year deal with Marvel Studios.
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6 Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna
Columbia Pictures
American screenwriters Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna both began their careers at the start of the 2000s. McKenna is responsible for some of the most critically acclaimed Community episodes, and he met Sommers while working together on the adult animated sitcom American Dad. They went on to become writing partners and together co-wrote big hits such as The Lego Batman Movie and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. It was in 2017 that they started working in the MCU on Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy, and also co-wrote the Ant-Man and the Wasp. Not much needs to be said given how they wrote No Way Home: such a grand spectacle that worked in all the right ways despite the abundance of ground that it needed to cover. They also managed to handle the high school experience so well. Both of them hope to return for more Spider-Man projects in the future, as stated in their interview with FandomWire.
5 Ryan Coogler
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Where to even begin with Ryan Coogler? Director, producer, and screenwriter, the filmmaker has continuously received widespread critical acclaim for his projects. His work most notably focuses on the underrepresented culture of African-Americans, and he frequently collaborates with the amazing Michael B.Jordan. Before taking on Black Panther, he co-wrote the seventh film in the Rocky series Creed. As for Black Panther, it broke many records and became the highest-grossing-movie of all time created by a Black filmmaker. We can probably expect the same amount of excellence with the upcoming Wakanda Forever, given how heart-wrenching and jaw dropping the trailer is. Giving us both an amazingly progressive script and the beautiful visuals, we can’t wait for Coogler to continue his mastery.
4 James Gunn
James Gunn began his career during the mid-90s. Similarly to Coogler, Gun does it all: directs, writes, produces, and acts. He made a name for himself with the horror-comedy Slither and the superhero spectacle Super. Only then did he start working on MCU movies, in particular, the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. He’s worked on all the three volumes, and considering the humor and chemistry between the characters, we’re sure we won’t be disappointed with the last third upcoming volume. If you ever doubt his abilities as a filmmaker, remember the fact that he’s made us like and adore a tree! Outside the MCU, people appreciate how he managed to make Harley Quinn sexy in Suicide Squad, but didn’t sexualize her. Gunn has already teased a longer, more emotional Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and we can’t wait.
3 Christopher Yost
Marvel Studios
Christopher Yost writes for film, television, animation, and even comic books. In the MCU, he is best known for his work on Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok. He was also the head writer of Marvel Animation’s The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and worked on The Mandalorian for Lucasfilm and Disney+. Although The Dark World received some backlash for the poor world-building, Yost made up for it with his excellence in creating the script and story for Ragnarok. Not only is the movie many people’s favorite due to the humor, action sequences, and well-built relationships between the characters, it also managed to prove itself as a valuable blockbuster.
2 Nicole Perlman
Nicole Perlman was enrolled in a screenwriting program back in 2009 and that’s exactly the place that gave her the knowledge and inspiration to be where she is today. The screenwriter is best known for her MCU projects Guardians of the Galaxy and the creation of the story for Captain Marvel. Even before the release of her movie Detective Pikachu back in 2019, people had high hopes for its story solely because they knew that the same woman wrote the first Guardians MCU movie. Despite the backlash that it received, Captain Marvel also deserves more appreciation for the amazing script co-written by Perlman.
1 Destin Daniel Cretton
Last but not least, born in Hawaii, Destin Daniel Cretton is an American filmmaker who discovered his career path by making short films as a hobby. The hobby really paid off, given how his career has evolved over the years. He was first known for his movies Short Term 12 (2013), The Glass Castle (2017), and Just Mercy (2019) before he agreed to direct and write the MCU commercial success Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. As a half-Japanese person himself, Cretton agreed to work on Shang-Chi to give his son a superhero that he can look up to. He’s definitely managed to do that as it was the first MCU movie that had an Asian superhero as the main lead. He also worked really hard to make the movie perfect and prevent too much from getting out before its release. The upcoming Avengers: The Kang Dynasty has landed him as the director, and we can’t wait for what he has to offer.
