What Kevin Feige told us about Marvel's Cinematic Universe Phase Three
Yesterday was fairly hectic day if you're keen follower of all things superhero. A ton of information was hurdled at you in a matter of minutes, so we're taking the time to digest everything and get to the bottom of everything we where told.
Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, announced an ambitious slate of movies that saw eight movies (nine if you count the two part Avengers movies as separate films) scheduled between 2016 and 2019. Any studio who announces the making of eight films, five years in advance could be guilty of being far too confident, but the numbers don't lie. Marvel is on a hot streak of form that shows no sign of slowing down. Guardians of the Galaxy surpassed all expectations becoming this years biggest hit to date brining in an impressive $M at the box office. The anticipation for Avengers: Age of Ultron is reaching fever pitch with teasers trailers being placed in our laps these past few weeks. Age of Ultron has all the makings of being next years box office smash hit. Whilst other franchises such as Captain America and Thor have posted strong numbers from their last respective releases, Marvel are in a film position to announce a slate such as ambitious as this.
kevin feige Q&a from marvel event
After the announcement of all the upcoming movies, Feige sat down and took questions from the audience in attendance. Below we have acquired a transcribe of some of his answers from this Q&A session.
There was no mention of Iron Man 4 — is that still a possibility?
If there are more years after 2019, there will be more possibilities, I expect.
Last week, DC and Warners announced their slate. Did you always plan to announce this far out, rather than going just a couple years out for your announcements?
We wanted to do this at Comic Con this year. Things were not set. Things for Civil War were not set yet, Guardians hadn’t come out yet, the comfort with dating a few of the other movies wasn’t set yet. So the plan has been, since a few weeks before Comic Con when we realised we weren’t going to be able to do everything we wanted to do, is to decide “let’s do either something we haven’t done in a long time, or something we’ve never done.” Which is a singular event, just to announce what we have when it’s ready. I thought that might be early August, or mid-September, it ended up being today.
Last week, DC and Warners announced their slate. Did you always plan to announce this far out, rather than going just a couple years out for your announcements?
We wanted to do this at Comic Con this year. Things were not set. Things for Civil War were not set yet, Guardians hadn’t come out yet, the comfort with dating a few of the other movies wasn’t set yet. So the plan has been, since a few weeks before Comic Con when we realized we weren’t going to be able to do everything we wanted to do, is to decide “let’s do either something we haven’t done in a long time, or something we’ve never done.” Which is a singular event, just to announce what we have when it’s ready. I thought that might be early August, or mid-September, it ended up being today.
We saw Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther, but there’s no confirmed casting for Doctor Strange. Can you address that?
I can say that if it were confirmed, we would have introduced him. I think there’s always been speculation on lots of good actors for Black Panther — but I’m glad that didn’t leak in earnest, the way every single other actor in human history that is of a certain age has been for Doctor Strange. So along with everything else, Doctor Strange will be announced maybe this afternoon? Next week? Next month? Sometime before the release of the movie.
You’ve announced Black Panther and Captain America solo movies, but will we see Black Panther introduced in another film before his own?
I’ll just clarify it for you: he is definitively a big part of Civil War. We will meet him for the first time in Civil War, in costume.
Are we going to find out if anyone is in consideration for Captain Marvel?
My guess is rumours will start flying this second. The initial announcements, in terms attachments for that film, will probably be the writer and director announcements, which I do actually expect will be quite soon. In terms of the actress, I think there’s more time.
Mark Ruffalo is killing it as The Hulk, who is absent from the timeline; What’s going on with the Hulk?
Well, I wouldn’t say he’s absent from the timeline, I’d say Hulk is going to appear in many of those movies, particularly all those Avengers movies leading up to 2019 and Infinity War. Mark Ruffalo is on board for all those films, and we’re excited to bring him to those films. What happens with a standalone Hulk film? I’ll only say what I would have said about Black Panther last week or Captain Marvel the week before that, or Doctor Strange the week before that, or Guardians of the Galaxy two years ago, or Ant-Man ten years ago: we’ll see. We’d love to do it, we’d love to find the place to put it, but right now, Hulk will be appearing, with his friends, in their films.
What are your thoughts on looking for directors and actors for Black Panther and Captain Marvel, such as Reggie Hudlin, who wrote Black Panther for years? Will you look at women and minorities to make those movies?
Oh we are, and we’re doing what we always do, which is looking for the best filmmakers, the best writers, the best directors possible. So I’m not going to say for sure that we’re going to hire from any one demographic, but we’re meeting a lot of people. Reggie, for one, i’ve known for many many years, and he’s a great guy. I think I’m meeting with him again shortly. We will do what we’ve always done, which is hire what we believe to be the best people to write the films, and to direct the films.
Obviously there’s no Fantastic Four here, so can you give us any idea of how you’re creating the Inhumans world?
Well, obviously I know a lot about the Inhumans. Where they fit into the universe… you may find out sooner than you expect to, frankly. I already mentioned in the presentation that there are seeds leading to Black Panther, leading to Wakanda, starting very very soon in things you’ve already seen and will see soon. Likewise, with Inhumans, there may be easter eggs starting before you know it. Will those easter eggs include Fantastic Four? No. The Inhumans will be into the cinematic universe as it exists at Marvel Studios.
You talked a bit about Civil War. The comic storyline will be very different, it has to do with secret identities. There aren’t secret identities in the cinematic universe, and you don’t have Spider-Man. So how will you do Civil War?
I don’t want to give too much away, but needless to say, the generalities of the act are the same. Something happens, perhaps it’s cumulative for things that have happened though all of the movies leading up to this point. It has made the governments of the world say “we need to have some oversight of these guys. They need to report to somebody. So it becomes more… it falls under that umbrella, rather than “you have to take off your mask.” It’s not about the secret identity thing, as much as it is about, overall, who reports to who, and who can agree to oversight committee. Because as of now, in Avengers 2, there is no more security council, there is no S.H.I.E.L.D., obviously. Stark is paying for it, Captain America is running it, and things occur that will make governments begin to question.
in conclusion...
Whatever your initial feelings are towards Marvel's announcement of their phase three, you can't help but look at this as a bold, cohesive and confident slate of movies. There are no prequels, with the storyline being strongly pushed forward at all times. Marvel are still seeing their movies as acts and movements in this grand universe they're creating in front of our eyes— every movie is building up to a crescendo. This slate of movies also introduces us to new characters every year, with the most intriguing being Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange. We will also have the beginning of Inhuman franchise, which if you've read the comics, will be one helluva bizarre movie. The main character, Black Bolt, has so many quirks to his persona, that if he whispers, people die. There is no doubting that Inhumans will be out there in regards to characterisations.
Looking at this slate, it's clear that the Avengers: Infinity War, parts one and two, are the punctuation marks. Both these films will gather together a ton of characters from most— if not— all of the previous Marvel movies. Let's bare this in mind, Avengers: Infinity War will probably feature a narrative arc that relates to all superheroes must come together, and that is something unprecedented.
