Why Marvel’s Comic-Con cancellation might be Kevin Feige’s smartest chess move yet

Now that Marvel has announced it will be skipping this year’s San Diego Comic-Con Hall H event — historically the venue where many future projects and actors are announced — it’s worth discussing just what the implications of this maneuver might be. 

One interesting dynamic here is that DC Studios — Marvel’s biggest rival — will now have carte blanche for dominating the headlines for any announcements they make about their soon-to-be-rebooted cinematic franchise. In the past, DC has typically been overshadowed by Marvel in the media after such events. Since the DCEU has struggled significantly at the box office compared to the MCU, this would seemingly be a layup for the franchise, which is set to be retooled and renamed the DC Universe.

It’s undoubtedly true that Marvel has a lot of issues to work out, such as facing many delays due to the WGA strike, and bad publicity surrounding one of its biggest stars, Jonathan Majors, who is currently facing a trial on assault charges. Tenoch Huerta, another big Marvel star, has also been accused of abuse by an ex-partner. Plus, many Marvel movies and TV shows have been underperforming with critics and audiences lately. So does Marvel handing DC the entire Comic-Con publicity machine represent another problem for the company, or is this a gift in disguise?

Since Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige and DC Studios Co-CEO James Gunn are friends in real life, could this be a case of Feige passing the torch to his friend, Gunn, intentionally? While that sounds like a silly notion, and by all means Marvel’s Comic-Con cancellation could have easily come from Feige’s own bosses, there are actually a couple of good reasons he would do this, from a business standpoint.

First of all, any splashy news about who the new DCU Batman will be, for instance, will surely draw attention away from news about Majors, Huerta, and Marvel’s quality control issues, at least temporarily. What’s more, there could be a game theory-type strategy behind this move, as well. Let me explain with a fast food metaphor.

Why is it that Burger King franchises seem to always operate directly across the street from McDonald’s, their main competitor? It is because of a well-known principle in economic philosophy that boils down to the notion that a rising tide raises all ships — the strongest economic strategy is often one that is good for the group and the individual. A would-be McDonald’s customer who suddenly changes his mind about dining at the golden arches might be inclined to eat at Burger King as a plan B, since it happens to be in the same area, and vice versa.

In short, Marvel propping up DC’s future success by clearing the stage for Gunn to launch his cinematic universe hype train might actually benefit both DC and Marvel in the long run. For instance, if there is enough buzz among moviegoers to go out and see DC’s next attempt — like 2025’s Superman: Legacy because of all of this Comic-Con publicity, some of those same customers might inevitably find their way into a Marvel screening, as well, even if Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania had previously left them disappointed. In other words, even if there is no publicity coming out of Hall H about Marvel at all, there might be an opportunity for really positive publicity for comic book movies in general because of DC’s announcements, which could ultimately benefit Marvel in the long-run. So what I’m saying is, Marvel’s Comic-Con cancellation may be more of a 4D chess move on Feige’s part than any of us realize.