‘You never know when timelines may crash or converge’: Kevin Feige’s stance on Marvel’s small screen canon only serves to muddy the waters

When he first rose to complete power to be named as Marvel‘s chief creative officer, one of the first things on Kevin Feige‘s mind was scoring one final victory over his longtime arch-nemesis Ike Perlmutter, which he did through a decision that continues to split the fandom to this day.

Announcing that the Marvel Television division would be shuttered and absorbed into the cinematic universe, Feige wiped the slate clean and decreed that none of its projects were official canon anymore, with WandaVision marking the first mainline episodic project in MCU history. He might have said it, but that doesn’t mean everyone took it as gospel.

Phase One favorite and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. frontman Clark Gregg has been one of the most vocal opponents, and that dissent has carried through to the forums of Reddit after Feige’s foreword in new book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios reopened a can of worms that won’t stay closed, particularly the boss man’s foreword that both dismisses Marvel Television while teasing it could yet return in some form.

In one fell swoop, the architect of cinema’s most successful-ever franchise has disregarded every Marvel Television project while still refusing to outright cast them into the canonical abyss, theoretically leaving the door wide open for anybody to wander through the fabric of the multiverse at one stage or another.

The opinions on being so non-committal range from infuriation to excitement – especially when the Multiverse Saga has been dipping into that back catalogue for inspiration – but it wouldn’t be the post-Endgame era if there wasn’t at least some indignation among the rank and file.