In the last two years, Marvel Studios has released its first female-fronted film and its first with a black lead. And since both movies passed the billion-dollar mark at the box office, you can imagine that the production house has every incentive to keep diversifying their superhero roster. Sure enough, in a recent interview with IANS, Kevin Feige hinted that the team intends to bring some body positivity into the franchise very soon.
When asked if he’d like to adapt any superheroes who don’t possess the “perfect figure,” the Marvel Studios head initially joked, “Yes, I would, because then maybe I can be a superhero.” But on a more serious note, Feige then suggested that this was indeed the case.
“Traditionally, if you look at the way they are drawn in the comics, they go to very iconic mythic proportions,” Feige said of Marvel’s stable of superheroes. “We happen to have many actors and actresses who have mythic proportions themselves for real but I will just say yes and perhaps sooner than you think.”
That “sooner than you think” remark seems to suggest that Marvel has a specific film and a specific superhero in mind. But unless Avengers: Endgame or Spider-Man: Far From Home are about to spring a new arrival on us, this sounds like a Phase 4 development.
Speaking of which, the next few years are expected to see quite a few “firsts” for the MCU when it comes to representation. For one thing, the Shang-Chi movie is set to introduce the saga’s first Asian lead. Or at least, that’s what we thought prior to a recent report on The Eternals, which built on the previous rumor that Chloé Zhao’s film will feature Marvel’s first gay lead by adding that the lead will be Asian.
Meanwhile, Black Panther and presumably Captain Marvel both have sequels on the way. But before we find out what else is planned for the next era of the Marvel franchise, Phase 3 continues with the release of Avengers: Endgame on April 26th.
