It’s crazy to think that after so many years and 23 feature films, the MCU is still a force to be reckoned with and that no audience fatigue could topple the multimedia franchise for the foreseeable future. And yet, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige tells us there was no clear formula that helped their success.
Avengers: Endgame made history this year by passing Avatar to become the highest-grossing film of all time and ending a narrative that started with 2008’s Iron Man, but the upcoming line-up of movies and original TV series promise to take us to the next phase. Whether it’s feature films like Black Widow, Thor: Love and Thunder, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness or new Disney Plus series WandaVision, Loki, and What If…?, Marvel is in no shortage of fresh content to keep its dedicated and loyal fanbase satisfied.
Now, the enigma that’s bound to plague minds about this powerhouse is the formula that led to its unequivocal success. But according to the mastermind behind it all, there was no clear recipe for the long-running and triumphant cinematic universe.
Appearing as one of New York Film Academy’s guest speakers, Kevin Feige had a lot to say about their success, explaining:
“Well, I wish it were. That there was a formula that I could just divvy out to everybody. The truth is, we came about as a studio in an interesting way. We were tasked with making two movies in 2008. I had been a part of Marvel up until that point for about five or six years. As was mentioned, the X-Men films, the early Fantastic Four films, the first Daredevil film, and the Sam Raimi Spidey films, which were definitely the high point.”
As for their approach, the secret recipe is apparently keeping things simple and streamlined. In Feige’s own words:
“But to your question about development, we said we’re making Iron Man, it’s coming out this day, and then we had to do it, no matter what. Because we wouldn’t have had a studio. Marvel didn’t have any money on the line but they had the film rights to ten characters, which are most of the Avengers now, were on the line and we had to make that movie. So, our development ratio is one to one. We choose the movie we’re going to make, we choose the date we’re going to release it, and then come hell or high water we’re gonna make it and we’re gonna make it great.”
As simple as it might sound, this is something that many business models in the world of entertainment tend to neglect. Though credit where credit’s due, Marvel would not have been as successful as they are now without Kevin Feige’s singular vision for what they could achieve with these movies.
And with so many films and TV shows that are still yet to come, and a fanbase that’s indubitably excited for each and every one of them, it would seem that the MCU is here to stay for a while.
