It’s safe to say that Marvel Studios wouldn’t be where they are today without President Kevin Feige, who’s done more to steer the course of superhero movies than anyone else working in the industry. He got his start on Bryan Singer’s original X-Men, where he earned an associate producer credit after impressing Avi Arad with his knowledge of the universe. Since then, he’s gone on to spearhead Marvel Studios and the interlinked MCU concept, which has resulted in his studio’s unquestioned dominance at the global box office and has birthed several multi-billion dollar movie franchises.
But what if he decided he was going elsewhere? Well, I’d imagine that Disney wouldn’t be keen to lose the goose that consistently lays golden eggs and would try their best to keep him – but hey, weirder things have happened. We don’t have to imagine that scenario too hard, though, because the question was put to Feige on Variety and iHeart Radio’s Playback podcast and here was his response:
“I don’t like to sit at a desk. We’re in my office right now, I almost never sit at that desk. I like to jump around, I like to move around. So even thinking, ‘Oh right, I’ve been in the same place for 18 years.’ Well I guess, theoretically, yes; but in actuality, no. It’s been very different companies — at least three or four incarnations of this company since I’ve been here. This current incarnation is pretty great.”
So, in what’ll be a relief to those who like what the studio’s putting out, the answer is “no.” From the rest of the interview, it sounds like he’s pretty settled and satisfied at Marvel, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given how much he obviously enjoys and understands the MCU.
“The people I work with at Marvel Studios are great. The people I work for at the Walt Disney Studios are incredible and are the best mentors I’ve ever had in this business,” Feige added.
“Working at this studio at this time is pretty satisfying. And I like to make lots of different types of movies, and these characters as you’ve seen in 22 movies… provide a way to do lots of different films. People can lump them together as ‘superhero movies’ or ‘comic book movies’ but to us, they’re movies. And to us, we think about, ‘What kind of stories do we want to do?’ Or ‘What kind of stories haven’t we done?’ ‘What kind of movies do we like that we haven’t gotten to do yet?’ And then we decide what to make. We’re very lucky to be in that position.”
I don’t blame him for being excited in his current position. Despite the decade-long Thanos story wrapping up in April’s Avengers: Endgame, the impending Disney/Fox merger will give the studio some shiny new mutant shaped toys to play with. Having such a crucial part of the Marvel Universe off limits for so long has to be frustrating, and right now I bet there are a bunch of potential scripts being worked on in secret.
So, all things considered, I’m glad Kevin Feige’s happy. Long may he reign at Marvel Studios.
