Having evolved from an unproven producer to one of of the most powerful and influential figures in the entire industry in little more than a decade, Kevin Feige’s rise to the top of the Hollywood pile has been as rapid as it is remarkable.
At the time of Iron Man‘s release, there were huge question marks surrounding the upstart Marvel Studios betting big on a series of standalone blockbusters headlined by what many deemed B-tier characters, all of which were intended to connect together and form a single overarching narrative that unfolded over years and multiple movies.
Obviously, we take the Marvel Cinematic Universe for granted these days given that the franchise’s 26th installment arrives in a couple of weeks and box office earnings have long since sailed past the $25 billion mark, but it’s hard to understate just how much of a risk the entire operation was at the very beginning.
Feige has no intention of resting on his laurels after all this time, though, and in new book The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe via ComicBook, the company’s Chief Creative Officer explains what keeps him excited after all this time.
“I love buying merchandise, but the only reason you would want to do that is if the show or the movie was so powerful and you connected with it so much that you wanted to expand the experience, and every time we’ve followed our instincts, the audience has come with us. Also, it’s a testament to the eighty years of publishing, and to the way the characters have grown and evolved that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and everybody created and even conceived in a way to allow them to grow, change, and evolve.”
The MCU has redefined blockbuster cinema forever, and when you remember that there are 31 film and television projects currently in various stages of development, we’ve barely even scratched the surface in its first thirteen years of existence.
