Kevin Smith Says Marvel Just Gave Him A Reason To Live Until 2024

It’s now been almost two years since Marvel Studios last released a movie in theaters, a hiatus caused by COVID-19 ruining every studio’s plans for the 2020/2021 blockbuster season. Even so, despite WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+, it’s been way too long since I looked up at a big screen, saw the Marvel logo, and reached down for another handful of popcorn.

Earlier this week, Marvel Studios reminded us all what we’ve been missing with an amazing trailer looking back on the history of the MCU and teasing what’s coming soon. To moving narration by Stan Lee (RIP), we saw clips from previous pics, the audience’s reaction to the finale of Avengers: Endgame, and a clear idea of what the next few years hold.

Highlights were the first footage from Eternals, new titles for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and The Marvels, and confirmed release dates for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Then there’s that non-too-subtle teaser for The Fantastic Four.

Writer, director, and super fan Kevin Smith may have had the best response to this love bomb, though, saying:

“They killed me with the voiceover from @TheRealStanLee, but then they brought me back to life with the rest of this Marvelous promise of the future! @MarvelStudios just gave me a reason to live until at least 2024: I need to stick around long enough to see all this stuff happen!”

Of course, this isn’t the only time Smith has said Marvel Studios is giving him the motivation to stay alive. In 2018, he credited Avengers: Infinity War as the reason he survived a massive heart attack, claiming that he was so hyped for the film that he couldn’t meet his maker before seeing it. He went on to add that he will accept eternity “only when [Kevin Feige] is done making Marvel movies.”

With the studio showing no signs of slowing down, Smith should be with us for a while yet. In the meantime, we can finally check out one of Marvel Studios‘ pics in theaters again when the much-delayed Black Widow releases on July 9th, 2021.