Kevin Feige really is the big cheese over at Marvel; it was his vision that created the MCU that we know today. Feige was made president of Marvel in 2007, and since then the studio has been a non-stop machine churning out blockbuster after blockbuster that has billions of fans worldwide. So it isn’t too surprising that for a superfan, meeting the man behind the curtain can be a little overwhelming.
According to Marvel, that’s exactly what happened when the star of Marvel’s latest series, Ms. Marvel, Iman Vellani was introduced to Feige whilst filming the series. It’s been well noted that Vellani mirrors her character, Kamala Khan, almost perfectly, as she is a huge superhero fan and has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of Marvel history. For Vellani, getting to meet the man responsible for the world she loves so much was enough to overload her system.
“My first time meeting Kevin was a little rough. He comes and Sana is like, there’s someone here to meet you. I look up and it’s just his eyes because he was wearing a mask, a hat, fully covered. I fully lost all brain function, all body function, I was a mannequin around him. I could not speak or smile or breathe.”
Meeting your heroes is always risky, and poor Vellani felt she didn’t quite make the best first impression due to being completely starstruck.
“This poor man was trying to talk to me, and me being so awkward made him super awkward, and we were just awkward together. Then they called me for my scene and I was like a zombie walking to do the scene. Adil was like, what’s wrong with you? And I’m like, Kevin Feige’s downstairs. And he’s like, oh, let’s go meet him together. So, we go meet him and the same thing happens. I was just hiding behind Adil and Kevin keeps peering over. He’s like, is this girl going to talk to me or something?”
The young actress did eventually get over the initial shock and the two were able to chat together. Vellani had a lot of questions for the Marvel president, 72 to be precise, about the MCU and also his role and day-to-day activities. Feige was kind enough to get back to her, with Vellani adding, “It was very sweet and he answered the first 40 the next day over a Zoom call. I really respect and admire him and I can speak to him now in full sentences, which is great.”
You can see Vellani in her role in Ms. Marvel, on Disney Plus with episodes one and two already available to stream.