Marve Studios' Future Revealed By Kevin Feige

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The mastermind behind Marvel Studios has been out promoting the DVD and Blu-ray release of Avengers: Age of Ultron alongside Jeremy Latchem, but it seems the focus was more on the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  While I could split them all up into various articles, I thought it would be a nicer touch to make a round-up of all important elements that came out of the Q&A that focuses on the future of the MCU, the two Infinity Gauntlets, the TVs influence on the films and much more. So, before I continue to bore you with an introduction, how about we get into it all.

Marvel Studios Has Contingency Plans for X-Men and Fantastic Four[1]

Yes, it seems that while the rights are still over at 20th Century Fox, Marvel wasn’t just ignoring these franchises that are an integral part of the Marvel Comics. In case they would one day retrieve the rights to these characters, they have prepared contingency story plans in case this does happen so that they could integrate these characters into the MCU. As Feige states regarding this question: “Yes, in broad strokes. Sometimes in super specific things, but for the most part in broad strokes that are broad enough and loose enough that if through the development of four or five movies before we get to the culmination, as you say, we still have room to sway, and to go, and to surprise ourselves in places that we end up. So all the movies ultimately when they are finished can feel like they were all interconnected and meant to be and planned far ahead, but can live and breath as individual movies that can be satisfying by themselves.”

When asked how they will handle the sudden inclusion of Spider-Man, he stated: “The short answer is: the most important thing is the standalone movie, relaunching Spider-Man with a standalone movie with a new storyline that fits into this universe – that’s job number one for us. And as is the case, the connectivity is great but it doesn’t drive the train. That being said, if I understand what you’re asking, we had… this has been a dream of ours for a long time, and we always had contingency plans should you know — which we always do anyways. Are we going to be able to make another movie with this actor? If we are then we’ll do this, if not, we’re going to do this. If we get the rights to a certain character that’d be great, then we’d do this, if not, we’d do this. So we always sort of operate with those alternate timelines available and are ready to shift if something happens.”

TV Crossovers Are Inevitable[2]

With Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD starting its third season and the 20th November introducing us to Jessica Jones, it seems that Marvel Studios states that we will one day see crossovers from the TV to the film side of the MCU. It seems a theory I had for a while ago was that the film productions were long before the TV’s inceptions so there were some issues trying to bring it over, but Feige did point out that there is hope. "I think that's inevitable at some point as we're plotting the movies going forward and they're doing the shows. It's easier for them. They're more nimble and faster and produce things quicker than we do, which is one of the main reasons you see the repercussions of Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron in the show. Going forward and certainly as they begin to do more shows and cast them with such great actors as they have -- particularly Daredevil -- that that may occur. A lot of it is by the time we start doing a movie, they'd be midway through a season; by the time it comes out they'd be done with the second, starting the third season. Finding timing on that is not always easy." This premiere saw the return of Iron Man 3’s President Ellis making a cameo so it seems that we are slowly going to insert a new era for the MCU.

Marvel One-Shots May Return[3]

It seems that due to the size of Marvel Studios being rather small in comparison to the other companies like Warner Bros. or 20th Century Fox, they are limiting themselves to potentially three films in the future until the day they might expand. Yet, when asked if there are ways to expand beyond just those three films, the old Marvel One-Shots were brought back up. "We talk about [One-Shots] a lot actually, because when you have tables like that (lots of potential storylines, most unexplored in the finished film), and we go, What are we going to do with Howard (the Duck)? What are we going to do with Cosmo? We should do a one shot with Michael Pena. I mean, the universe is big. We’re moving up to three movies a year and I’m not sure how much beyond that we can go so the one shots are great for: oh we have this great idea, wouldn’t it be fun to see… We talk about it a lot. We’re a relatively small team. We’re comfortable doing three movies a year so its just about finding the time and the place. But we have a backlog of ideas." I am certainly hoping to see this return, as it made Marvel’s DVD and Blu-ray release stand-out in comparison to others and it was a nice way to expand the universe, so naturally with the TV universe it had simmered down, but could make a potential return.

Infinity War And Beyond[4]

It seems also some more news has been revealed regarding Infinity War, as many speculated that there are in fact two Infinity Gauntlets in the MCU, which is now officially confirmed. Furthermore, Feige hinted at the possibility of there actually being a fake and a real one as well. They also asked how much the story for the, for now, final Avengers installment has already been planned out, Feige simply stated that: "Yes, in broad strokes. Sometimes in super specific things, but for the most part in broad strokes that are broad enough and loose enough that if through the development of four or five movies before we get to the culmination, as you say, we still have room to sway, and to go, and to surprise ourselves in places that we end up." This prompted for Latcham to expand on the fact that Infinity War will also give us hints at Phase 4: "Well I think it definitely is an end to some version of the team that we’ve come to know as The Avengers. And I don’t know exactly whats going to happen yet in that film, but I think we start to hint at it at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron that the team will be evolving. But the ideas and ideals that make The Avengers still exist, and I think thats part of what makes this culmination will be: we’re seeing this version of the team doing this thing to save this universe, this galaxy, however you want to put it, and we’ll see where this goes. So its not the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it will be the end of part of it for sure. We’re still trying to sort out which parts. (laughs)"

There you have the rundown for all the statements that have been made by Feige regarding the future of the MCU and it certainly seems that Phase 4 will indeed happen even if many people state that the superhero franchise will come to an end. While many things are cryptic as usual, it is always nice to see Feige open up and give public statements on the franchise as a whole and looking forward to what they have planned next, as we are now entering the longest hiatus for a Marvel film, but luckily have Agents of SHIELD and Jessica Jones to keep us busy until then.

What do you think of all this? Leave a comment below!

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