By George & Josh Bate
Ahead of the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has given new interviews with Deadline, ComicBook.com, Variety that provide a ton of interesting insights about the future of the MCU, Miles Morales, Kang vs. Doom, the reboot of the X-Men, the status of Blade, whether there will be a Young Avengers movie, the MCU being “woke” or “DEI,” and more.
Let’s break down all of the reveals from Feige’s new interviews….
What Went Wrong Post-Avengers: Endgame
Before looking ahead to the future of the MCU, Feige reflected on the franchise missteps following the gargantuan hit that was Avengers: Endgame.
“We produced 50 hours of stories between 2007 and 2019,” Feige told Variety. “[In the six years since], we’ve had well over 100 hours of stories — in half the time. That’s too much.”
Feige elaborated that the studio went into a period of “experimentation” after Endgame that prioritized expansion of the franchise. However, expansion came at the risk of alienated fans, who felt like they had to do a lot of homework ahead of each release. “What we also ended up focusing on because of Disney+ was expansion — and it’s that expansion that I think led people to say, ‘It used to be fun, but now do I have to know everything about all of these?’”
Feige elaborated that, ““For the first time ever, quantity trumped quality.” He continued, “We spent 12 years working on the Infinity Saga saying that’s never going to happen to us. We always had more characters than we could possibly make because we weren’t going to make a movie a month. Suddenly, there’s a mandate to make more. And we go, ‘Well, we do have more.’”
One thing that Kevin Feige does not attribute Marvel Studios’ recent inconsistencies with is superhero fatigue. “Look at Superman,” Feige said. “It’s clearly not superhero fatigue, right?”
The Financial Disappointment of Thunderbolts*
Feige believes that the over-abundance of MCU movies and shows led to Thunderbolts* disappointing at the box office (the Florence Pugh-led film sits at an impressive 88% on Rotten Tomatoes but failed to crack $400 million at the global box office).
“Thunderbolts* I thought was a very, very good movie,” Feige said. “But nobody knew that title and many of those characters were from a [TV] show. Some [audiences] were still feeling that notion of, ‘I guess I had to have seen these other shows to understand who this is.’ If you actually saw the movie, that wouldn’t be the case, and we make the movie so that’s not the case. But I think we still have to make sure the audience understands that.”
Thunderbolts* Director Jake Schreier Will Helm X-Men
As reported by ComicBook.com, Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier will officially direct the MCU’s reboot of the X-Men.
“It’s official, Jake Schreier is doing X-Men for us, and we’re very, very lucky,” Feige said. “And we’re very, very lucky to have him and very excited to have him. And so we’re beginning. It’s all starting now. The script’s underway.”
One of the reasons Schreier was hired for X-Men was that he “has his pulse on…a younger demographic,” says Feige. “He’s younger than me for sure, but he’s tapped into that in a way that I think was important for Thunderbolts*, much more important for X-Men. Because X-Men, as it was in the comics, will be a very youth-oriented, focused and cast movie.”
“There have absolutely been discussions” about Deadpool 4
After the monumental success of Deadpool & Wolverine in 2024, a sequel seems inevitable. Feige revealed that he has spoken to star Ryan Reynolds about the possibility of a Deadpool 4.
“There have absolutely been discussions,” said Feige. We’re in touch with Ryan a lot. So the answer is yes.”
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Will Be a Street-Level Story
The next MCU movie to release after The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be Spider-Man: Brand New Day in summer 2026. Feige discussed the new Spidey flick with ComicBook.com.
“I think there’s a promise at the end of No Way Home, that for as sad as it is that Peter is forgotten by everyone in his life, we are seeing for the first time in the Tom Holland Spider-Man stories him being a proper Spider-Man,” Feige commented. “Him being by himself, dedicated to saving the city, and dealing with — for lack of better terms — street-level crime, as opposed to world-ending events.”
Feige also confirmed that Jon Bernthal will return as Frank Castle / The Punisher in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. “Who are the other street-level characters that we’ve never seen [Spider-Man] interact with?” Feige asks. “And of course, I love that The Punisher started in a Spider-Man comic. That great cover… I don’t want to say too much, but Destin — I will say too much — Destin is doing an amazing job right now on that movie, which starts shooting very soon. And he’s got eight or nine comic covers up on his wall in his art department that he is bringing to life in this movie, which is super cool.”
Less MCU Shows Moving Forward
Consistent with the trend of Star Wars shows on Disney+, Marvel Studios will decrease their output of MCU shows in the future, confirms Kevin Feige.
For the shows that are produced, Feige is determined to allow “a TV show to be a TV show,” meaning that the lines between what constitutes a feature film and streaming series are no longer as blurred. Feige provided an example of this by saying that the climactic events of Thunderbolts* involving The Void’s attack on Manhattan will not be addressed in Season 2 of the similarly NYC-based Daredevil: Born Again.
Marvel is Representative, Not Necessarily “Woke” or “DEI”
Some of the misguided criticism of the MCU in recent years has been from ‘fans’ who claim the franchise has gone “woke” or “DEI.” Feige offered his opinion on this matter to Variety. “Marvel represents the world outside your window,” he said. “I’ve always said it, before DEI and woke became a thing and after DEI and woke became a thing — are we after? I don’t think so.”
Will There Be a Young Avengers Movie?
In the years since Endgame, the MCU has introduced a number of young heroes that mirror established icons of the franchise. Rumors have circulated for years now that Feige and company have been developing a Young Avengers movie or series, something Feige was asked about by Variety.
“Potentially,” he said. “In that case, it comes down to where’s the best story and where is the best strange alchemy. Who would be fun to see them with? Each other, because that’s what the Young Avengers are, but also mixing it up more.”
Miles Morales is Not Coming to the MCU Anytime Soon
Although Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse releases from Sony Pictures in 2027, Miles Morales has yet to make his live-action debut. When asked whether the beloved character could appear in the MCU in the near future, Feige said, “That is nowhere…. We’ve been told to stay away.”
Future MCU Projects Will Aim to Have Lower Budgets
Marvel Studios started “grinding down the budget” in 2023 and will continue to do so.
Feige confirmed that every MCU movie from Deadpool & Wolverine through The Fantastic Four: First Steps have “been upwards of a third cheaper than they were two years before that.”
Feige revealed that Marvel executives even met with the team behind Gareth Edwards’ The Creator, which was produced for just $80 million, to learn how to produce big-scale films with tighter budgets.
Kang vs. Doctor Doom
Perhaps the biggest storytelling shift in The Multiverse Saga came when Kang the Conqueror was scrapped as the big bad in favor of Doctor Doom. In the interview with Variety, Feige offered a peak behind the curtain of this decision and revealed that it was in works prior to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
“We had started to realize that Kang wasn’t big enough, wasn’t Thanos, and that there was only one character that could be that because he was that in the comics for decades and decades,” Feige said. “We started talking about Doctor Doom even before we officially pivoted from Kang. In fact, I had started talking with Robert about this audacious idea before Ant-Man 3 even came out.”
In speaking to Deadline, Feige also relayed that conversations about scrapping Kang predated the controversy surrounding Kang actor Jonathan Majors. ““Even before what had happened to the actor, we had started to realize that Kang wasn’t Thanos.”
An Update on Mahershala Ali’s Blade
At SDCC 2019, Mahershala Ali arrived on the Hall H stage to announce that he would play Blade in the MCU. Since then, however, Ali has not appeared on screen as the character, only making a brief vocal cameo in 2021’s Eternals.
Feige revealed to Deadline that there were four versions of Blade in the development, two of which were period pieces (one of them set in the 1930s), but that the team has “landed on modern day” for the film.
Classic Characters Will Be Recast
Feige does not rule out different actors taking on the roles of Captain America and Iron Man in the future.
“[They’re now] searching for a new James Bond. David Corenswet is the new Superman — he was awesome. That will always be the case”
Marvel Studios’ Seven-Year Plan
Looking forward, Feige noted that Marvel Studios has “a seven-year plan” for the MCU that “goes to 2032.”
For what it’s worth, we at The HoloFiles think the mixed trajectory of the MCU post-Avengers: Endgame has been wildly blown out of proportion. Sure, there have been too many projects and a few misses in there (in particular Secret Invasion, Echo, and Ironheart). But the post-Endgame era has also seen some of the very MCU stories, including Loki, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Thunderbolts*. A franchise has mammoth as the MCU will always attract haters, but, based on Kevin Feige’s new comments, we think the future of Marvel Studios is bright.