Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC Universe, and many other superhero movie franchises have definitely taken the top spot in the list of movies that make the most at the box office. And why not? Just like Iron Man for the MCU, and Superman for the DCU, it’s only sensible that movies with loved and recurring characters would end up earning a lot of interest from the public.
People grew up with these characters, and they’re keen on seeing how these characters develop over a certain period of time because they’re connected to them. But one of the downsides of this superhero genre is that people often get tired of things, or in this context ‘superhero fatigue’. Kevin Feige recently addresses the whole situation, at least for the MCU.
Kevin Feige On The Whole Superhero Fatigue Debate
The worst and biggest disappointment that fans of a certain franchise can receive in the next installment of a movie is recycled content, or simply nothing innovative at all. While it is not directly shown, many superhero movies have the habit of doing the same thing over and over again.
Plot points get predictable, the old winning-the battle-through-sheer-willpower and might/ the power of friendship or love is already a well-known cliche among seasoned superhero movie lovers. All these common plotlines are part of a phenomenon termed by the internet as ‘superhero fatigue’.
With the increasing amount of announcements of superhero movies and their sequels/ continuations (like the MCU’s phases), there is bound to be little room left for any original or creative ideas, because after all, how many unique stories can you possibly write?
This is one problem that Kevin Feige seems to have a possible solution to. During an appearance on The Movie Business Podcast, the 49-year-old movie and TV producer opined his solution to ‘superhero fatigue’-
“Another way to do that is adapting them into different genres and what types of movies we want to make. And I, from sitting at USC, probably Semester 2 before your screenwriting class, Jason, and sitting in Cinema 101 and being exposed to so many different types of film that I said, ‘I want to make all of these. I don’t want to just make one kind of movie, I want to make all kinds of movies.'”
“And I found that if we tell the story right, and we adapt them in a way that the audience still, knock on wood so far, is falling us along 22-plus years later with, that we can tell any types of movies that share two things. The Marvel Studios logo above the title and a seed of an idea from our publishing history.”
That’s quite the plan that Kevin Feige has laid out for a franchise he built from the ground up, all this even after more than a decade of producing blockbusters!
What Guides The MCU And Its Phases? Kevin Feige Answers
The MCU is currently at the dawn of its Fifth Phase after the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in December last year. It’ll start off with the release of the third Ant-Man movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, scheduled for release in February next month.
The MCU led by Kevin Feige will add to its roster of over 30 movies, and there are about a dozen more in development. So how exactly are these ‘phases’ made? And what guidance do Feige and his team receive when planning out such an extensive superhero movie universe?
During the very same appearance on The Movie Business Podcast, Feige simply answered the question with-
“Each of our sagas are broken into phases and we now find ourselves on the precipice of Phase 2 of the Multiverse Saga. And there are two ways to do it. One, we look at an overarching narrative, always using the comics and the 80-plus years of Marvel comic history as our guide of what general, long-term story we want to do. But really, it comes down to each individual film or series, and what type of genre we want to do.”
Everything is well-planned out, this much is expected from a man who runs a billion-dollar movie franchise. One can only wonder what Kevin Feige and his team will come up with when the phases enter double digits.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is scheduled for a theatrical release in the United States on February 17, 2023.
Source: The Direct
