Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has explained how the studio will address one of the most common complaints among viewers.
With the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) now reaching “Phase Five”, the sprawling superhero franchise has grown to encompass 30 films, as well as several TV series.
This glut of content has led to fears of “superhero fatigue”, and speculation that viewers are starting to lose interest in Marvel films.
Speaking to The Movie Business Podcast, Feige spoke about the ways the studio intends to stave off superhero fatigue in the studio’s many forthcoming projects.
He said that there exist “80 years of the most interesting, emotional, groundbreaking stories that have been told in the Marvel comics” for the film franchise to draw upon.
“But another way to do that is adapting them into different genres and what types of movies we want to make,” he said. “[I remember] sitting at USC, and sitting in Cinema 101, and being exposed to so many different types of film, [and] 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 following 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.”
According to Feige, people had been asking him about imminent superhero fatigue since his “second year at Marvel”.
‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ is released in February
(Marvel Studios)
“I’ve been at Marvel Studios for 22 years now, over 22 years, and most of us here at Marvel Studios have been around a decade or longer together,” he continued, per The Direct. “And from probably my 2nd year at Marvel people were asking, ‘Well, how long is this going to last? Is this fad of comic book movies going to end?”
“And I didn’t really understand the question. Because to me it was akin to saying after Gone With The Wind, ‘Well how many more movies can be made off of novels? Do you think the audience will sour on movies being adapted from books?’”
The next MCU film to be released in cinemas is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, due to come out next month.