You’d think after ten years of Hollywood dominance Marvel would be reluctant to change anything. But to stagnate is to die, especially in Hollywood, and an evolutionary jump is going to take place as Marvel’s Cinematic Universe enters Phase 4 after the events of Ant-Man & the Wasp, Captain Marvel, and Avengers 4. We’ve speculated for years on what that might mean, and Kevin Feige has clarified a little bit about the future without giving much away.
Feige spoke at the PGA Produced By Conference, and the thing he said that will perk up fanboy ears is that Phase 4 will have “different incarnations” of characters we’re familiar with. We should also expect to see continuing stories of other characters we know, and of course plenty of brand new heroes. This isn’t completely unexpected as speculation has been rampant for years that Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and others in the original team of Avengers may fall in Avengers 4. But what happens then? Does Bucky take over the mantle of Captain America? Maybe Falcon, or somebody else? Maybe we’ll get a female Thor for a while like in the comics? Maybe War Machine takes over as Iron Man? Or a woman suits up after Tony Stark is finished? We just don’t know, but it’ll be exciting to find out.
It was only last month that we learned of plans in motion to introduce Ms. Marvel aka Kamala Khan into the MCU, and Feige enthusiastically re-confirmed it, saying “We wanted to get Captain Marvel out there first so that there is something for a young Muslim girl to get inspired by.” Ms. Marvel is one of their most popular characters right now. The Pakistani teen becomes a hero after being inspired by Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel (played by Brie Larson in the upcoming movie). She has Inhuman DNA which gives her shapeshiftinig abilities.
Feige also talked about Marvel’s track record with female directors, which isn’t so good. They’ve only had one so far, Anna Boden who is co-directing Captain Marvel. While he didn’t promise all 20 of their upcoming films will feature female directors, he did say that a “heck of a lot of them will.”
There was praise heaped on Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, and talk about what Marvel looks for in a director. They’ve made some bold choices in the past and it sounds like we can expect that to continue.
What next after Avengers IW2? Kevin Feige says he is working on:
– Continuing stories of characters you’re familiar with
– Different incarnations of characters you know
– Introducing completely new characters you never heard of before (unless ur a comics fan) #ProducedBy2018— Digital LA (@DigitalLA) June 9, 2018
Audience question: Marvel has had men directors for its past 20 some movies. Can the next 20 feature women to balance?KF: I can’t promise you that all 20 future Marvel movies will have women directors, but a lot of them will @producersguild #ProducedBy2018 #ProducedBy
— Digital LA (@DigitalLA) June 9, 2018
On Miss Marvel after Capitan Marvel: We wanted to get Captain Marvel out there first so that there is something for a young Muslim girl to get inspired by – Kevin Feige @producersguild #ProducedBy2018 #ProducedBy pic.twitter.com/VScZpAFRjP— Digital LA (@DigitalLA) June 9, 2018
‘Find people who have a unique point of view, have something to say, and surround them with people with experience making movies’ – Kevin Feige @producersguild #ProducedBy2018 #ProducedBy— Digital LA (@DigitalLA) June 9, 2018
Black Panther ‘was a transformative experience for us’After watching Black Panther, Kevin Feige said to Ryan Coogler: ‘I think that’s the best movie we ever made….Ryan, you’ve made us a better studio.’@producersguild #ProducedBy2018 #ProducedBy
— Digital LA (@DigitalLA) June 9, 2018
