Kevin Feige Says Rejection Is Constant, Reveals Big Name Actor Marvel “Really Wanted” Recently Turned Them Down

Kevin Feige may be on top of the world, figuratively-speaking, considering the massive success that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but even the mighty Marvel Studios is no stranger to rejection. During a Q&A at New York Film Academy recently, Feige was asked about rejection and he explained that it was simply part of things and revealed that even Marvel is rejected sometimes. According to Feige, they recently pitched an actor that they really wanted for something and that actor simply wasn’t interested.

“It happened the other day, with an actor,” Feige said. “There’s an actor we want for something, they come in, you give a big pitch and you can sort of tell they’re not into it. ‘I guess I’m a failure, I’ll show them, we’ll cast somebody even better.’ So, it’s just part of it and don’t linger on them, is what I usually try to do, don’t think too much about it, don’t stew in it, move on quickly.”

While it may be a surprise that anyone would turn down Marvel Studios, Feige appears to take that sort of thing with the same general approach he has to the business of making movies overall: keep things in perspective and just keep working on it. It’s that general approach that is behind much of what makes Marvel such a success.

“Well, I wish it were. That there was a formula that I could just divvy out to everybody,” Feige said. “The truth is, we came about as a studio in an interesting way. We were tasked with making two movies in 2008. I had been a part of Marvel up until that point for about five or six years. As was mentioned, the X-Men films, the early Fantastic Four films, the first Daredevil film, and the Sam Raimi Spidey films, which were definitely the high point.”

“I learned that just by sort of ingratiate yourself with the filmmakers and having them realize I was just excited to be there, I was just excited to be near a movie and near a group of people making a movie, so I got to learn what to do, what not to do. So, by the time we became our own studio and got our own financing to make Iron Man, we got to use everything I learned, good and bad, to try to focus our own vision on what we wanted.”

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in spring 2021, Loki in spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If? In summer 2021, Hawkeye in fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 in May 2022. Moon Knight, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel series have also been announced.