Marvel’s Kevin Feige Reportedly Had Talks With DC Films

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has put nothing short of his total dedication and effort into making the Marvel Cinematic Universe the biggest franchise in entertainment. However, did you know that Feige also had talks with DC Films? A report breaks down how the new head of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav, plans to turn the DCEU into the next MCU. Naturally, a part of that report veers into the territory of how Marvel Studios had Feige in place to help shepherd the MCU into existence – and how Zaslav might be seeking his guidance for DC. 

As Puck reports: 

Zaslav could make another run at Feige, who, I’m told, talked pretty seriously with Warners a few years ago when he was angling to escape the oversight of Marvel’s then-madman C.E.O. Ike Perlmutter. (Iger and Horn ended up siding with Feige, smartly.) And Warners has in the past reached out to Louis D’Esposito and other key Feige deputies, with no luck… Zaz has been looking, but given Feige’s stature in town and the inevitable comparisons between Marvel and DC, this is among the most thankless high-profile gigs in entertainment. 

Kevin Feige is truly a unique case; for years Feige sat in boardrooms of Sony listening to Amy Pascal and other trying to build franchises around Spider-Man and other characters, before getting a shot to do it himself. While many now look at Feige as some sort of holy saint of blockbuster entertainment franchises, the truth is Feige’s success was forged through much trial and error in the early days of the MCU. Marvel Studio productions first had to partner with other major studios to put out early films like Iron Man, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Iron Man 2 (Paramount), or The Incredible Hulk (Universal), as well as working with directors wanting to impose their own creative visions on the projects (Joe Johnston, Kenneth Branaugh). It was a rough transition between Phase I and Phase II of the MCU, with Feige going through many growing pains along the way. 

That’s all to say: David Zaslav and other WBD execs may be hoping that there’s some magical Kevin Feige figure out there who could shepherd DC – but if we’re really comparing to Marvel, then maybe David Zaslav and other WBD execs may just need to jump into the fray willing to learn and grow like Feige did.