Marvel’s Kevin Feige Said More Than We Thought in San Diego Comic-Con Interview

At San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, not only did we not know it would be the last gathering of the event until 2021, but we also did not know how much Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was revealing in our exclusive interview. On the heels of a panel which revealed all of Phase 4’s titles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Feige head across the street to field questions from more than a dozen reporters. Multiple movies and TV shows were revealed but, of course, we all wanted to know more.

Why was there no Avengers title? How connected are these movies? What does the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe look like with all of these characters and which new characters who were not named are on the way?

Feige answered those questions in a professional way, offering plenty of insight but not spoiling any details or revealing things which might end up changing behind-the-scenes somewhere down the line. As the movies develop and things have since shifted (including the release dates for many of these movies), it looks like Feige offered up plenty of insight in the above interview which we just couldn’t realize at the time.

Below, we break down why some of those hints Feige was dropping are actually quite meaningful and revealing for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

Avengers 5?

Avengers: Endgame might be the last Avengers movie we see for a little while. Marvel Studios dropped four Avengers movies between 2012 and 2019, culminating with Avengers: Endgame becoming the biggest movie of all time at the worldwide box office. The slate of films announced at San Diego Comic-Con, which has since been adjusted to include Black Panther II and Captain Marvel 2, does not point to an Avengers movie in the three years which follow Endgame.

However, there is still plenty of crossover coming — as Feige noted when I asked him where the Avengers 5 announcement was.

“Well, we got a Falcon & Winter Soldier show.  We got a WandaVision show. We’re introducing Monica Rambeau in that WandaVision show. Wanda Maximoff is probably near the upper echelons of power… I contend she would’ve taken down Thanos if he hadn’t called [Rain Fire]…So, her being the Scarlet Witch now, as Lizzie [Olsen] said on stage, full unabashed power base coming into the Doctor Strange movie, that is two heroes coming together in a fun way.”

At the time, Captain Marvel 2 had not been announced. The aged up Monica Rambeau now will likely play a role in Captain Marvel 2, with Brie Larson’s sequel arriving about two years after WandaVision. This should indicate that Carol Danvers will be set in the present day for her sequel.

Meanwhile, WandaVision has also revealed the first look at Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff in the full-on Scarlett Witch costume. We’re also expecting her kids, Wiccan and Speed, now. Whether or not it is in her imagination, it seems she will one way or another hone her intensely powerful abilities and be inspired to embrace the look of the character’s comic book counterpart. Furthermore, this will lead straight into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, a film which could rely on WandaVision setting up alternate dimension stories and introduce alternate version of Scarlet Witch, as well. Perhaps one will be an X-Men?

Fantastic Four / X-Men

Speaking of X-Men, WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness could play their part in introducing the characters to the big screen. Maybe the roles from the Fox-delivered X-Men movies are not completely out the window, as some fans keep their fingers crossed for Michael Fassbender and Evan Peters to get another shot at their respective roles.

Feige did name drop the Fantastic Four and “mutants” when he was closing out the Marvel Studios panel at San Diego Comic-Con, so I asked him what that means for the future of the characters. “That means we have them back and we are working towards it,” Feige said.

Could they already have revealed where they are “working towards it” in the panel and this interview but we just have no way of knowing for sure, especially prior to learning more about the upcoming slate? While on the subject, could Sam Raimi coming in to direct Strange 2 actually lead into a live-action Spider-Verse movie which would call for Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield to return?

As for Blade, Feige offered “no” timetable for when Mahershala Ali will debut in such a film.

The Eternals

The Eternals has merely revealed a bit of footage at CCXP in Brazil. Some set photos and posters have made their way online but Marvel has kept the film very close to the vest. In the timeline where Black Widow released on May 1, an Eternals trailer would have already surfaced but the film delays have called for a delay in Eternals marketing, as well.

By the sound of Feige’s description, the film which will be the first of Phase 4 to take place in a post-Endgame setting will be highly tied to other Marvel Cinematic Universe properties. 

“It will be a story that introduces you to this incredibly eclectic group of immortals,” Feige said. “They are the focus of the story but it takes place in our universe. It takes place in the MCU so there will be mentions. You’re gonna learn certain things about it. But, yes, the Celestials go back a long. We heard about them. The Collector told us a little bit about a Celestial. We know Knowhere is the severed head of a Celestial. We know Ego was involved in all that but we learn much more about them and their agenda and what they’ve been up to.”

Wishful thinking — but could this already crowded Marvel movie include appearances by beloved characters we have already met? Or, could it go as far as introducing major players who may have been behind-the-scenes in stories unfolding in the Infinity Saga? 

Lots of questions for this one, still, but it sounds like Jack Kirby’s  comics are going to be brought to life in a way which will be thoroughly intertwined with MCU stories both cosmic and earthbound.

(Lead photo: The Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA via Getty Images)