Spider-Man: No Way Home: Kevin Feige Reflects on Watching Jon Watts Grow as a Director Across MCU Trilogy

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has enjoyed watching Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts grow across the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man trilogy. The latest Spider-Man film has already crossed $1 billion at the box office, making it the biggest hit of the pandemic era. Much of its success can be pointed to Watts’ work as a director, and the nostalgia factor of returning stars like Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. The partnership between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios has been successful for both entities, with Jon Watts helming Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and now Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Feige spoke glowingly about Watts, revealing his work on the character-driven Cop Car is what got him on Marvel’s radar for Spider-Man: Homecoming. All of the lessons Watts learned in each Spider-Man movie led to the record-breaking success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which Feige called “the most ambitious Spider-Man movie ever made.” The interview with Kevin Feige reflecting on Spider-Man: No Way Home and his Jon Watts quote can be found below:

“What’s such an honor working at Marvel Studios is getting to watch storytellers, whether they’re actors, whether they’re directors, whether they’re writers, whether they’re the other creative producers, grow and change and evolve over the years; and Jon Watts is an amazing example of that. He did a great film called Cop Car, very small but very character-oriented which is really what got him on our radar for Homecoming and now seeing him grow through Homecoming and then Far From Home and now with No Way Home, which is by far the most ambitious Spider-Man movie ever made, seeing how he’s grown into that role and really now has gone from an excited newcomer to an excited expert, which is fun to watch, and he’s now handling these tremendous action scenes with a skill that now other filmmakers are looking up to and wanting to learn from. Which is just fun now as — am I becoming an elder statesman? Maybe I am…to now sit back and watch that is really amazing.”

Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios are so impressed with Jon Watts that he’s tapped to helm the eventual Fantastic Four Reboot. The Marvel Studios president made the announcement during the 2020 Disney Investor Day presentation. This will mark Watts’ second major superhero franchise, as Marvel’s First Family officially joins the MCU after Disney’s acquisition of Fox.

What do you think of Jon Watts’ directorial job on Spider-Man: No Way Home? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Cover photo by Amy Sussman via Getty