Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige Says MCU Has "Barely Scratched the Surface" of Marvel Potential

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has remained a cultural juggernaut for years, helping introduce audiences all over the world to some of Marvel Comics' heroes and villains. Even amid a steady stream of blockbuster movies and Disney+ television shows, and a number of new projects on the horizon, it sounds like Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has a unique outlook on the franchise's grand storytelling. In a recent interview with Variety, Feige reflected on the MCU's run thus far, and argued that the saga has "barely scratched the surface" of the stories that have been told in Marvel Comics.

"The great thing about Marvel truly is how many wonderful, interesting characters we have in the comics — they've been at it for 85 years," Feige explained. "Even after 32 movies, it feels like we've barely scratched the surface."

What Is the Next Avengers Movie?

During 2022's San Diego-Comic Con, Marvel Studios confirmed that the current "Multiverse Saga" of titles will culminate in two Avengers movies — Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. Despite the film's newest release date being four years away, the fervor around Secret Wars has already begun, with fans eager to see if and how the film adapts the 1984 and 2015 comic storylines of the same name,

"Not every film in the Infinity Saga focused on the Infinity Stones or Thanos, and it'll be the same across 5 and 6," Feige previously told Entertainment Weekly. "But we're gearing up. People will get a taste of this in a big way in Quantumania as we lead to Avengers: Secret Wars, which I'm extremely excited for. You know, I'm coming up on 23 years at Marvel. That's a long time. It's not quite half my life, but it's almost half my life. [Laughs] Many of us have been together for a decade or more. And we only do it because we are so excited and in love with the potential for what we can do ahead. The storylines that weave together through Phase 5 and 6 into Secret Wars and the opportunities that the multiverse brings storytelling-wise, it's a whole new aspect to the MCU. "

Will There Be Less Marvel Disney+ Series?

As some Star Wars and Marvel shows have debuted on the platform to lower viewership and less-positive ratings, Disney CEO Bob Iger hinted that the company might be scaling back on these original streaming projects. Recent reports have also confirmed that Marvel Studios will be changing its television strategy, employing proper showrunners instead of "head writers", and adding more steps to the development process of potential series.

"There have been some disappointments we would have liked some of our more recent releases to perform better," Iger explained in an interview with CNBC. "It's reflective not as a problem from a personnel perspective, but I think in our in our zeal to basically grow our content significantly to serve mostly our streaming offerings, we ended up taxing our people way beyond — in terms of their time and their focus — way beyond where they had been... To try and make Disney+ worthwhile, we made decisions that hurt other parts of the business. That's likely true at least in part, but it's also something that isn't unique to Disney. With blockbuster box office hauls depressed across the board, it's hard not to imagine that part of the problem is that the studios are so eager for a return to "normal" that they haven't figured out a way to monetize the shorter exclusivity windows and higher overall volume of content creation that have been hallmarks of the streaming era."