Recently, several employees at Marvel Studios expressed their concerns to head Kevin Feige about the state of their brand and cinematic universe. Most employees consider watching a Marvel Studios project a chore due to how many films and shows have been released during The Multiverse Saga. Until Avengers: Endgame in 2019, Marvel Studios was considered the gold standard for a cinematic universe. Many studios have tried and failed to replicate their success, including the Snyderverse for DC Comics and even the Dark Universe at Universal Pictures. The studio could do “no wrong” with every movie they released. Though due to many problems outside of the studio’s control, many might not realize it’s surprising any of these great projects were made at all post-Endgame.
Avengers: Endgame was a global juggernaut that officially ended the Infinity Saga, which began with 2008’s Iron Man. Tony Stark sacrificed himself, and Steve Rogers finally grew old with his beloved Peggy Carter. The actors, including mainstays Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, were ready to hang up their decade-plus time at Marvel and move on to other projects. In late 2019, Disney had just finished acquiring 20th Century Fox (via The Walt Disney Company), which ultimately allowed characters from the X-Men and Fantastic Four to be woven into this peak cinematic universe. The cinematic universe was already growing beyond anything the studio ever dreamed of. Before the merger, it was unknown if Kevin Feige even planned for yet another reboot of the Fox characters into the next phase of his cinematic universe. Though with his experience on the 2000s X-Men as a junior producer, it was almost guaranteed once the merger became official.
The studio was already laying the groundwork for the next Saga in their cinematic universe, including expanding into television on the newly minted Disney+ streaming service. Marvel Studios’ parent company, Disney, had just announced a new CEO, Bob Chapek, to take over for Bob Iger. Chapek wanted to grow the subscriber count on Disney+ and mandated that his two head studios, Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios, produce multiple TV shows yearly (via What’s On Disney Plus). Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, which changed Hollywood and streaming forever. Most studios had to put in place many health and safety rules to get through a simple production. However, through the struggles of the pandemic bore technological ingenuity, such as virtual productions and the creation of The Volume. Lucasfilm was at its lowest point for the Star Wars franchise following The Rise of Skywalker box office results. However, using The Volume, it found some significant success with The Mandalorian on Disney+. Lucasfilm has also only worked on Disney+ shows since 2019.
Despite not being part of the original Multiverse Plan, Marvel Studios began producing many shows to keep up with Chapek’s mandate. Feige began hiring several executives to shepherd his TV shows, such as Brad Winderbaum, as he could not be as hands-on as in the studio’s early days. Unfortunately, the TV shows that were ultimately released have been either exceedingly terrible, like Secret Invasion, or pretty enjoyable, like Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye, and now finally moving towards premium television with WandaVision, Loki, and Daredevil: Born Again. Unfortunately, many lower-quality Disney+ Marvel shows were made quickly in-between on a conveyor belt, like Echo, Falcon & the Winter Soldier, and this year’s Ironheart.
The films, like Thor: Love & Thunder, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and The Marvels, also suffered a massive drop in quality following the COVID-19 pandemic. Some films, like Eternals and Black Widow, were passable, though not at the standard Marvel Studios was known for. However, despite the global pandemic affecting every corner of Hollywood, the studio did have several highlights, including Shang-Chi, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Spider-Man: No Way Home. The studio also mourned the tragic and sudden loss of esteemed actor Chadwick Boseman as the Black Panther. Marvel Studios was forced to rewrite the second film to explain the characters death and honor the actor’s tragic passing.
Fiege had finally figured out how to navigate the pandemic era of productions when he was hit with two simultaneous Hollywood strikes in 2023. The strikes included the WGA writers and SAG-AFTRA actor strikes, which boycotted work until fair pay was granted to its guild members. All American-based productions were forced to shut down during this time, and many Marvel Studios projects were put on hold, like the long-anticipated Blade film. Ironically, the strikes did help retool Daredevil: Born Again creatively and link it to its original Netflix roots, to the surprise of many fans.
After braving the storm of the pandemic, two strikes, and the loss of an esteemed actor, the multiverse saga was still going forward. Even though the films weren’t directly connected, several threads linked the new films. Feige boldly incorporated past Marvel Entertainment films, like Sony’s Spider-Man films and Fox’s Fantastic Four and X-Men films, into his MCU via “the multiverse.” While many are over the gimmick of legacy actors appearing, it did give us great moments, including the return of Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Now, nothing was off limits for Kevin Feige, even with several duds that had been released thus far.
Feige finally had a villain that could be bigger than Thanos and take on the Avengers from, in Kang. He also had every legacy actor at his fingertips to steer Marvel Studios back to its former glory, pre-Avengers: Endgame. The studio began having Kang cameos sprinkle throughout the MCU. However, yet again another massive wrench was thrown into Feige’s plan, including the conviction of actor Jonathan Majors. Marvel Studios quickly had to pivot away from the actor leading Avengers: The Kang Dynasty by firing him immediately. The studio also wasn’t happy with how the third Ant-Man performed and fired screenwriter Jeff Loveness while he was working on the script for The Kang Dynasty.
As Deadpool liked to quip during Deadpool & Wolverine, we are at “a low point of the MCU”. Now, the studio had to pivot again back to an actor who was considered long gone from the studio with the announcement of Robert Downey Jr. returning at San Diego Comic-Con 2024. While extremely exciting at first, many fans are cautious that this will be another gimmick by the studio to get fans to have faith in them again. However, this time, he will play the villain Doctor Doom, not Tony Stark, without any lead-up to the character due to their original commitment to Jonathan Majors as Kang. The Russo Brothers are expected to return to direct with the return of their Avengers screenwriter, Stephen McFeely. The studio is banking that if the creative team could land Thanos in one film with only a handful of cameos leading up to Infinity War, it’s possible Doom could also be great.
Last month, the studio had a massive social media campaign to announce the return of many previous MCU actors for the new Avengers movie. As well as the return of many legacy X-Men actors like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, to the surprise of many. Feige began his producing career on the set of the original X-Men films, and these final multiverse Avengers films were also meant to bring it full circle for the producer. Feige has every actor from the recent MCU phases and past Marvel films at his disposal for this massive crossover film, which will finally mark the end of the Multiverse Saga. Production has just begun this week in the United Kingdom.
While his employees are worried that fans might not trust the brand as they used to, they must realize that the Multiverse was nothing like the Infinity Saga regarding the state of Hollywood behind the scenes. After navigating a global pandemic, two strikes, a massive actor passing away, another actor getting convicted and mandates to oversaturate the streaming market with TV shows, it’s a surprise we even got a few great MCU projects after 2020. Still, Feige must land a box office smash in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars to keep the brand from diluting to the fanbase more than it already has. And get the brand back to when Avengers: Endgame was a global phenomenon everywhere.
Kevin Feige now looks to the next Saga in the MCU, unofficially titled The Mutant Saga. While many legacy actors from the past X-Men films have appeared throughout the Multiverse Saga, this upcoming Saga will be entirely original for the MCU and feature brand-new actors in these iconic roles. We know that screenwriter Michael Lesslie was brought on board to pen the first X-Men reboot film in 2024. How a mutant story will take over the next 10 years in the MCU is unknown, and quite a feat for Feige to pull off. Many fans assume we will see an X-Men vs. Avengers film down the line due to how massive the two Marvel teams are, but that has yet to be revealed. First, Feige needs to land the ship of the Multiverse Saga before we jump into the X-Men. It should be noted that each Saga was roughly a decade long, so it’s not uncommon that the Mutant Saga could be that long. They have also begun cutting back on the number of projects they produce and release so that Marvel fatigue doesn’t return. Hopefully, with how insane and volatile Hollywood has been during The Multiverse Saga behind the scenes, Feige and Marvel Studios will have smooth sailing into The Mutant Saga for the next decade (via The Wall Street Journal).
All Marvel Studios films & TV shows are streaming now on Disney+