nerd radio

Get ready for the new daily show

Kevin Feige talks the future of the MCU: Diversity, X-Men, Power Pack and more…

July 11th, 2018 by Marc Comments

Avengers Guardians

Well, the world has seen Avengers: Infinity War. We all know that at the end our heroes suffer a massive loss… and now we’re all wondering what comes next.

While we just posted a story revealing new looks and a possible title for the fourth Avengers (here – it’s spoilery), we really don’t know what’s coming next.

But one man who does is Marvel boss Kevin Feige and thankfully he’s been teasing all the good stuff for the future. Tease.

The big man has been doing the press rounds as Ant-man and the Wasp is coming this week (we in the UK have to wait until August for some crazy reason. Brexit, maybe?) and of course he’s been dropping awesome news about the future.

So if you want to know what might be happening with Spider-Man: Far From Home, The Eternals, Avengers 4 and Captain Marvel then read on.

The future in bright. The future in new. Characters.

Phase 4 Is All About Marvel’s New Characters

He said: “I mean, all of the things you’ve seen throughout Phases 1 and 2 and now through much of 3, the new characters always are important going forward in driving, shaping the future of the MCU,”

He’s obviously talking about characters like Black Panther, Ant-man, Captain Marvel… the new faces.

“I think it would be amazing, another ten years; another twenty films or so. We only focus on one step at a time but that’s all about continuing to surprise with the stories, go unexpected places, continue to play with new, fresh, unexpected genres and then introduce characters that people might have heard of or a beloved big fan base like Captain Marvel or characters like Guardians where before we made that, people had never even heard of them.”

We know of course, with Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and the original cast all getting older and looking to move on, a new face for the Avengers is the best way to move forward.

Ant-man introduced The Quantum Realm. We’re going back there in a big way.

Feige has confirmed that yes, there was images hidden in The Quantum Realm at the end of Ant-man, including a glimpse at the original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne, played by Michelle Pfeiffer in ant-man and the Wasp:  “There are things that you see back there that Peyton has put in there. Where and how they pay off in the near term and the long term remains to be seen,” Feige said.

There are loads of LGBTQ Characters in the MCU and we’ll meet them soon.

On the tour Feige was asked if we would see more LGBTQ characters and are they ones we already know or will they be all new? His answer was short but sweet: “Both. Both ones you’ve seen and ones you haven’t seen.”

Of course we know there was hints that Valkyrie was bisexual before Ragnarok was released and theres loads of potential with characters such as Okoye and Ayo.

So long as they were well written into the movies/plots then we know the fans will welcome them with open arms.

Don’t hold your breath for the Captain Marvel trailer

“I think there’s still a few months on it,” he’s said. Fair enough.

So, Spider-man: Far from Home, huh?

After Tom Holland ‘accidentally’ revealed the title of Spider-man 2 (Far From Home) fans have pondered what it means. Heck, we wondered if it was a reference to him being on Titan the last time we saw him: “We like [the title] of course because it ties into Homecoming,” Feige said.

“That notion of ‘home’ is a word that has dual meanings we’d like to continue with this version of Spider-Man. So, Far From Home has multiple meanings.” 

 

Avengers 4 title is…

Going to be announced much later: “That’ll be after the Captain Marvel teaser probably,” he says.

“Announcing that title. It’ll be towards the end of the year with however we launch that film.”

If they follow suit as they did with Infinity War, then the first teaser will debut at the end of the year with the trailer appearing with Captain Marvel next year as it did with Black Panther this year.

Will we finally see more female heroes fronting movies?

“I think we’re getting to the point soon where we have so many great female characters that those are just our heroes as opposed to when are they all female, all male. It’s just the Marvel heroes, more than half of which will be women.”

The timeline isn’t linear in the MCU and it will get worse moving forward…

“We just haven’t called it out as directly but the notion of this [Ant-man And The Wasp] was always to be a relative stand-alone film that took into account what was a fun cameo in Civil War, was really a giant deal and a big sacrifice for [Scott Lang] in his real life in his relation with his daughter and his relationship with Hank and Hope and this guy whose entire first movie was about becoming a good guy and coming out of prison and trying to make the right life for himself, which he did and he became a hero. He answered a call when heroes needed him and now he’s been under house arrest for two years.”

We’ve already seen many different periods in time outside the modern day MCU… we welcome more of the same.

Jake Gyllenhaal isn’t Mysterio. But he may be soon…

While we haven’d any direct quotes on this one, Feige has made it clear that actors signing on to movies is a complicated matter and, as of yet, there’s no ink of paper… yet

The Wasp will be around a lot more

It seems that actress Evangeline Lilly has already filmed some stuff for future Marvel movies. We expect we’ll be seeing her a lot more in the MCU moving forward: I think [Evangeline Lilly has] talked about it. There’s already been additional Wasp filming of her for future movies but she’s great.”

The Eternals is going to go deep into the MCU’s history… ancient aliens, anyone?

“Well, one of the cool things about that property and what Jack Kirby did with it and what’s been done with it in recent years is it does tie into they’re called Eternals, they’ve been around for a long time. You know? There’s this notion of all of these myths and legends that we know from ancient times, were they inspired by the Eternals? Kevin Feige: Were they Eternals? It’s a very … you know, it’s an ancient aliens kind of sci-fi trope that we think would be fun to explore someday.”

Whatever happens in Avengers 4, it’s going to come down to the ones who started it all, to finish it all.

We know we’re not the only ones who noticed it’s the original Avengers who survived The Click at the end of Avengers: Infinity War and it seems there’s a reason for that: “I think for a film series that is going on 10 years and is gearing towards a conclusion with Avengers 4, which you don’t usually have in these movies, you can sort of do the math. And realize it’s the original Avengers that are left.”

So it seems that one who started it all will be left to finish it too.

Get ready for Marvel movies aimed at younger audiences…

In the comics the Power Pack is a team of superheroes consisting of four young siblings, Alex Power, Julie Power, Jack Power, Katie Power and Franklin Richards and it seems that the MCU is gearing up for them.

“Power Pack is a property that we’ve been interested in for a long time,” says Feige.

“For many years because we wanted to do something for families, something that’s a little younger, Ant-Man has kind of become that franchise, certainly with Ant-Man and the Wasp, but Power Pack still is one of the many things that we discuss, wouldn’t it be fun to do someday?”

Franklin Richards, by the way, is the son Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards and Sue Storm… so maybe his enigmatic answer depends on the Fox deal?

 

Marvel will be upping the diversity in the next phase of the MCU: 

What sort of heroes are coming?

“Brand new heroes, new types of heroes, continuing what we see in Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Black Panther, and Captain Marvel. Who a hero can be, and should be, and seeing all different types of heroes.

“We want people from any background to be able to look at that screen and see themselves reflected, and just as importantly to have different types of people be inspired by people who don’t look like them, or people who have different backgrounds than them, and let them inspire them going forward.

“To me, that’s the most important thing that we can do, and we’ve started it, and we’re going to continue it.” 

If the Fox deal does go through, what plans are there for X-Men and Fantastic Four?

Well, not much says Feige: “I have vague dreams and vague ideas. But right now, bringing to life the 10,000-plus characters that Marvel fully controls is what the gameplan is.”

Yeah, we don’t believe him either…

Source: CBM

Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….