It’s no secret that I’m a fan of
comic books and comic book culture. Obviously the last decade has seen a
massive renaissance of comics in popular media, with the rise of comic book
movie adaptations. While we can credit such successes as Batman Begins and the Sam Raimi Spider-Man
films for a good amount of the interest in that field, much of the credit in
recent years is due to the coveted Marvel Cinematic Universe, which began with
2007’s hit, IronMan, starring Robert
Downey Jr.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a
projected of Marvel Studios, and spearheaded by Marvel Studios President, Kevin
Feige, the subject of today’s article. Feige has been playing a prominent role
in the Marvel film franchises since 2000, starting as an associate
producer on the X-Men franchise, and eventually becoming president of Marvel
Studios in 2007, just before the Disney buyout in 2009 (Business Wire, 2007).
He’s been a producer on nearly every Marvel film since he began, with the
exclusion of Blade, Ghost Rider, and any of the X-Men franchise after the third film.
Many fans credit the success of the
Marvel Cinematic Universe to Mr. Feige, claiming that he understands that pleasing
fans and making money don’t have to be mutually exclusive (Leonard, 2014). Many
of the decisions made regarding the Marvel Cinematic Universe go through him in
some fashion. He’s often credited with the idea to bring in lesser known
heroes, such as the Guardians of the
Galaxy, and “mediocre” heroes like Ant-Man,
turning them into commercial successes.
Personally, there are many
questions I’d love to ask the man, and quite a few things I’d like to discuss
with him. Not the least of which is who proposed the Disney acquisition, and
what his initial reaction was at the time, given that he’d scarcely been in the
president’s chair for two years. Mr. Feige is, of course, a businessman first
and foremost, so I’d be interested in hearing what his perspective on the
situation was, considering that I’m more on the creative side.
I’d also like to know more about
how Marvel Entertainment dealt with having its various properties scattered
across different studios, prior to Disney swooping in to save the day. I’d like
to know what kind of negotiations went on between the studios and Marvel, if
any, on the creative side of things, to determine the direction of the films
produced prior to IronMan.
However, the subject I’m most
interested in knowing would be based on something a bit more recent. This
summer Captain America: Civil War premiered
in theaters worldwide, introducing a brand new take on Spider-Man to the world.
However, this was obviously helmed by Marvel, rather than Sony. Meanwhile, Sony
still possessed the rights to the character, as it’d been barely any time
between this movie, and Sony’s own Amazing
Spider-Man 2. Thus there wasn’t enough time for the rights to revert to
Marvel. No, this was the product of some form of agreement between Marvel and
Sony, and I would love to know what was worked out between them to make
Spider-Man’s appearance in Captain
America: Civil War a reality.
