No, that's not just some crazy headline on the eve of Captain America: The Winter Soldier opening. Believe me, that movie doesn't need the extra hype -- it's going to be just fine on its own. But yes, it does leave the viewer ready and hungry for the next one.
So guess what? In Bloomberg Businessweek today, a profile ran on Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios (which is, by the way, completely its own studio in the Disney family -- no Magic Kingdom comes before those flipping comics pages that turn into the studio logo).
Among many other things that Feige revealed is the update of the Marvel Movie Map, something like the blackboards of future happenings that both Marvel and DC keep teasing in their actual comic books. And once again, one of those movies might just be the Black Widow in the solo film Scarlett Johansson so desperately deserves. The article notes:
Feige can produce an unlimited number of films with interweaving story lines and characters, creating a vast audience for almost any Marvel movie. People might show up for The Avengers, meet the Black Widow, and come back for her movie, too.
There’s a map of films reaching far into the next decade on the wall of Feige’s office. “It’s like looking through the Hubble telescope. You go, ‘What’s happening back there? I can sort of see it,’ ” he laughs. “They printed out a new one recently that went to 2028.” |
You can read the entire article here, which goes on to detail Feige's deserved rise to power. In a nutshell -- he gets it, and better than any other studio executive with a comic book property on his docket. That's why Marvel's movies work.
Though the writer doesn't speculate, I will. This article is full of references to Walt Disney himself without ever making a direct comparison. But the truth is that though many hands have power in the Marvel halls, and Stan Lee did an amazing job launching Marvel, it's Feige who is the Walt Disney of the company, with the vision and drive to tell the stories the way he thinks they should be done.
Oh, there's also a nice hint about the mystery villain of Guardians of the Galaxy. Speculate away -- but let's do it elsewhere. How about the Fanboy Planet Facebook page?
