It’s been 18 months since fans got a new story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That changes this week with the release of Disney+’s WandaVision, and with it comes the second best part of a new Marvel release: new quotes from Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige.
Feige and his team at Marvel Studios have been very busy in the year and a half since the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home. They’ve prepped and finished multiple movies and streaming shows, and recently announced even more of both stretching several years into the future. There was also the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman in that time, the integration of Fox’s Marvel properties, and so much more.
Below, we’ve rounded up just some of Feige’s latest updates on what’s to come for the MCU including Deadpool 3, Black Panther 2, Secret Invasion, Spider-Man 3, and the X-Men, to start.
Deadpool 3:
Speaking with Collider, Feige confirmed that a third Deadpool movie is currently being written, it will be rated R in the U.S. (about equivalent to MA15+ in Australia), and it will be in the MCU. But it’s still a little while out. “It will be rated R and we are working on a script right now, and Ryan [Reynolds is] overseeing a script right now,” he said. “It will not be [filming] this year. Ryan is a very busy, very successful actor. We’ve got a number of things we’ve already announced that we now have to make, but it’s exciting for it to have begun. Again, a very different type of character in the MCU, and Ryan is a force of nature, which is just awesome to see him bring that character to life.”
Black Panther 2:
Speaking to Deadline, Feige hinted that while T’Challa won’t be recast in the film, the sequel to Black Panther will dive deeper into the history and vastness of Wakanda. “So much of the comics and that first movie is the world of Wakanda,” Feige said. “Wakanda is a place to further explore with characters and different subcultures. This was always and initially the primary focus of the next story. We’re not going to have a CG Chadwick and we’re not recasting T’Challa. Ryan Coogler is working very hard right now on the script with all the respect and love and genius that he has, which gives us great solace, so it was always about furthering the mythology and the inspiration of Wakanda. There’s also the task of honouring and respecting the ongoing learnings and teachings from Chad as well.”
X-Men:
With the huge news that Jon Watts is directing a Fantastic Four movie, the Fox Marvel properties are finally coming to the MCU. But what about the biggest of them all, the X-Men? Speaking to ScreenRant, Feige explained they haven’t been forgotten. “You know how much I love the X-Men. I already said that’s where I started,” he said. “I can’t tell you anything before we actually announced it, but rest assured, the discussions have been long and ongoing internally.”
Spider-Man 3:
Jamie Foxx, Alfred Molina, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, the rumours and speculation about the third Tom Holland Spider-Man movie have been rampant in the past few months. Speaking to ComicBook, Feige basically said that not everything you’ve read is right, but it’s not wrong either. “I’ve read some things. I’m not sure I’ve read all things,” Feige said. “The fun thing about online speculation when it comes to our stuff is how sometimes it couldn’t be more off the mark and sometimes it’s shockingly close, and that’s held true for the last few years. But saying which is which would take all the fun out of everything.”
Secret Invasion:
One of the biggest recent announcements from Marvel was that Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn would be reprising their roles from Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: Far From Home in a new Disney+ show called Secret Invasion. In the comics, Secret Invasion is a crossover event that seems much better suited to the big screen than Disney+ and, speaking to ComicBook, Feige explained things would be scaled back a bit.
“Well, there were more characters in the Secret Invasion comic series than there were in Endgame so, no, it’s not that,” Feige said. But it very much is a showcase for Sam Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn and tapping into the paranoia elements of the Secret Invasion comic series that was great with the twists and turns that that took. So, that’s certainly our focus more than, ‘Can we cram in more characters than Endgame?”
The other Netflix shows:
Speaking of crossovers, Marvel already had a big streaming crossover on Netflix with The Defenders. Those shows are no longer around, but when asked by Deadline about bringing back characters such as Charlie Cox’s Daredevil or Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones, Feige didn’t rule it out, but he didn’t seem confident either. “Well, certainly you’ve seen what we announced at Comic-Con a year and half ago and on Disney Investor Day a few weeks ago, so that’s our focus,” he said. “But I’ve been at Marvel long enough to never say never about anything.”
Star Wars:
In addition to all of this, Feige has also reportedly been working on a Star Wars movie, which reportedly just added Loki writer Michael Waldron to its crew. When asked about this by Variety, Feige got decidedly tight-lipped
“Everything you’ve heard about that has been leaked,” he said. “It’s not stuff that we’ve officially announced or gotten into. So, suffice to say, the focus is on all the number of Marvel things we’re working on. The what, where, when and how of that [Star Wars movie], I don’t know. I’m excited for The Book of Boba Fett, and the Rogue One show, and the Obi-Wan show, and Patty’s movie, and Taika’s movie. After Thor: Love and Thunder, of course.
The one thing Feige wouldn’t address was where Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was going. When asked if he could say when this group of films and TV shows ended, he simply said “No.” Sometimes saying nothing says it all.
WandaVision begins this Friday, only on Disney+.