Kevin Feige on MCU’s Phase 5 plans, Kamala Khan’s role in The Marvels, and Kang the Conqueror

With Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania launching Phase 5 of the MCU this weekend, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is ready to spill the beans about the future of his money-printing superhero franchise. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Feige commented on what’s to come, saying there’s room for adjustments to the formula as things progress.

Kang the Conqueror

While talking about Jonathan Majors’s Kang the Conqueror, Feige says the actor’s performance in The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a significant reason why Marvel hired him to play the next major villain in the MCU. “Peyton Reed was a proponent of Jonathan’s from the very start. We knew we were casting him for at least Loki season 1 and Quantumania at the same time. Working with both the Loki team and Peyton and the Quantumania team, we thought Jonathan would be incredible for their different incarnations of those characters. And spoiler: He was.”

Knowing the Feige has plans for Phases 4, 5, and 6 of the MCU, EW asked if there’s a through-line for what’s been dubbed the “Multiverse Saga.” Feige replied, “It’s really a classification system for the audience that’s following along. It’s to keep track of how the pieces fit in place. I didn’t really talk a lot about the overarching themes or direction of Phase 4 until afterward — in large part because we are always adapting and weaving as creative demands and new ideas come up. But I would say in very generalized terms, as you see in Quantumania, it’s about setting up the big overarching thread that will go through the next phases.

Not every film in the Infinity Saga focused on the Infinity Stones or Thanos, and it’ll be the same across 5 and 6. But we’re gearing up. People will get a taste of this in a big way in Quantumania as we lead to Avengers: Secret Wars, which I’m extremely excited for.

You know, I’m coming up on 23 years at Marvel. That’s a long time. It’s not quite half my life, but it’s almost half my life. [Laughs] Many of us have been together for a decade or more. And we only do it because we are so excited and in love with the potential for what we can do ahead. The storylines that weave together through Phase 5 and 6 into Secret Wars and the opportunities that the multiverse brings storytelling-wise it’s a whole new aspect to the MCU. “

Kamala Khan’s MCU Impact

Next, Feige spoke about Marvel’s episodic content on Disney+, saying he’s particularly proud of Kamala Khan’s introduction. Feige says Khan plays a significant role in The Marvels, the studio’s long-awaited sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, starring Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel.

“I hope we learn something on every project. I was very pleased with everything that we did. Kamala Khan, for instance, is a great new character in the pantheon,” Feige told Entertainment Weekly. “I’m very proud of the Ms. Marvel show. I also know — and this is a spoiler — she essentially steals The Marvels, which is coming out [July 28]. It makes me excited that people will, I hope, see that movie and then go back and revisit those shows on Disney+. The fun thing about streaming is they are there forever, and people can keep re-exploring them. Moon Knight, same thing. I think there’s a future for that character as we move forward.”

In case you missed it, Feige says he can see a future where Moon Knight is a more significant player in the MCU. Rumors about Moon Knight season 2 have been floating around for months, though something concrete has yet to surface. If Fiege is saying Moon Knight could show up in future projects, perhaps the rumors are true.

Creating a Cohesive Timeline

Feige also touched on the delicate balance of making sure MCU projects align. After 31 films and multiple TV shows, timelines can become unwieldy. Feige is ready for the challenge. Still, satisfying hardcore fans and casual audiences presents many challenges.

“We’ve tried to make that our methodology since the start,” Feige told EW. “If there’s a Marvel Studios method — like there was a Marvel method in publishing — it’s trying to do both. I’ve talked about this for years: If you want to dip in and out and just go to the movies on a Friday night or watch a streaming series, you can do that. And if you want to follow along, there’s certainly much more to be discovered. But we don’t ever want it to seem exclusive or that you need to have done your homework before watching something.”

“Now, I’ve also realized that a lot of people like to do the homework. A lot of people find the fun in the homework and the continuity and the connectivity. But it is a balance of always trying to do both.”

“She-Hulk, for example, was an experiment: “Let’s just do a legal comedy.” What if Ally McBeal was a superhero? How do we do a legal sitcom with an incredibly expensive CG character in the middle of every episode? And I couldn’t be happier with the tone that Jessica Gao has set for that. It’s a very different tone than many of other projects have, and that was totally intentional. I think when we are doing about eight projects a year — and again, I said this is going to shift a little bit — they all have to be different. They all have to stand apart and stand alone and be different from one another.”

“It’s like when people go to the comic shops. There’s Spider-Man and the Avengers and the big title ones. And sometimes, you pick up a one-off or an experiment from an artist or writer that you’re a fan of. That’s why the comics have been around for 80-plus years, and I want Marvel Studios to be around that long, if not longer. So, we have to continue to do different types of things. Does everything have to appeal to everybody? It would be nice. But I think that’s impossible. And if you try to do that, you’re going to find yourself in such a small funnel and pipeline that things will get similar and boring and atrophy very, very quickly.”

Feige spoke about plenty more during his time with EW, including the state of director Yann Demange’s Blade, a fourth Spider-Man movie, Thunderbolts, Daredevil, and more, but that’s an article for another time.

Are you excited about the MCU’s future? What projects are you looking forward to the most? In the comments below, let us know if you’re ready to ride the Marvel coaster through the “Multiverse Saga” and beyond.