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Marvel’s Kevin Feige Talks ‘Infinity War’ The Future of the MCU

Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe know that a big change is coming alongside Avengers: Infinity War. The movie is a culmination of everything within the MCU so far. It’s also going to lay the groundwork for the next 10, and the 10 after that.

We’ve still got a few films in what serves as the first ‘act’ of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and we’re trying to slow down and take it all in. Kevin Feige sat down with EW recently and spoke about Infinity War, the upcoming projects, and the bigger picture for the MCU.

Feige was asked about Black Panther’s success and what that meant in terms of his confidence with Infinity War having an entire act in Wakanda.

That’s the grand Marvel Studios/MCU tradition of just being all in, right? All in on stuff we believe in, before the audience tells us what they think. You’ve heard us talk ad nauseam about the fact that we were in production on Avengers before either Thor or Captain America was released. Same thing with the whole third act of Infinity War being in Wakanda.

Feige agreed that Wakanda is going to be an important part of the MCU going forward as well. He went on to mention why that’s so important.

Anchor point is a good way of describing it, particularly as some of our other anchor points, Asgard for instance, are gone.

He was also asked about the possibility of a sequel to the blockbuster sensation. He wouldn’t reveal much but he did say it would be happening without a doubt.

Nothing specific to reveal, other than to say we absolutely will do that. One of the favorite pastimes at Marvel Studios is sitting around on a Part One and talking and dreaming about what we would do in a Part Two. There have been plenty of those conversations as we were putting together the first Black Panther. We have ideas and a pretty solid direction on where we want to head with the second one.

He also spoke about what the next two movies mean. It’s not an end so much as it’s a stepping off point. There’s a ‘finality’ to it, Feige says, but it’s also a place of an incredible new beginning. Much like what happens in the comic book realm.

With Infinity War, it’s coming to a climax, coming to a conclusion of seeds with all the MacGuffins in various movies, and with Untitled Avengers a year later, bringing what will be that first 22 movie arc to a finality. That doesn’t mean there are no movies after that. Of course not. It means the movies after that will be changed. Again, it goes to the comics. Every great event in the 50 plus years of publishing history would have an impact on the individual books going forward after that.

He went on to say that Infinity War will change the way fans take in the MCU. From it’s heroes and villains to the stories they tell, it’s all going to be different

You start to think differently about how the characters are interacting, what character’s stories are coming to a close, and what character’s stories are only just beginning. Those stories will continue. I think they’ll continue in surprisingly different and unexpected ways after these two Avengers films.

Some of those changes are happening in ways we’re not quite prepared for. You know what we’re talking about. It’s been all but spelled out for us that we’re losing heroes. Be it to death or to some bigger moment (we’re hoping for the latter) some stories as we know them are ending. Feige touched on that as well.

First, that it’s not always death that changes these stories.

People always will jump to that. That’s not necessarily what we’re talking about. I talk a lot, because I’m a big-ass nerd, about Star Trek: The Next Generation, “All Good Things.” That to me is one of the best series finales ever. That wasn’t about death. Picard went and played poker with the crew, something he should have done a long time ago, right?

He also made a statement that will scare some fans. Us…we’ve not been begging for deaths or wishing for some of our heroes to end. However, some fans have been wondering when that moment comes and, it looks like it just might be here.

Yes. I mean, I could always list off the characters that we’ve killed in our movies that haven’t come back, but the big ones, which I know they’re looking at …? [Pause.] I would just say, yes. People need to be careful what they wish for.

He also talked about his ‘wish list’ of sorts in terms of the big screen. Like us, there are many characters he’d like to see take on a new story.

Well, there are lots. There are lots. It’s a testament to the 8,000-plus characters in Marvel Comics. We still haven’t made or developed every character we saw when we flipped through a comic and went, “This would be cool. This would be a good story.”

However, he’s not giving anything away. He does mention some supporting characters in a way that makes us believe it may be time to focus on them in a new light.

We’re not ready to talk about what those are, but like the ones we’ve made in the first three phases, they’re ones that are either just great concepts for a film, great characters with great supporting characters, like Panther. New locations and lands that have cultural significance all their own, and continuing to tell stories that represent the world as it is, that represent people who perhaps haven’t seen themselves portrayed in this light in the past. We want to continue to do that.

Feige went on to mention things like the future of Black Panther and Captain Marvel in his interview, which you can read here. However he ended it by saying that right now, the completion of these first 22 films is what’s important, and we agree. We want to focus on the MCU as we know it – while we still can.