Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is one of the most important and successful producers in all of cinema's century-long history. So what makes him so damn good at what he does?
It all started back in 2008 with Iron Man, and after 39 projects, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is still going strong. In that same time frame, Warner Bros. had failed multiple attempts to start their own respectable interconnected superhero universe with DC, Universal Picture’s Dark Universe was canned, and Sony has been limping through its attempts to profit off of Spider-Man supporting characters.
Yet the MCU is only growing exponentially. While that may be causing some quality issues, which the studio will need to work on fixing, all of its blemishes up until this point haven’t torn down Marvel Studios’ legacy just yet.
And all of that success, including four out of the ten highest-grossing films of all time, comes back to the legend himself: Kevin Feige.
This is Why Kevin Feige is So Successful
While speaking on The Town podcast, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever producer Nate Moore talked about Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige and how great he is at identifying moments in a movie that work.
Moore revealed he’s worked with Feige for “about 12 years” while also adding that the Marvel boss “truly loves movies:”
“[I’ve worked with Kevin Feige for] about 12 years… I don’t know that I know of another person who loves, who truly loves movies as much as Kevin does. And all kinds of movies. But at the same time, with the amount of success this man has had, he gives us as producers, and the writers, and directors so much leeway to try things he initially thought, ‘I think that’s crazy,’ he will let you try it to prove him wrong. And he’s never, at least on any of my movies, and I think my colleagues would say the same, said, ‘No, you have to do it because I think this is what we should do.’"
A key talent of Feige’s, according to Moore, is bow “he knows the moments in the movies that will work:”
“And I always think he knows the moments in the movies that will work. So you can pitch him a whole story, and he’ll be like, ‘That’s really interesting.’ But it’s the moments for him that stick out, and I think that’s an interesting perspective to have ’cause I personally get lost in the weeds sometimes of logic and theme. And he’s like, ‘What are the moments? When people go home, what are they gonna tell their family about?’”
Kevin Feige's Heaps of Praises
Words of praise for Feige aren’t anything new.
Spider-Man: No Way Home star Andrew Garfield even noted last year how he's a big fan of what Kevin Feige and the Marvel Studios have done with the character.
While speaking with The Direct, Moon Knight editor Ahmed Hafez how, “[Kevin Feige] is a genius… [who knows] everything about the MCU, and what the fans like or what they dislike.”
Feige also ended up being the first person James Gunn chose to tell about his new position as head of the DCU at Warner Bros—which says a lot.
Even splits between Feige and various creatives don’t seem to go all too horribly. Scott Derrickson, the director of the first Doctor Strange, still speaks highly of the man and the MCU in general. Though, the circumstances behind the most recent situation with the Blade director being replaced still remain a mystery.
It’s hard to imagine the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Kevin Feige guiding it. Hopefully, that’s not something fans will have to worry about for a long while.
Marvel Studios’ latest release, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is now playing in theaters worldwide.
