A new insider report seemingly revealed the one change Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige made to ensure that Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars live up to expectations. The longtime Marvel exec is perhaps the busiest man in Hollywood. Since 2008, Feige has had the weight of an entire cinematic universe on his shoulders, not only greenlighting and axing projects but also carefully crafting the narrative connective tissue holding it all together.
In recent years, he has been busier than ever, navigating the franchise's various theatrical projects, watching over its streaming output, and (even for a short while) toying with the idea of working on a Star Wars movie. He, however, has reportedly put nearly everything aside in recent months to focus on the franchise's upcoming pair of Avengers films.
According to Deadline writer Justin Kroll, who recently appeared on an episode of the My Mom's Basement podcast, Feige has been "solely focused" on Doomsday and Secret Wars for about the last year.
"Feige has been so stretched thin," Kroll said of the Marvel exec's last few years, adding that Feige has changed that for the release of the next two Avengers titles:
"Feige has been so stretched thin with the TV shows and all these other things, and maybe doing a Star Wars. He has been solely focused on ['Doomsday'] and 'Secret Wars' for like a year straight. This has been it."
Kroll continued, "If that dude has his mind set on just the one thing...they turn out good:"
"He's focused on this return. So, just know that, people. He's in London all the time. If that dude has his mind set on just the one thing like he used to do back in the day with Iron Man or Thor, they turn out good. It's when he has eight other things that it gets a little tougher."
Avengers: Doomsday is in the midst of post-production, with reshoots/additional photography reportedly set to get underway sometime early this year.
The new film from the Russo Brothers will see its titular super-powered team forced to take on a Multiversal threat for the first time as the terrifying Doctor Doom (played by Robert Downey Jr.) arrives to conquer their reality. Luckily, they will not be alone as Earth's Mightiest Heroes are confirmed to be joined by several other superhero teams from across multiple parallel dimensions. Doomsday arrives in theaters on December 18.
Why Feige's Focus Matters for Avengers?
To say Marvel Studios' last half-decade has been a little rocky would be an understatement. The once-untouchable franchise titan has faltered in the years since Avengers: Endgame. This lackluster time for the series has been marked by critical misses, mishmashed streaming series, and box-office failures, the likes of which seemed impossible pre-2019.
So, it is vital that Marvel Studios gets Avengers: Doomsday (and Secret Wars) right. This is why Feige is seemingly focused solely on the upcoming Avengers projects. The Marvel head knows that these movies must succeed, or else the franchise's very future is in the air.
And it is not as though Doomsday and Secret Wars are just any old Avengers movies. These films are perhaps the biggest story undertaking in the history of the series, bringing to a close the ongoing Multiverse Saga. So, the degree of difficulty is higher than ever, along with the pressure to recapture general audiences who may have fallen out of love with the MCU.
That is why Feige is all-in. X-Men updates and Phase 7 slate announcements can come later. Right now, it is all Avengers, all the time for Marvel Studios' top exec. Then, once this Multversal duology is out of the way, and only then, can he focus more deeply on what comes next.
