Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige remains as integral as ever to the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is currently two episodes into its final Disney+ show of 2022 in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. While he doesn't oversee every detail of what happens on screen in the MCU anymore, he still makes sure that the franchise's movies and TV shows include what he deems as vitally important in them.
Although Feige is still at the top of his game with running the MCU, this sometimes leads to disagreements between him and the A-list crew that works for Marvel Studios.
Recently, one of those disagreements came during production for She-Hulk, with producer and head writer Jessica Gao admitting to arguing with him for weeks about the show's trailer that debuted at San Diego Comic-Con. This was likely over the inclusion of Charlie Cox's Daredevil, but regardless of who was on what side of the argument, the trailer set up an exciting story for She-Hulk's introduction to the MCU.
Gao has opened up often in the last few weeks about her work on She-Hulk, including another debate on whether the lead heroine's origin story should have been told as early in the show as it was in Episode 1. More recently, she looked back to their arguments about the trailer, even joking about how Feige gets bullied on occasion during their interactions.
She-Hulk Producer on Experience with Kevin Feige
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law head writer/producer Jessica Gao discussed the debates she's had with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige.
Gao admitted that she actually fights with Feige "more than any person at Marvel," but it led to her praising him for being "an egoless, wonderful person" that goes so far as to let her "bully him" in some ways. She put Feige on a pedestal, saying that no other studio president would put up with her antics and ambition the way he does:
"Yeah, I probably fight with Kevin more than any person at Marvel, but it truly is a testament to what an egoless, wonderful person he is that he constantly puts up with me arguing with him. He really lets me bully him in a way. I’m very mean to him, and he really allows it. So it’s really nice because there is no other president of a studio who would really put up with me the way that he does."
In a separate interview with ComicBookMovie, she continued to shower praise upon Feige, calling him "the best creative producer working in Hollywood today" while complimenting him for how easy he is to talk to:
“I really love Kevin, working with him has been probably one of the greatest joys of my professional life, because he, I mean, I hate to add to the mounds of compliments he’s constantly getting but reluctantly, I have to confirm it is true. He is brilliant. He truly is the creative genius that everybody says he is. He is, I think the best creative producer working in Hollywood today, and he’s also just like a nice dude who’s very easy to talk to.”
Going back to how much she bullied Feige, Gao made it clear that Feige actually allowed her to "bully him constantly," constantly discussing their own ideas about what should be used in her show:
"Part of the reason I respect him so much is he lets me be incredibly mean to him and he lets me bully him constantly, and I don’t think any other president of a studio would ever let me do that, but he also just comes up with like brilliant ideas. There were so many elements in the show that were his pitches, and he’s truly egoless because there have been times where he’ll pitch a really good idea, and I’ll be like, “That’s great!,” and I’ll use it. I’ll put it in a script, and then weeks later, he’ll read the script, and he’ll have forgotten that it was his idea, and he’ll say, “Oh, that was really smart. That was great.,” and I’d be like, “No, that was your idea, dummy.” Like, how did you forget this brilliant idea that saved the script.”
Gao Speaks Her Mind to Kevin Feige
Jessica Gao's experience with the MCU has seen its twists and turns, having actually been rejected on three separate occasions before she joined the team for She-Hulk. Now, she's making sure that her artistry and ideas have an influence on where Jennifer Walters goes in her world on Disney+, even admitting to pushing back against Marvel's top executive along the way.
This is far from the only time that Feige hasn't necessarily been on the same page as his creatives, as Doctor Strange 2 director Sam Raimi debated him on removing a moment featuring Earth-838's Baron Mordo and got what he wanted.
As Feige lets the reins loose more with each new entry, it remains clear that he's mastered his way of running the franchise and how he works with new people on each successive MCU entry. Whether he winds up getting "bullied" by any other directors or writers is hard to predict, although Gao made sure to give Feige his props for being the mastermind that he is while the MCU continues to flourish.
The first two episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law are now available to stream on Disney+.
