As the saying goes, there are only a few guarantees in life – death, taxes, and “Black Panther 2.”
After the impressive box office, and critical response, of “Black Panther,” there was no way that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige would pass up the opportunity for a sequel. And he’s not. In a new interview from Entertainment Weekly, Feige talks about what plans he has for “Black Panther 2,” implications of the Fox purchase, and a quick update on “Captain Marvel.”
First, let’s cut to the chase, and find out what Feige has been thinking about for the future “Black Panther 2:
“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.”
One of the most surprising, and ultimately best parts, of “Black Panther” was the incredible supporting cast of strong female characters. Immediately following the film’s release, fans were begging for Marvel Studios to develop films starring the Dora Milaje and T’Challa’s sister Shuri.
Feige has heard those wishes, and agrees that’s a possibility:
“I think there’s lots of potential. It’s a balance between leaving people wanting more and then giving them too much, but I would watch a movie about any of those characters you just named. I think Shuri’s astounding, and you’ll see much more of her in our universe. Okoye, I think I’d watch three action films just Okoye. I’m not saying we’re doing that, but I’m saying that we’re intrigued by them.”
As much as “Black Panther” is dominating the film conversation this last month, right around the corner is “Avengers: Infinity War,” followed in less than a year by the untitled “Avengers 4.” These two films are supposed to close the book on the current Marvel Cinematic Universe, and usher in a new era of films. “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,” says Feige.
One way the MCU might change forever is with the introduction of the X-Men and Fantastic Four, due to the impending Fox/Disney merger. But if you listen to Feige, he’s not even thinking about that right now:
“It’s all about getting ‘Infinity War’ finished and out, starting ‘Captain Marvel,’ ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp,’ ‘Untitled Avengers,’ the next ‘Spider-Man,’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3.’ These are the ones that are keeping us busy. When and how that deal with Fox finishes and comes together and we’re told, ‘Hey, now you can start working on it. Now you can start thinking about it,’ is when we’ll actually start thinking about it. I will say just the notion of having what, frankly, most other companies with [intellectual property] have all along, which is access to all of their characters, that would be fun.”
While “Avengers: Infinity War” is coming next, with the ‘Ant-Man’ sequel not soon after, many fans are thinking about next year’s “Captain Marvel.” That film marks the first MCU film featuring a solo female lead, directed by the team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Feige isn’t one to spill the beans on future films, but he did give a few hints as to what fans can expect.
“It also got us talking about different genres, exploring this notion of sort of the ‘90s action film. We hadn’t necessarily done anything like that before either, so there are definitely homages to our favorite ‘90s action films within ‘Captain Marvel,’” says Feige.
When the question was asked about which ‘90s films are serving as inspiration for “Captain Marvel,” Feige said, “Well, not necessarily talking about any particulars of the story, but the action elements ‘Terminator 2.’ That’s about as iconic as you get, looking at kind of those cool street level fights, street level car chases, and fun stuff like that. That being said, much of the movie takes place in outer space, as you might think a ‘Captain Marvel’ movie would.”