Companies obviously want to control their own narratives especially when they’re huge and speculated on daily. So, with that in mind, Marvel has announced The Official Marvel podcast, which launched today. Their first guest? None other than Marvel CEO and head chef of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige.
The conversation was brief, only about 15 minutes maximum, and Feige, being the diplomat he is, didn’t say or reveal much, but there are at least two tidbits of info he expressed that might be of interest to fans.
When asked about what he was excited for in the Marvel future, he said the corporate answer was everything (“They’re all our babies, and we love them all equally”) they’re excited for “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Agatha All Along,“ “Captain America: Brave New World,” “Thunderbolts” (“with an asterisk,” he stressed”), “Daredevil: Born Again,” and more. But the real answer he said, the personal answer he said he was most excited for, was “The Fantastic Four.”
“If you want the real answer, if we’re trying to get real on this podcast, the answer is ‘The Fantastic Four,’” he explained. “I’m incredibly excited for what we’re doing with ‘The Fantastic Four’ and what Matt Shakman, our director, who did ‘WandaVision’ for us, is working on. I’m extremely excited because those characters are mainstays, are legendary pillars of the Marvel universe that we’ve ever got to play with or explore in any significant way outside of ‘Multiverse Of Madness’ and some fun teases before.”
Feige also gave something of a possible tease in terms of whether or not Marvel will be at Comic-Con 2024, saying that “The Fantastic Four” begins shooting at the end of July and the Monday after Comic-Con weekend ends. That seems to suggest that, yes, Marvel will be there and likely the Fantastic Four cast in tow (then again, Disney’s D23 event is in August, so they could save ‘Fantastic Four’ for that month and not have to worry about scheduling).
Feige also essentially confirmed much of the rumors in his roundabout way. Fans have noticed that “The Fantastic Four” is a period piece set in the 1960s, but in additional posters, eagle-eyed fans have noticed the cityscape of the futuristic 1960s New York in “Fantastic Four” promotional imagery is radically different from the one we know, strongly suggesting that the film takes place in an alternate universe were the 1960s was far more technologically advanced and retro-futuristic then the one we know.
“Yes, very much so. It’s a period [piece], and there’s another piece of art we released with Johnny Storm flying in the air and making a 4 symbol, and there was a cityscape in the corner of that image, and there were a lot of smart people who noticed that that cityscape didn’t exactly look like the New York we know and the New York that existed in the ‘60s in our world. And so those are smart observations, I’ll say,” he teased playfully, essentially confirming what fans have already suspected.
Feige was asked about the way Marvel always tries to tackle new genres in each of their movies or shows, and in his answer about always trying to innovate, push things forward, and keep stories feeling fresh and unique, he gave a little tease about the upcoming “Wonder Man” series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II that he suggested a new tone, a big swing, and a series that would be very different from what Marvel has done so far.
“When you stop trying [to innovate], that’s when you start to atrophy… I think [it’s important] to tell new and unique stories in new and interesting ways. We have a show coming up that we’ve talked very little about called ‘Wonder Man,’ that I won’t talk about much today either except to say it’s extremely different than anything we’ve done before,” he said. “And it’s very exciting to be a part of a company for 25 years or more… and still be able to do new things and to take new characters and storylines to new places. That’s what’s exciting.”
There’s no release date or even time frame for “Wonder Man,” but the series is executive produced by “Shang Chi” filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton and is expected in late 2025 or early 2026, depending on how many series Bob Iger and Disney want to release in one year. Currently, Disney and Iger have suggested only two live-action series a year, and “Daredevil: Born Again” and “Ironheart” with Riri Williams, first introduced in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” seems much further along, but who knows? They could make an exception.
Listen to the full interview below.
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