Just when you thought Kevin Feige couldn’t get any more powerful, he goes and adds perhaps his biggest title to date to his business card.
According to Deadline, Feige is in negotiations to finalize a deal that would make him the President of Marvel Studios (a position he already holds), as well as the title of Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer. And it’s that latter title that officially makes Feige the creative king of all things carrying the Marvel logo.
That’s right, we’re not talking films anymore. With the CCO title, Feige becomes the man at the top of the food chain for everything to do with films and TV, as well as the creative leader of Marvel Publishing, which controls the monthly comic book distribution. So, now, if you want to work creatively with Marvel, at any level, Feige is in charge. This change to the Marvel hierarchy could see some major, major ripple effects that extend to all parts of the comic book company’s business.
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First, this doesn’t necessarily spell the end of Marvel TV, as a separate entity run by Jeph Loeb, but it does mean that Loeb is no longer the top of the food chain. Now, Feige has control. You have to imagine that he’s not going to be okay with the current process that Marvel TV works within, where its series seemingly exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but don’t ever cross over with their big-screen counterparts. You have to assume that Feige is going to treat all the TV series in a similar way that he does with the Disney+ streaming series, where he develops and produces them as extended movies that feature the stars you love from the MCU but in smaller, one-hour-ish chunks.
Of course, this doesn’t mean the immediate death to all current TV projects, but it’s highly unlikely that we’re going to see a ton of these “Cloak & Dagger” and “Runaways”-esque series coming in the future. And yes, this extends to those animated series that Marvel TV is working on with Hulu.
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As for the film side of things, it doesn’t appear like much will change, as Feige has already secured supreme power. But one of the other major changes occurs on the comic book side of the equation. You know, those floppy magazines that come out every month that created all those characters and storylines that Feige and Co. adapted? Yeah, those things are now under the creative control of Feige, as well.
Dan Buckley, the current President of Marvel Publishing will keep his title, but creatively, will report to Feige. The business side of things, including distribution and all that, will still go through Marvel Chairman Ike Perlmutter, who is not so keen on Feige. But for fans of the comic books, it appears that Feige will have the final say in how the Marvel Universe moves forward in the future. How much of a day-to-day involvement he has is unclear, but Buckley definitely will report to the CCO in the future.
Long story short, you probably assumed that Kevin Feige was the biggest name at Marvel, but now it’s official.
