MANILA, Philippines — Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has big plans for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as it begins Phase 5 with "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," and is already planting the seeds for upcoming projects.
Feige sat down with Entertainment Weekly to help promote "Quantumania," which is out in Philippine theaters ahead of most of the world, and unveiled some of the plans that the studio have lined up.
One of the things Feige treaded lightly on was the inclusion of mutants in the MCU, as Marvel Studios could not explicitly allude to the X-Men until Disney purchased Fox in 2019.
Now with Iman Vellani's Kamala Khan revealed to have a mutation and Namor from "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" admitting to being "the first mutant," the pathway is beginning to be laid out.
"I've been at this company for half my life, and we're just now tapping into arguably one of the biggest aspects of the publishing history," said Feige. "The question is how to do it and when to do it, and that's something we've been working on for years."
Feige also confirmed that the upcoming "Deadpool 3," which will see Hugh Jackman reprise his famous role of Wolverine, will be Marvel Studios' first-ever R-rated film.
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One thing Feige is excited about is Harrison Ford joining the MCU as Thunderbolt Ross, replacing the late William Hurt, who will be president of the United States in "Captain America: New World Order" — a role not unfamiliar to Ford having done the same in the cult classic "Air Force One."
"There's a dynamic between President Ross and Sam Wilson (the new Captain America played by Anthony Mackie). They have a history together, but in this film, we'll be seeing the dynamic between Captain America and the president of the United States in a way that is just incredible," Feige said.
The Marvel producer adds that he was very jealous of Marvel mainstay Jon Favreau initially casting Ford in his own film "Cowboys and Aliens," and that having him in the MCU is another box on the wishlist crossed off.
Other things that Feige was able to share was "Blade" starring Mahershala Ali would finally begin production in 10 weeks while a story for a fourth "Spider-Man" movie is ready to be put onto paper by the writing team.
"The only other one in terms of me personally and my 23-year history is the Fantastic Four," said Feige, calling the superhero group the foundation for everything that after in the comic books and is excited to integrate them in the storytelling of the MCU.
"That's something that is really exciting for us. People will start to hear more about that soon. We plan on that being a big pillar of the MCU going forward, just the way they've been in the comics for 50 or 60 years," Feige ended.
Following "Quantumania" in 2023 are "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3" and "The Marvels," while television series include the second seasons of "Loki" and "What If...?" plus new shows "Secret Invasion," "Ironheart," "Echo," and "Agatha: Coven of Chaos."
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