Kevin Feige Explains What Went Wrong With the MCU; Says There Will Be Less Streaming Shows

In what can only be described as a stunning occurrence, Marvel head Kevin Feige sat down with a pool of reporters this week and essentially laid out the future of the MCU.

Before we discuss what the studio has in store for fans in the years ahead (Feige revealed the MCU will enter a seven-year plan), it is essential to note how we arrived here.

Marvel’s Recent Struggles

It is no secret that in the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame, Marvel largely failed to deliver the kind of success that had once been routine for the studio. In fact, following the disastrous releases of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels, many were quick to proclaim the MCU as dead.

As critics and fans alike ran to conduct autopsies on the MCU, one cause of death was frequently proclaimed- streaming.

When Disney entered the world of streaming with the launch of Disney+ in 2019, the company put the full force of its brands behind the endeavor. To that end, Marvel decided to expand the MCU beyond theaters and enter the television business.

While the early fruits of this effort, such as WandaVision and Loki, were well received, over time it became clear that the studio was being stretched too thin.

Not only did later streaming shows, such as She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Secret Invasion, fail to meet Marvel standards, but the studio’s films also began to suffer.

The Slowdown

Eventually, Disney CEO Bob Iger made it clear that Marvel had focused too much on quantity and not enough on quality.

The decision was made to slow things down.

It was decided that Marvel would release a maximum of two streaming shows and three movies a year.

“That’s Too Much”

In his recent conversation with Variety, Kevin Feige diagnosed the MCU with the same problems as fans and Bob Iger had.

“For the first time ever, quantity trumped quality,” Feige said. “We spent 12 years working on the Infinity Saga saying that’s never going to happen to us. We always had more characters than we could possibly make because we weren’t going to make a movie a month. Suddenly, there’s a mandate to make more. And we go, ‘Well, we do have more.’”

Looking back at the history of the MCU, Feige noted that initially, Marvel kept moving at a steady pace.

“We produced 50 hours of stories between 2007 and 2019,” Feige said. After Endgame, however, the studio ramped things up beyond its ability.

“We’ve had well over 100 hours of stories — in half the time. That’s too much.”

Creating Standalone Television Shows

Examining the future of the MCU, one thing is clear: there will be fewer television shows. Additionally, the streaming series that are made will largely be set within their own world.

“I think allowing a TV show to be a TV show is what we’re returning to,” he said.

It is essential to note that while Marvel’s television shows will be standalone, they will still be set within the MCU. That means the characters could still pop up in other places.

“Where we have great actors playing great characters, I think it would be fun to see them multiple places,” Feige said. “But the output will be much less.”

Between Marvel’s new television strategy and the decision to reset the MCU after Secret Wars, we are about to see a radically different Marvel universe.

Thankfully, however, it appears that Feige and his team have a solid plan in place.

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