Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige Shares His Candid Thoughts On Non-MCU Movies

Before Marvel Studios launched the MCU with 2008’s Iron Man, the majority of Marvel movies were released by studios like 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures. Some were good – Spider-Man and X-Men – and others were most definitely not. 

Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Blade: Trinity…the list goes on and on. Even after the MCU launched, Marvel Studios didn’t have access to many of its most popular characters, leaving them to focus on what was then a bunch of C-List superheroes with characters like Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man. 

Until the Disney/Fox merger, Kevin Feige also had to watch on as bad Fantastic Four and X-Men movies were produced and while he now gets to use Spider-Man, the executive is powerless to stop Avi Arad from forging ahead with developing stinkers like Venom and Morbius. 

In the recently released MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, Feige reflected on the newly formed Marvel Studios’ attempt to shape those non-MCU Marvel movies. “We suggested but they didn’t listen,” he recalls. “We didn’t have the control. I hated that.”

This is perhaps the most candid response we’ve heard from Feige on those blockbusters and saying he “hated” not being hands-on with them is very telling. Original Marvel Studios President David Maisel remembers feeling similarly disillusioned with not having access to so many popular characters when those disappointing Marvel movies of the 2000s were being released.

“Your character is in limbo and somebody else controls it,” he says. “When you make a movie deal for a license, you’re freezing animation, you’re freezing a lot of other things. You’re handing over your babies to somebody, and nothing happens.”

While Daredevil, Ghost Rider, The Punisher, and a handful of other characters slowly returned home, writer Craig Kyle tells the book’s authors that it was always Feige’s plan to reacquire the properties sold off by Marvel Entertainment when the company was facing bankruptcy in the 1990s. 

“From the moment I touched down in Marvel, Kevin had been telling Avi [Arad] we have to get the rights back. Avi was in a situation where he represented all of Marvel. He was the face of Marvel Studios. Kevin was in there to make great movies. That could never be a guarantee until we could actually control the process.”

Thanks to Disney, Feige has mostly succeeded in his goal. Marvel Television is no more, hence why we’re getting Daredevil: Born Again. As noted, the Fantastic Four and X-Men are also slowly joining the MCU, while a deal with Sony means Spider-Man is Feige’s to do with as he pleases (even if the agreement is tenuous at best). 

What’s your least favourite non-MCU Marvel movie?