Marvel's Kevin Feige Says He And His Team Plan Three MCU Phases At Once

The multiverses of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are expansive and interconnecting, with all kinds of characters and worlds to remember, but Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has it all mapped out in his mind well in advance. In a recent press conference attended by /Film's Jeremy Mathai, the head honcho of the MCU explained a bit about how they plan three phases at once (pretty impressive), and how doing it that way can lead to some significant dividends if things all work out as planned. After all, Feige had dreams of Michelle Pfeiffer playing the original Wasp, and the folks at Marvel managed to make that dream come true, which is a win for all of us!

Peyton Reed's "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" kicks off Phase 5 of the MCU, which will include films like "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," "The Marvels," and "Blade." The third "Ant-Man" film is wildly important to this phase of the MCU, too, setting things up for the upcoming "Avengers: Kang Dynasty" and giving fans an entry point into the next phase. And like Hannibal Smith from "The A-Team," Kevin Feige loves it when a good plan comes together. 

Three phases, one saga

Phase 4 of the MCU ended with "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," and that phase served as the first part of the Multiverse Saga, which follows the initial Infinity Saga. When asked about how the folks at Marvel help plan things out, Feige revealed that they basically plan one saga at a time:

"We work in about three phases at a time. Yeah. Which, three phases together, as we all know, make a saga."

While three phases making up a saga may not sound that intense, it's kind of wild when you realize that each phase can contain up to a dozen movies and TV shows, all interconnected and leading up to major events. Marvel Comics have operated under a similar system for decades, but it's still intense to imagine Feige and Co. coming up with the Infinity Saga or Multiverse Saga before launching into it. Of course, things aren't set in stone and some plans will change, but the basic outline of the entire saga is ready to go, setting up plot points or character moments that might not pay off for nearly a decade. That's some pretty serious foreshadowing! So when it came to introducing Kang (Jonathan Majors), one of the biggest baddies of Phase 5, Feige and the team wanted to draw from a place of familiarity. 

The best way to introduce Kang

Feige explained that he wanted to kick off Phase 5 with characters that were already beloved. The family at the center of "Quantumania" seem like they might not be able to handle such a challenging force as Kang, but Janet Van Dyne has always been able to handle her business. In bringing Janet back once more, Feige gave audiences a viewpoint into Phase 5 and a friendly face to help introduce Kang:

"I have to say, in terms of the 'Ant-Man' trilogy, there is a flashback in the first film to the original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne, and we don't see her face. She's wearing a mask. And it was always our dream that someday we could make another movie and Michelle Pfeiffer could play that character. And then we got a little taste of it more, thankfully, in 'Ant-Man and the Wasp,' and now there's a large part of this movie where Peyton and the screenwriters just hand the movie over to Michelle, and it's amazing. I keep thinking back to those first scenes on the on the first 'Ant-Man' film where it was just a dream and a possibility of who of who could play this part. But all of these characters and these amazing actors, we felt would be a great audience surrogate to meet somebody as complex and scary and multiversal as Kang."

The casting of Janet is one micro-example of what happens when you plan not just in movies, but in phases. Setting up little hints at characters and then paying them off down the line when a veteran actor has been cast in that role and has settled into making that character their own is part of the long game Feige is playing here. Feige and the rest of the Marvel team have Kang's movie introduction and much more all planned out, including, it would seem, the entirety of the next two phases of the MCU's future. Now if I could just hire them to organize my calendar...

"Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" hits theaters on February 17, 2023.