Kevin Feige Becomes Chief Creative Officer At Marvel, Now Overseeing Film, TV, And Publishing
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige already has one of the most impressive resumes in Hollywood history, shaping the Marvel Cinematic Universe from the ground up and becoming one of the most successful producers of all time in the process. But now he's become even more powerful, because a new report says he will serve as Marvel Entertainment's Chief Creative Officer, overseeing all of the company's film, TV, and publishing. That's a huge increase in responsibility for him, and now he has the power to cause even bigger ripple effects across the industry.
Deadline reports that Feige will become Marvel's new Chief Creative Officer, and that his oversight will now "extend to the overall creative direction of Marvel's storytelling and content creation platforms," including not just film, but TV and comics as well. The company's key creatives in those departments will now all report directly to him, and the Marvel TV and animation branch Marvel Family Entertainment are shifting under the Marvel Studios umbrella. Historically, Feige has only been in control of the films, although he's about to dip his toe into TV waters with Marvel's upcoming Disney+ TV shows like Loki, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, WandaVision, etc. But with this restructuring of the company, his powers will grow substantially.
There are several key points worth discussing here, so let's break them down one by one.
Feige Probably Won't Jump Ship to Star Wars
News recently came out that Kevin Feige will be producing a Star Wars film for Kathleen Kennedy over at Lucasfilm, and there has been speculation for years that Feige might one day leave Marvel Studios to become the head of Lucasfilm if Kennedy exits. Feige told us last year that he would not be taking over in that regard, but those rumors continued to persist and wondering whispers began to pop up again with the announcement of his Star Wars movie. On paper, I could see how it makes sense: Feige has clearly accomplished a lot at Marvel Studios, so maybe he'd be interested in moving on to see if he could repeat that success elsewhere. But now that he's been handed the keys to the Marvel kingdom, making him one of the most powerful entertainment overseers since guys like Louis B. Mayer, Darryl F. Zanuck, Jack Warner, and Harry Cohn lorded over the Golden Age of the Hollywood studio system, it seems unlikely that Feige will jump ship to a galaxy far, far away. This gives him an unprecedented amount of control over the company's storytelling decisions, which would be an awful lot to throw away so soon after gaining access to this newfound power.
What Happens to Marvel TV?
Marvel TV, which was previously overseen by Jeph Loeb, has been a separate entity from Marvel Studios, which explains why major characters from the movies almost never appeared on shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Loeb recently said that Marvel TV was working on its own shows for Disney+ outside of the Marvel Studios purview, but this announcement may indicate that whatever those projects are could be dead before they even leave the ground. (It's also possible that Loeb is removed from his position entirely).
Now that Feige is overseeing the rest of that branch, does it mean that shows like Hulu's Runaways will be properly absorbed into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and begin to connect to larger stories being told across multiple platforms? We don't know exactly what Feige has in store for the TV landscape, but the days of Marvel TV properties being separate from Marvel movies could be coming to an end.
What About Ike Perlmutter?
Perlmutter, who's been the CEO of Marvel Entertainment for more than a decade, has a background in toy sales, and his...unusual decision-making style was the reason for the studio's notorious frugality (Feige nearly left Marvel altogether when Perlmutter demanded that Captain America: Civil War be given a smaller budget), and Perlmutter's obstinance is rumored to be the reason that it took so long for diverse characters to take leading roles in Marvel stories since then. So what happens to him now? Well, he'll still be serving as the Chairman of Marvel Entertainment, and Marvel Entertainment president Dan Buckley will still report to him when it comes to things like publishing operations, sales, creative services, games, licensing, and events. But Buckley will now report to Feige for all publishing creative/editorial decisions, meaning Perlmutter has essentially been cut out of the equation. Without Perlmutter's roadblocks, the entire Marvel storytelling landscape has the potential to be totally reshaped under Feige's vision.
In short, 2019 is a Very Good Year for Kevin Feige, who was already swimming in the success of having produced the highest-grossing movie of all time earlier this year in Avengers: Endgame and staring down a new chapter in his history with the company. Now his legacy will extend beyond just movies, and I'm very curious to see what he does with this newfound status. As Feige well knows: with great power comes great responsibility.