Kevin Feige On Why The Skrulls Are Being Introduced In 'Captain Marvel,' & The Future Of Superhero Movies
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is the master of the non-answer, having instilled an iron-clad culture around Marvel secrets and its stars. But Feige kindly loosened his lips a little and gave geeks something to look forward to at this past weekend's San Diego Comic Con.
While fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe gawked over the new Black Panther footage and Thor: Ragnarok trailer, they got a small glimpse and some juicy details about the upcoming Captain Marvel, Marvel's first solo female superhero movie starring Brie Larson. The big surprise was its setting — Captain Marvel is going to be set in the '90s, and feature a pre-eye patch Nick Fury. But Feige is here to explain just why that is, weighing in on what it means for the past and future of the MCU.
Flash From the Past: Why Captain Marvel is Set in the '90s
While no footage could be shown at the Captain Marvel panel, Feige revealed concept art of Larson in costume as the titular Captain, as well as the news that the film would take place years before the events of the original 2008 Iron Man. But was there a particular reason for this setting?
Feige later told MTV that to give a reason for the '90s setting of Captain Marvel would be "spoiler" but he and Marvel mostly chose it because "it was fun":
"There is an unexplored period of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that we wanted to showcase. Almost anything else is a spoiler other than to say that the '90s would be a fun period to make a superhero movie in. I graduated high school in 1991 and the thought that I'm now making a period piece is unbelievable. How old am I now? It's just gonna be a lot of fun."
So basically, we finished the '80s, and the '90s nostalgia hit pieces are coming. But the fact that making Captain Marvel a prequel is a spoiler is pretty intriguing. First, we'll likely get to find out how Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury lost that eye. Secondly, the introduction of the Skrulls and its cosmic implications coul tie into the Guardians' presence in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War, as well as Captain Marvel's absence for the past 30 years.
Feige told IGN that the depiction of the Skrulls will be inspired by the Kree-Skrull War of the Marvel comics, and possibly help flesh out the cosmic mythology of the MCU:
"Captain Marvel will be our 21st film in the cinematic universe, and we've never seen the Skrulls... There's an entire section of our comics that deal with the Kree-Skrull war, and we haven't tapped into that at all. And we thought that would be an amazing, huge portion of mythology to belong to Captain Marvel."
Back to the Future of the MCU and Superhero Movies
As Feige said, Captain Marvel will be the 21st movie in the MCU. That's a lot of superheroes, and that's not even half of the superhero movie slate in theaters. Could Feige be worried that, by the time Captain Marvel or the rest of his planned MCU Phases roll around, that audiences could get tired of movies. He told Variety:
"Yeah, I do. I mean really, all I worry about are the films that we make and the films that we can control. And nobody would get fatigued more than all of us at Marvel Studios," Feige said. "We live this, we breathe this 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. So almost every film we make and every decision we make is to keep ourselves interested and to keep things fresh and to keep things unexpected. And so far, as you say, 19 films in, the audience seems to be responding to that."
So if you're invested in the MCU, stick around. You're in for the long haul. And don't expect instant answers to even the most frustrating cliffhangers — like what happens after the ending of Spider-Man: Homecoming. As Feige told IGN (h/t Comic Book Movie): "I think it might be a few years."