Kevin Feige, or The One Above All as Marvel employees may know him, has recently been promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Marvel. That’s right, no longer will Feige settle for being in charge of the MCU as a whole. Now he’s in charge of the whole enchilada. So, is Feige going to lead Marvel Comics through a new comics renaissance? Or will he drop the ball like Tony Stark’s AA sponsor? Only time will tell.
Regardless of what godking Feige does (and does not do) with his rule, let’s get into some ways that fans would love to see him improve Marvel Comics as well as some things they hope he stays away from.
10 Testing New Storylines - Good Feige
Now that Marvel is under the supervision of Feige, it’s likely that we’ll see shifts in the comics that help them be more aligned with whatever Feige’s vision of the future looks like.
Fans will likely see a combination of both new and old characters taken to places they’ve never been before, meeting up with characters they rarely spend time with. Feige has the opportunity to test characters in storylines and events that could likely provide a blueprint for what the future of the MCU will hold.
9 Reboots on Reboot on Reboots: Enter The Feigeverse - Bad Feige
While there are definitely some changes in store for Marvel Comics, something that nobody wants to see is yet another full reboot of the Marvel landscape. There is certainly a correct way to being to consolidating the comics that are currently being written under on unified vision.
While Jonathan Hickman’s relaunch of the X-Men has certainly made an impact on comics fans around the globe, it’d likely carry much less weight should the rest of Marvel hit the multi-versal reset switch and duck out of the new status quo of the Marvel landscape.
8 Highlight Obscure Characters - Good Feige
Along with making a name for himself, Feige has made a career out of highlighting some of the most underrated and obscure characters in the Marvel landscape and tossing them up on the big screen.
While Marvel and Disney have recently acquired the rights to a plethora of some of the largest names in Marvel Comics (including but not limited to, The Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom, The X-Men, and many more), with the comics, Feige can begin to build up some underrated characters who deserve their time in the spotlight - maybe some of villains as well? This could also help prepare them for their possible entry in the MCU via Disney+ or an actual feature film.
7 Not Maximizing On The Success Of The MCU - Bad Feige
Ever since Feige took over, the MCU has been on a meteoric rise. Creating four of the ten highest grossest films of all time is no small feat. While comic films, especially Marvel films, have become a worldwide phenomenon, Marvel comics, and comics as a whole isn’t looking as solid. There is more and more money coming into the comic book industry, both for superhero stuff as well as other creator-owned projects, but that does nothing if the quality of the actual comics begins to slip.
Feige needs to be able to capitalize on not only the money flooding in, but the global attention the comics industry is receiving. It’s a great time to be a comics fan, but now that the spotlight is so heavily focused on the industry, it has to put forth it’s very best. Not simply create as many Spider-Man titles as a store can hold.
6 Synergy & A United Vision - Good Feige
Now that Feige has control over Marvel as a whole (comics, television, and film) there’s a lot that he can do to in service of his vision for the consolidated Marvel universes. Feige can lead into a Disney+ series with a comic book series. He can tie both of those into an upcoming film about the aftermath of that series.
Feige has built his career on making some of the best comic book films in history, and with the entire Marvel brand under his control, hopefully, he’ll help make some of the best comics too.
5 Pandering To The Masses - Bad Feige
Marvel films have taken the world by storm. In just a decade they went from hostage billion in a cave to multi-world-saving iron hero saving the universe. Fans have seen long-time favorites like Spider-Man and old obscure characters like the Guardians Of The Galaxy and given them a home in almost every living room in the world.
However, while that kind of worldwide success can be an amazing thing in cinema, casting too broad a net can ultimately lead to an inferior product. Which for readers means inferior worlds, stories, and characters.
4 Subtle Integration Of Vision - Good Feige
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Feige has a vision of where he wants to take Marvel universes both print and film. However, there is still the fairly significant question of how he plans to get there.
Should Feige decide to come in and just flip the printed Marvel multiverses on their heads, there are plenty of fans that will stop reading, and do so loudly. If Feige can manage to subtly shift the multiverse in the direction he chooses, bringing heroes new and old into the new adventures, perhaps then, he can bring them into a new media as well.
3 Playing It Safe - Bad Feige
There are certainly a lot of hoops that Feige and his team will need to jump through in order to not only keep current comics fans captivated, but also bring in a whole new generation of comics fans. Feige has proven that when he has a spotlight as bright as the film industry’s on him and his team, they can shine.
So now more than ever, Feige and the rest of the team at Marvel can’t be afraid of trying something new, trying something that might fail, because that’s the only way in which they’ll learn where they need to grow.
2 Introduction Of New Characters - Good Feige
Marvel has made some of the most iconic characters in all of comics history, now more than ever the pillars that built Marvel comics are recognized all over the world. Characters like Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, have been staples of the community for a long time, but as they’ve recently learned with characters like Jessica Jones, Miles Morales, Kamala Khan, they can also continue to build names and even continue legacies.
There is, however, a very dark side to the creation of new characters, a subject that now more than anytime in history has become a reasonable concern.
1 Diversity Done Wrong - Bad Feige
Throughout Marvel’s history, and indeed comics history in general, diversity has been a bit of a sore subject. While any reasonable person will agree that representation in all art forms is important, representing those diverse communities both respectfully and accurately (cough cough Fu Manchu cough cough).
An essential part of representing these communities correctly takes place well before the comics ever hit the printer, it takes place during the hiring process. Feige and the team at Marvel need to make sure that they continue to highlight diverse artists and writers as they strive to move Marvel Comics into the future.
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