CraveOnline: Phase Two has been very sequel based. There’s only one original film, the rest are follow-ups. Do you expect that pattern to continue or do you plan to introduce more characters in solo films as the franchise progresses?
Kevin Feige: I think it will always vary but I like, as we get into 2014 and 2015, the rhythm of a new story with an existing character, like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and then introducing a new hero like we’re doing with Guardians of the Galaxy, or 2015, Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. I don’t know if that will always be the case, but it certainly makes sense to me.
You leave Thor: The Dark World on a cliffhanger. Are we going to have to wait until the next Thor sequel to see what happens next, or is there room to explore it other stories and other films?
I think there’s always room to touch on it in other stories, but I think we wouldn’t get the full evolution of where that story’s progressing until another standalone Thor film.
The teaser at the end of this film gets me so excited.
[Laughs] Oh good!
Are you saying that the Tesseract is one of the Infinity Gems, and has been all along?
Yes.
Which one would it be? Would it be the Space Gem or the Power Gem, or is it not that codified in the cinematic universe?
It is. I don’t know when we’ll actually divulge that necessarily, but it’s the space stone.
Is the Aether, crystallized, also one of the gems?
Yes.
Oh my. Oh, that’s exciting.
Yeah.
I am so stoked for that.
[Laughs]
Is that going to be the focus of The Guardians of the Galaxy, or is going to continue throughout Phase 3? How long is this story arc going to go?
Well the answer to the first question is both. It is both. And then, you know? Who knows? If they allow us to keep making movies, it will go a little bit further.
I think they’ll allow you. I think you’ve got a good shot at making more films.
[Laughs]
Are you involved in Big Hero 6 or is that a separate thing?
No, that’s a separate thing.
Is there any interest in trying to explore Marvel in cinematic animation?
Well, I think there is, which is why they’re doing Big Hero 6.
I mean directly through you, since you’re so in control of the properties and how they interconnect.
No, our focus is on the MCU as we’ve developed it, and continuing to build that.
Is there any character in particular that you’d really love to make a movie about that’s just not big enough to seriously consider right now? Would you really like to make a Stilt-Man movie?
[Laughs] Well, we had a great Runaways script and a great Runaways story, which is why we ended up hiring Drew Pearce to do Iron Man 3, but we have so much else on the docket that there’s not a slot of time for that right now.
Is it difficult when you develop a project like that and then the universe goes off in a new direction? If you wanted to do Runaways now would you have to completely rework that script to fit in with what’s going on in the movies now?
No, and Ant-Man’s the best example of that, because Ant-Man… you know Edgar [Wright] had the first pitch and the first drafts for that movie long before the MCU even existed. While there is some rewriting that is necessary to bring it into and acknowledge the universe that he inhabits, it’s the exact same story that he initially pitched.
Is there any aspect of Irredeemable Ant-Man that you’re interested to include, or is it just focused on Hank Pym and the original charater?
Irredeemable… is that the most recent one?
That’s the one that Robert Kirkman did where he gets Ant-Man powers and he’s really irresponsible with them.
No. What’s the name of that Ant-Man?
Eric O’Grady.
No, we’re not doing that one. Maybe someday.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
