Marvel Studios runs a notoriously tight ship when it comes to deciding which new projects to announce and when. Since the interviews gathered for the Marvel Universe Holiday cover story in Vanity Fair were much more about looking back, studio chief Kevin Feige and his disciplined stable of actors and directors weren’t inclined to give away too many secrets about what’s coming up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That being said, we did scoop up a morsel of information or two. So here, for your scrutinizing pleasure, is every single tiny thing we learned about the future for Marvel and its many, many heroes.
THE UPCOMING SLATE
Kevin Feige on literally what’s next, in case you need a refresher on the upcoming Marvel roster:
Nothing is more important than finishing what we started. Nothing is more important than completing the task. Thor: Ragnarok is done, thankfully. Black Panther [February 2018] is well on its way. Doing some additional photography soon for that. Captain Marvel story is coming together very well and is finding itself for its March [2019] release, and Joe and Anthony [Russo] are doing Avengers: Infinity War [May 2018] and Avengers 4 [May 2019], the two biggest movies of all time back-to-back. I don’t really know if they’re the biggest movies of all time, but two very big movies back-to-back at the same time. It all feels good, and then [Ant-Man and the] Wasp [July 2018] is going to complete filming. Black Panther has started and finished. Ant-Man and the Wasp will have started and finished in the period in which Avengers is still going. It started before both of those and will end after both of those. That’s the task at hand.
For even more from Vanity Fair’s exclusive Marvel cover story and shoot, click here.
THE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION COMING IN AVENGERS 3 AND 4
Avengers 3 and 4 co-director Joe Russo on just how many characters and story lines will be involved in the two-part crossover films:
We’ll take blame for the scale, because we were pushing for it. We were pushing to make it bigger, we were pushing it, saying, “Look, what you’ve done is an impressive narrative over 10 years, and why shouldn’t this involve every character?” It should be the culmination, so in some way, we have to touch on everyone in their story, or their theme. It has to be woven in, in some way. You can’t really look back and go, Hey, remember the last time that somebody took 12 franchises and blended them together and told the movie with 60 lead characters? So that’s the challenge, and you have to create your own structure for a story like that. You look at Lord of the Rings, or you can look at [Robert Altman’s] Nashville, but there is no real template for it.
Avengers 3 and 4 co-director Anthony Russo on his involvement with the future of the franchise:
We’re not participating in any thought whatsoever about what happens after these movies. So we know who we’re allowed to kill, and that’s about it. I don’t even think Marvel had any ideas about where they would go after [Avengers 3 and 4]. It’s not an end for all of these characters; it’s an end for some of these characters. So some of these characters will go on. So it’s more complicated, that’s why it’s not a clean ending.
Kevin Feige on the ending:
How can you have both an ongoing cinematic universe that continues to make films and, at the same time, occasionally bring things to a head? Something you’ve never really seen in superhero films is a conclusion. Is a finale. You’ve seen those in Lord of the Rings films. You’ve seen those in Harry Potter films, in Star Wars. Logan did it a little bit with that character. We thought it would be important to bring the current three-Phase, 22-movie current series to a conclusion. How do I say this? There will be two distinct periods between everything before Avengers 4 and everything after. I know it will not be in ways people are expecting.
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn on the different directors and the potential body count in the Avengers films:
I think part of that is also the natural evolution of the series. You can’t keep making movies that are too similar. You can’t make the same movie over and over again. If Marvel is going to survive, they have to start making movies with characters who are a little different. They have to start allowing characters to die. They have to start having stakes really mean something if they want people to stay interested.
Was the death of Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 getting us ready for a pile of dead Avengers?
It might be doing that in effect. It was not meant to do that in intent.
DEPARTING AVENGERS AND THE END OF AN ERA
Mark Ruffalo, on the set of Avengers 4, talking the end of the Avengers as we know it:
All good things come to an end. I’ve been here not as long as these other people and not in as many things. I’m really grateful for this ride, and I’ve had a lot of fun. These people are like a family. I mean, people have gotten married and had kids and divorced and all kinds of stuff has happened. And every time we come back, there’s a really nice bond between us. But, yeah, it’s sad to think of it as coming to an end for anybody, you know? Part of why I’m an actor is I get very tired doing the same thing over and over again. I’ve stayed away from television in part because of that. I’m a little ADHD casualty. But yeah, if it’s coming to an end for some of us, that makes me sad. It’s a good time to hang out with your friends and do what you love to do. I’ll cry on the last day of this.
Kevin Feige on saying goodbye:
I never went to summer camp when I was a kid, but the notion of the stories you hear of summer camp where you’re with people every day then it’s over. That happens on every movie. I just saw Scott Derrickson for the first time in months at this event in Atlanta, and I had spent almost every day for two and a half years with him. Same thing with Joss [Whedon]. Same thing with [Jon] Favreau. Same thing with James [Gunn] until we started gearing up again. So, in a certain way, it’s always like that. Up to this point there has always been a time when you get back together again. So the thought of that not happening is sad and we’ll have to organize some sort of a yearly brunch.
Scarlett Johansson on the set of Avengers 4:
It’s bittersweet to imagine not having these films to come back to. I’ve been living this story with these people for 10 years through ups and downs. We’ve built a great family. Personally, it feels like a loss. There’s a gain that comes with that for each one of us. We have Brie Larson on this film. She’s here before shooting the stand-alone Captain Marvel movie so we get to watch her get her feet wet for real. She’s so great, but a really cute thing happened the other day where Hulk is standing next to her and Joe Russo told her to put her hand in front of Mark [Ruffalo]’s face to stop him, and she’s like, “In front of his face?” And they explained, “that’s where his chest is,” and she looks up and yells, “I’m new! I’m new!” I’m like, “damn, girl.” It’s very surreal for me to watch these new cast members come in and get their feet wet and breath new life into these characters who are so iconic. I feel a lot of joy for the next generation. It’s a bittersweet feeling but overall it’s a positive one. I feel good about the work we’ve done and the work I’ve done.
Chris Hemsworth on the set of Avengers 4:
I’ve been hugely impressed by Tom Holland and the way he’s handled the transition. I didn’t look that comfortable on my first three films. Literally, this is my sixth film and I’m finally feeling like I may be allowed to stick around and stay here. But he just came in and had such an ease to his performance.
Robert Downey Jr. on the set of Avengers 4, teasing the man who might take the Avengers down:
We have a fiesta theme today [on set] and I invited a mariachi band [to play for the cast]. We’re working hard. I’ll say particularly about Infinity War and what’s next is this is our finest hour and we’re having fun doing it. So you know, the beat goes on. But if I say “Thanos” to my 5-year-old, he sort of recoils a little bit. Our real ace in the hole is Josh Brolin because he doesn’t lose. Thanos doesn’t lose.
WHAT COMES AFTER THE AVENGERS?
Kevin Feige on any concerns about Marvel being able to raise the bar after the high stakes and potentially high body count of Avengers 3 and 4.
I also think that was a concern that we had after the first Avengers. Are people going to be open to a single character once they’ve seen all of that? I think we’ve already proved it now, having gotten through all of Phase Two, and now midway through Phase Three, that they do. The way you do that is we went in on a full Tony Stark P.T.S.D. singular story line with [Iron Man 3]. That’s what we’ll continue to do post the next Avengers movies, is dig into different kinds of characters, different aspects of current characters, to keep things as fresh as they’ve ever been. And that’s what’s exciting about the next decade or so that we’ve planned out. Twenty-two movies in, and we’ve got another 20 movies on the docket that are completely different than anything that’s come before. Intentionally.
Disney C.E.O. Bob Iger on whether he’s worried about what comes after Infinity War:
No. I don’t worry at all. We have monthly development meetings. We’re now at a point where we know what movies we’re making, well into the next decade. We actually could have gone a decade beyond that if we wanted to.
Iron Man director Jon Favreau on why comic-book movies aren’t going away anytime soon:
I’m very impressed with how it has evolved, and I’m not just saying that with Marvel. I looked at a film like Logan, and you look at Guardians of the Galaxy and Wonder Woman. If all of these movies are quote, unquote “superhero movies,” then that’s a very large tent. It’s a lot like what was happening with the western in the mid-century and beyond. If you can use that genre to tell different types of stories and explore different archetypes and different filmmakers have different perspectives, there’s room. What was nice about the western was it allowed a certain amount of security with the studios to know that people would show up for a western. And I think with superhero movies there’s a certain degree of comfort that people will show up in very challenging times for theatrical distribution. That people will show up. So that gives these new filmmakers opportunity to demonstrate their voices in a way where there’s a comfort level with the people footing the bill. They know people will show up. So oddly there’s a freedom to this genre that you don’t see in non-genre films because there’s that security level.
Kevin Feige:
We want to make all different types of movies. With Spider-Man: Homecoming, we wanted to do a John Hughes movie. There are lots of genres that we haven’t done yet that we also want to play with.
Kevin Feige when I asked him to hint at what any of those genres might be.
No.
HOW GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY CHANGED EVERYTHING
Mark Ruffalo on the freedom of a post-Guardians Marvel Cinematic Universe:
Guardians of the Galaxy opened up a whole new door in the Marvel universe. We don’t have to force a tone from movie to movie. We don’t have to force a look from movie to movie. All we have to do is carry those characters with some semblance of the last story, with that in mind, and we could actually even bury ledes, as well. But I contend that it’s exactly how they’ve been making this whole thing from the very beginning, and they’re just becoming more and more confident with that model.
Ant-Man and the Wasp star Evangeline Lilly on the changing tone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe:
Frankly, if it wasn’t Kevin at the helm, I think I would be very, very nervous to be losing these pillars and the people who paved a way for characters like the Wasp. When he walked me through the general story arc of Infinity War, it dawned on me: oh, I understand now, we’re moving into this new Phase. The color of that new Phase can be clearly seen emerging through Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Thor: Ragnarok. It’s just a more colorful, more playful, heightened reality that we’re going to enter.
Robert Downey Jr. on which Avengers 4 actor has most embraced that tone:
I mean, I don’t even know how to express my joy at Chris’s vibe right now. Hemsworth. Dude, it’s just too great.
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn on whether he would take on a Joss Whedonesque mentor role to the new directors in the Marvel franchise:
They’ve talked to me about that. They’re interested in that. But I haven’t decided what my role is going to be after Guardians 3. Avengers 3 and 4 are the end of an era of Marvel. This is the end of a long-form story that’s been told for the last 10 years. And Guardians Vol. 3 is a big part of the beginning of what comes after that while simultaneously being the end of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Something Kevin has been really open to talking to me about is helping them decide where that goes.
Kevin Feige on Joss Whedon, Gunn’s future role, and the relationships between the Marvel directors:
Anna [Boden] and Ryan [Fleck] are working on Captain Marvel and talking to Taika [Waititi], who’s just finished Ragnarok, talking with Ryan Coogler, who’s in the midst of post-production on Panther. So there is that back and forth, which I like. Peyton [Reed] going over and seeing Joe and Anthony [Russo] because they’re on the same lot at Pinewood. With Joss it was more unique. It was more of a sort of a contractual thing as part of his deal on Avengers 2 that he would help us oversee it. There’s not that with James. But what there is with James is that camaraderie and the notion that a lot of what’s been done in Guardians and a lot of the great characters that we’ve done in Guardians could have potential as their own things. Working with James to figure out where those could go and how that could work has certainly been part of our discussions.
THE BRAVE NEW WORLDS OF THE M.C.U.
Disney C.E.O. Bob Iger on where, physically, Marvel will go next and the Avengers/Guardians team up:
We’re looking for completely different realms within Marvel. The Guardians represented that initially, although they’re coming together with the Avengers in the Avengers film that’s coming up. But now we’re looking for worlds that are completely separate from the worlds we’ve already visited. They can be separate geographically, or separate in time—not just in place but in time. So there’s almost, it’s not quite infinite, but the directions we could go are extraordinary.
Evangeline Lilly, Lost alum, when I try to squeeze her for information on what Iger means:
So in other words, you want me to tell you about the flash-forwards and flashbacks and flash-sideways? When I heard about Infinity War and the direction that they’re heading, I did have this moment of realizing, oh, wow, there’s a bit of a déjà vu for me with the Lost franchise. We are hitting that [Lost] Season 4 space where everything’s about to shift, and you’re about to lose the solid ground underneath you. And [Ant-Man and the Wasp], of course, will play a part in that.
Those characters are experts in the quantum realm. In Ant-Man and the Wasp, they are trying everything in their power to safely enter the quantum realm and return back from it because they have evidence from the first film that Scott Lang was able to do that. If he can do it, why can’t we? If we do succeed in Ant-Man and the Wasp, then that does open a whole entire new multi-verse to enter into and play around in. I’m not the story creator, so I can’t tell you what they’re going to do with that. But I definitely see the potential there.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR ANT-MAN AND THE WASP?
Paul Rudd on zooming back and forth across Atlanta shooting Ant-Man and the Wasp and Avengers 4 simultaneously:
I know they’re filming over on Ant-Man and I’m here with the Avengers and I feel like I’m cheating. It’s a little interesting, playing the same character but with different directors. The Russos have a very specific view of this character and also kind of the way my character fits into this world and into this group, versus the way [Ant-Man director] Peyton [Reed] might. It doesn’t feel like I’m playing different characters, but it might feel as if I’m taking a different swing in a scene, based on the film.
Evangeline Lilly:
I am [shooting both] but a lot less so than Paul. My character is a lot less prominent in Avengers than his is. I’ve only done one day on Avengers thus far, and then I do some more after I wrap on Ant-Man and the Wasp, but they will come back to back. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to leave Atlanta before I start shooting the Avengers. I think I’m just stuck here until the New Year.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE HULK?
Mark Ruffalo:
Kevin brought me in and they’re like, “If you had a stand-alone Hulk movie, what would you like to do in it?” And I kinda laid out what I thought would be interesting to explore. And they said, “O.K., let’s do that starting at Thor 3 and carry that all the way to the end of Infinity War.” So you’ll have a character arc. It’ll be Banner’s story, it’ll be as if he had a stand-alone movie, but we’ll bury it in three different movies.
ON NEW CHARACTERS AND THE X-MEN
Bob Iger:
One of the great things about Marvel is they’ve got thousands of characters. In fact, when we bought the company, in due diligence, we discovered that we were buying, not only the name Marvel but 7,000 characters. We had 7,000 characters. What [Feige’s] done in the last decade is take some of them and tell stories about them, around them, involving them.
Kevin Feige on one Marvel character who probably won’t (though who knows?) get his own movie:
Is every single character who’s ever appeared in the panel of a comic book perfect for a movie? Probably not.
V.F.: Maybe not the genetically engineered satyr Woodgod?
Maybe not Woodgod, although now I’m going to go look him up again. There are a lot of stories to be told, from existing characters to characters that we haven’t brought to the screen yet, because there have been immensely talented creative people creating new stories once a month, every month, every year for the last 50, 60 years. It’s pretty amazing, and even if it’s just the kernel of an idea that you can get from the comics and turn it into something else, it’s a treasure trove in those books.
Kevin Feige’s first boss, X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner, on the idea of working with Feige again and returning her mutants to the Marvel fold:
Well, I wish. I would love it, I would love it. But it’s not for me to say.
Kevin Feige:
Well, the problem is whenever I say anything about it, it becomes 15 headlines. So would we like to? Yeah, of course. Is there any movement toward it at all? No. Same thing. Same status.
THE PRESSURES OF BEING THE FIRST
Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, the first black actor to lead a Marvel Studios film:
When the majority of the weight is on you, it’s a much more hectic experience. Black Panther, as much fun as it was, as historic as it was, it’s a lot of weight to carry. I’m feeling that, in a very real way, at this moment. We were talking about it yesterday and last night, Brie [Larson] and Tom Holland. Across the board, I think everybody has expressed their excitement about Panther. Chris Hemsworth, everybody. I can’t really think of anybody that hasn’t directly approached me and had very, very in-depth conversations about Panther. Just that it’s special, that it’s exciting. There’s the feeling for me that because it’s the first of its kind, you want to make sure you do well, because there’s a fear that if it doesn’t do well, it’ll be a long time before it happens again. It’s not even just for you, it’s for other artists that will come after you. There’s that type of pressure that goes with it, that I think everybody felt, that culturally, this was an important moment for everybody that’s going to see it. It’s an opportunity for people’s minds to open up. Everybody’s been supportive.
Ant-Man and the Wasp star Evangeline Lilly, the first female superhero with her name in the title of a Marvel Studios film:
Of course, I am so nervous. It’s really nerve-wracking. I have often asked myself during the filming process, how am I going to make her special? I mean how do I make this character count, and how do I make her stand out? Because she’s the first titled female superhero in the Marvel Universe, and I would hate to be that great big disappointment to the fans. That would mortify me. Unfortunately, the only answer I ever really find to that question is you just have to go to work, and you have to tell the truth, and you have to trust that Marvel knows what they’re doing, and they chose you for a reason, and let the rest of it go, because I think if I am trying too hard to make something special out of it, it will fall on its face. But, God, I’m telling you, when it first launches at the box office, I will have butterflies in my stomach. I will be very, very nervous.
ONE FINAL TRY WITH KEVIN FEIGE
Kevin Feige:
We have such a library now of characters to pull from who’ve been in other films. The harder part, now, is [incorporating] elements of films that haven’t come out yet, and convincing the filmmaker, this is going to be cool, but we gotta shoot it now before this. I always think sometimes there’s a healthy level of skepticism. The [Russo] bros take the biggest brunt of this working on these Avengers movies. Panther and Captain Marvel and all this other stuff is in the works while they’re working on it. They also happen to be the best at being on our same wavelength of what’s going to work and what’s not going to work.
Kevin Feige when I try one last time to ask what’s next:
V.F.: O.K. Not even asking for vague genre, and not pegging it to one character, but can you tell me something like, “I want to make my RoboCop,” unless you already have with Iron Man.
[Feige perks up] No, but RoboCop is a good example. RoboCop is almost a perfectly structured movie. We do have a movie that’s utilizing that. The lessons learned from that structure in good ways. It’s not a robot person, though.
Kevin Feige on how the return of Spider-Man to the Marvel family changes things for the Marvel Universe:
Like I can’t believe it happened. Everything we’ve done is based on: You know what would be cool? You know what’d be awesome? If maybe someday we did . . . We’ve had so many “somedays” come and happen. Spider-Man was one of them. This past weekend with the photo shoot that we did for you is one of them. The Avengers is one of them. Being in charge of the movies is one of them. Now it’s just about not screwing it up.
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