The American magazine Variety published a long article on the future of Marvel. From the involvement of Jonathan Majors (Kang) in the studio’s future content, to reshoots of “The Marvels” including a possible return of the original Avengers.
One week before the theatrical release of The Marvels, sequel to Captain Marvel with Brie Larson, the American magazine Variety dedicates a long paper to the Marvel studio and wonders if the House of Ideas is in difficulty.
Journalist Tatiana Siegel explains that during the studio’s annual meeting last September, the creators and managers were anxious.
“Everyone at Marvel was reeling after a series of on-screen disappointments, a legal scandal involving one of its biggest stars and questions about the viability of the studio’s ambitious strategy to expand the brand beyond films and into streaming.“
Jonathan Majors replaced in future films?
The case of Jonathan Majors, Kang’s interpreter in the MCU, was notably mentioned. Supposed to carry the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the actor was accused of violence and taken into police custody last March.
The Walt Disney France Jonathan Majors in Ant-Man 3
Although the character appears in the casting of the second season of Loki, Majors’ future within the studio is not certain. When the series was launched, the producer explained that the season had already been filmed at the time of the events.
But if the actor loses his lawsuit, Marvel could reconsider his future within the studio. According to Variety, Kevin Feige would consider two options: replacing Jonathan Majors with another actor, as was already done for Iron Man 2 when Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard or replacing Kang with another adversary from the comics: Doctor Doom, already seen in Fantastic Four, which Marvel is also preparing to relaunch. This change would force Marvel to review all of its plans, including the Avengers: The Kang Dynasty film scheduled for release in April 2026.
Too many connections between content?
But Jonathan Majors isn’t the studio’s only problem. The numbers reshoots of The Marvels by Nia DaCosta worries the studio which is not calm about the release of this feature film with a huge budget of 274 million dollars.
The film brings together Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and two allies with superpowers, Monica Rambeau played by Teyonah Parris (introduced in the Disney+ series, WandaVision in 2021) and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), from the series Miss Marvel. A regrouping which gave rise to four weeks of reshoots in order to give more coherence to a plot that was too tangled.
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The Marvels
According to Eric Handler, a Wall Street analyst specializing in Disney, the problems faced by Marvel today are linked to the COVID pandemic.
In 2020, the studio decided to boost Disney’s stock price with an uninterrupted torrent of interconnected Marvel content to feed its fledgling Disney+ streaming platform. According to the plan, there would never be a break in the production of superhero content. But with so many series and films and the need to create an intertwined plot has disconcerted viewers.
The more you make, the harder it is to maintain quality.
He explains to Variety: “The Marvel machine produced a lot of content. Did it get to a point where there were too many and people were getting tired of superheroes? It’s possible. The more you make, the harder it is to maintain quality. They experimented by introducing new characters, like Shang-Chi And Eternals, with mixed results. With such large budgets, you have to make a splash“.
Bob Iger, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, himself recognized the disadvantages of this glut of Marvel programs which has “diluted attention and concentration“.
Mahershala Ali almost dropped ‘Blade’
As a result, the studio is taking its time to launch its new products. Thus, Blade with Mahershala Ali is postponed to 2025. The project passed through the hands of five screenwriters, two directors and post-production was stopped 6 weeks before the start of filming.
According to speculation, Kevin Feige reportedly looking to make the film on a budget under $100 million, which is a departure from Marvel’s strategy. The article also tells us that Mahershala Ali, supposed to play the vampire-hunting superhero, almost left the project after reading a script that placed him in a supporting role.
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Avengers
The original Avengers returning?
One of the solutions mentioned by Marvel according to a source from Variety would be to bring back stars from the golden age of superhero films. So the original Avengers: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) could return.
To do this it would therefore be necessary to resurrect Iron Man and the Black Widow and bring back Captain America from the past. But it shouldn’t be very complicated thanks to the multiverse…
However, the return of emblematic actors would not come at lower costs for the studio. Robert Downey Jr.’s initial salary for Iron Man 3 was already $25 million. On the other hand, it is not certain that the actor, recently starring in Oppenheimer, wants to slip into the Iron Man armor again. During the promotion of Christopher Nolan’s film, the latter declared that having played the same character for 10 years had made him doubt his abilities as an actor.
Deadpool and the X-Men to Marvel’s rescue?
Is making something new out of something old the solution? Variety suggests that the way for Marvel to get back on its feet could lie in the superhero arsenal that Disney acquired when it bought Fox in 2019. Deadpool, the X-Men and the Four Fantastics could thus allow the studio to get back on its feet. Fans are also impatiently awaiting Deadpool 3, the filming of which was stopped by the writers’ and actors’ strike.
Writing Marvel’s obituary would be ill-advised
“Writing Marvel’s obituary would be ill-advised” says Jason Squire, professor emeritus at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and host of The Movie Business Podcast the newspaper.
“Kevin Feige is Babe Ruth [NDLR : Joueur de baseball considéré comme étant le plus grand joueur au monde] studio executives, and Marvel is the most profitable company in cinema history. There is no doubt.”