Marvel's Kevin Feige dismisses 'Avengers Fatigue', denies people will ever get tired of Marvel movies

Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige has rejected the claim of filmmakers like James Cameron that audiences will eventually be fatigued by superhero films. Feige is largely held responsible for the rise of movies based on Marvel characters in the interconnected shared film universe called Marvel Cinematic Universe. Out of nowhere, MCU (as it is called) has demonstrably and utterly conquered Hollywood. However, that domination, many believe, has hurt more independent, low-budget movies and even projects of rival studios. Among them is Cameron. Ahead of the release of the superhero extravaganza 'Avengers: Infinity War' in 2018, Cameron had said he hopes 'Avengers fatigue' would set in. Many other filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese andFrancis Ford Coppola, have also criticised Marvel movies. Scorsese famously called Marvel moviesmore like theme park rides than cinema.

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Now Feige, while speaking to The Movie Business Podcast said, "I’ve been at Marvel Studios for over 22 years, and most of us here at Marvel Studios have been around a decade or longer together. “From probably my second year at Marvel, people were asking, ‘Well, how long is this going to last? Is this fad of comic book movies going to end?'”

He added, “I didn’t really understand the question. Because to me, it was akin to saying after ‘Gone With the Wind,’ ‘Well, how many more movies can be made off of novels? Do you think the audience will sour on movies being adapted from books?’ You would never ask that because there’s an inherent understanding among most people that a book can be anything. A novel can have any type of story whatsoever. So it all depends on what story you’re translating. Non-comic readers don’t understand that it’s the same thing in comics.”

He went on to iterate that writers and directors working on comic-book movies have a treasure trove of more than eight decades of stories and characters to mine from.

“There’s 80 years of the most interesting, emotional, groundbreaking stories that have been told in the Marvel comics, and it is our great privilege to be able to take what we have and adapt them. Another way to do that is adapting them into different genres, and what types of movies we want to make," he added.

MCU, in general, has been struggling to maintain momentum after the big finale of 'Avengers: Endgame'. The 2019 film ended the so-called Infinity Saga of MCU and Thanos' threat. We were told the MCU will get bigger, and in a way it is. There are several new superheroes belonging to more diverse backgrounds instead of white males from New York.

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Despite opening avenues for newer kinds of heroes and fresher approaches to storytelling, the appeal of the MCU is slowly but steadily waning. Marvel Studios' experience with TV format has been mixed to negative. 'WandaVision' looked interesting and then squandered all that setup in favour of a terrible finale. Both 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier' and 'Hawkeye' were bad from the beginning and got worse. Loki was overall good, but its finale was deeply disappointing in the sense that it was less an ending than a setup for the second season.

Even recent movies have not fared any better. Some say it is time to overhaul the Marvel formula, which has now begun to feel outdated. A person gets superpowers, overcomes personal and familiar conflicts, and defeats the villain (who may also be a family member, mind you) in a messy CGI finale.