Marvel CEO sees studio’s new “underdog” status as a chance for redemption

Marvel CEO Kevin Feige hopes the studio’s new “underdog” status with audiences will allow them to make up for previous failures.

In the wake of Marvel’s slight decline in popularity amongst some of its fans, Feige hopes the studio can use this opportunity to put itself back on top after recent box office failures.

In a new interview with Empire, the CEO spoke candidly about his high expectations about the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, slated to be the only Marvel movie in 2024.

“It’s nice to be able to rally behind one feature project this year,” Feige said. “I’m much more comfortable being the underdog. I prefer being able to surprise, and exceed expectations. So it does seem like the last year, which has not been ideal, has set us up well for that.”

Feige is referring to 2023’s The Marvels, the lowest-grossing movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, falling behind Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Marvel Studios

Since Avengers: Endgame wrapped up Phase 1 to 3 in 2019, the MCU has pumped out non-stop content between movies and TV shows.

And, while some of the projects ended up being huge hits, like WandaVision and Loki, the movie side of the studio has suffered a bit in the public eye.

It doesn’t help that some audiences are suffering from “superhero fatigue,” a phenomenon that has been a steadily growing trend and one of the biggest thorns in Marvel’s side.

However, both Feige and Louis D’Esposito, co-president of Marvel Studios, believe Deadpool & Wolverine could be the perfect tool to get the studio back into the public’s good graces.

“It’s been a rough time. If we just stayed on top, that would have been the worst thing that could have happened to us,” D’Esposito explained. “We took a little hit, we’re coming back strong. Maybe when you do too much, you dilute yourself a little bit. We’re not going to do that anymore. We learned our lesson. Maybe two to three films a year and one or two shows, as opposed to doing four films and four shows.”

The suits behind Marvel aren’t the only ones who believe Deadpool is the key to putting the spark back in the studio. Shawn Levy, the movie’s director, said, “You’d have to live under a rock not to know that the last few Marvel movies have failed to ignite the world in the way that so many did. We do come along at an interesting time. And we are decidedly something different. Whether it is of Messianic proportions, time will tell.”

Deadpool & Wolverine’s premiere is the first step of Marvel’s new plan to reduce the amount of TV shows and movies audiences get per year.

Deadpool & Wolverine slashes into theaters on July 26. You can check out all the Easter eggs in the movie’s trailer, learn more about the movie’s villain, and find out why fans are outraged about Wolverine’s costume.