Colton Ogburn: Kevin Feige's Doomsday Focus Raises Real Questions About Spider-Man Brand New Day

A report claims Kevin Feige has been solely focused on Avengers Doomsday and Secret Wars for the better part of a year, leaving Amy Pascal largely in charge of Spider-Man Brand New Day. A viewer named Vince asked me whether that news has me nervous the movie will end up feeling like a Sony Spider-Man film rather than a proper Marvel Studios one, and I have some thoughts.

The article Vince sent over is by Josh Wilding, headlined "Kevin Feige has reportedly been focusing solely on next Avengers movies. What does that mean for Spider-Man?" It quotes Deadline's Justin Croll, who explained that Feige has narrowed his focus in a bid to get the MCU back on track. Croll's quote is that Feige has been so stretched thin with the TV shows and all these other things, and possibly a soft reboot, that he has been solely focused on Doomsday and Secret Wars for like a year straight.

Kevin Feige Has Reportedly Spent a Year Solely Focused on Avengers Doomsday and Secret Wars

Hearing that Feige has narrowed his focus is actually good news to me in one sense. One of my main criticisms of the Multiverse Saga is that Marvel Studios did way too much stuff and spread Feige too thin across too many projects. So if his focus is now locked on Doomsday and Secret Wars, that is great to hear for those two movies specifically.

The flip side, according to the report, is that this same narrowed focus might be bad for Spider-Man Brand New Day. Croll's reporting notes Feige did put Jake Schreier in as the director of the X-Men film, so he was involved in that decision, and I had also read that he was involved in the casting of the actress playing Shathra. Beyond that, he has largely let Pascal, who oversees Sony's Spider-Man, Venom, and Morbius side of things, handle the day to day on Brand New Day.

Croll's report also notes that Feige is in London all the time working on this return, and offers a broader read on how Feige operates: "If that dude has a mindset on just one thing like he used to back in the day with Iron Man or Thor, they turn out good. It's when he has like eight other things that it gets a little tougher."

Why Feige's Narrowed Focus Doesn't Worry Me as Much as It Might Sound

I don't think Feige views Brand New Day as being as important as Doomsday and Secret Wars, and there are a few reasons for that. For one, it just isn't, because Avengers movies are Marvel Studios movies fully owned by Disney. The Sony Spider-Man films are technically Marvel Studios productions and Marvel gets a cut as the studio making the movie, but Disney does not get the box office. Feige answers to Disney, so naturally his focus goes to the movies that are 100 percent theirs and that are simply bigger from a franchise and monetary perspective.

I also think Feige is protective of Spider-Man as his creative baby, especially around what Sony is allowed to do with the shared character. He has been guarded there. He did not let Morbius and Craven type material bleed into the MCU side of things, though he let Venom in a little, likely because Venom was genuinely beloved and people actually liked those movies.

I want to push back on two extremes I see online. Some people think Feige has full control over the MCU version of Spider-Man, and he does not. Others think Amy Pascal and Sony have full control over their Spider-Man, and they do not either. If Sony wanted to walk away from the sharing deal entirely, sure, they could do that, and then they would have full control. But while they are working together on a Marvel Studios production, Feige has a real say in those movies.

Amy Pascal's History With Marvel Studios Shows the Relationship Has Evolved

Does it make me a little nervous that Feige has to be more hands off on Brand New Day because he has to focus on Doomsday and Secret Wars? Honestly, yes, a little, because he is so brilliant at this. But at the same time, I do not want him stretched paper thin either. I hope he has put people he really trusts in place to stick the landing, and maybe he has also developed a better working relationship with Pascal over the years.

It's worth remembering that when Feige first approached Pascal about bringing Spider-Man into the MCU, she reportedly threw a sandwich at him after he suggested Marvel just handle the character outright, rather than folding in Sony's own Andrew Garfield era plans. She did not take that well at the time. Their relationship has clearly come a long way since then, given the success they have had together on the recent Spider-Man films.

We have also heard recent reports that Sony is more open to sharing its villain and Spider-Man adjacent characters with Marvel Studios. The working relationship looks strong enough that Mark Ruffalo's Hulk and Jon Bernthal's Punisher, both MCU properties, are appearing in Brand New Day.

I Think Feige and Destin Daniel Cretton Have a Strong Working Relationship on Brand New Day

Beyond just trusting Pascal to run things, I think Feige also has a good working relationship with Destin Daniel Cretton, who directed Shang-Chi and is directing Brand New Day. I think he trusts that director quite a bit because of how well Shang-Chi turned out, and I would guess he has laid down the importance of Brand New Day being genuinely good, not falling into the kind of Sony missteps we have seen with Madame Web, Craven, Venom: The Last Dance, or Morbius. Those movies, in my opinion, would have worked fine if they had come out back in 2006, but they just do not land today.

Does it make me nervous that Feige cannot give Brand New Day his undivided attention? A little. Would I prefer he had unlimited time for everything? Sure. But it is also valuable that he has strong working relationships with other filmmakers, the way he does with the Russo brothers, because he cannot do everything himself, and even if he could, that might not actually be what's best. His heavy involvement across the Multiverse Saga, spread thin, is arguably part of what hurt it, but he also gets credit or blame either way since the decisions ultimately run through him.

Why I Still Trust Brand New Day Will Turn Out Fine

I trust Feige understands the importance of Brand New Day, even if he understands the importance of Doomsday and Secret Wars even more, which is exactly why his focus needs to be there right now. Marvel Studios does get a cut of the Spider-Man box office, but that is not the main reason they do these movies. They want Spider-Man in the MCU doing well because of how it bolsters the overall brand and keeps people excited to see Avengers movies and everything else Marvel puts out. I think Feige is fully aware of that, and I trust it's going to turn out okay. I think Brand New Day is going to be a pretty good movie. I hope.

The Rumor That Peter Parker Could Briefly Become Man-Spider in Brand New Day

A viewer named Lewis asked what I think about speculation that Spider-Man will briefly get organic web shooters and possibly grow extra limbs, turning into Man-Spider. The rumor comes from Alex Perez at The Cosmic Circus, who reported that Peter would have a meltdown with his powers that would temporarily generate organic spider webs, and that this would lead him to mutate into a creature. In the comics, that transformation happened when Spider-Man went to the Wild Lands and was subjected to an experiment, though I know the concept better from how it was used in the 90s animated series, where it curiously involved the X-Men and Punisher.

I do think we're going to see MCU Spider-Man get organic webbing. In the leaked trailer, he appears in some kind of cocoon, and I think Shathra is the villain, played by the actress cast as Sadie Sink's character, who in the comics hunts spider people across the multiverse. Since Brand New Day is still part of the Multiverse Saga and the previous film was so multiversal, I think we'll see ramifications tied to concepts like the Web of Life and Destiny, with Peter becoming more connected to the wider Spider-Verse, something Madame Web touched on already. Organic webbing would also be a nice continuation of what they did with Tobey Maguire's organic webs in No Way Home.

My Take on How a Man-Spider Transformation Could Actually Work

As for actually seeing him mutate into Man-Spider, I'm honestly torn. I have not read the comic where this happens, but I have seen the animated series episode where Peter goes through a crisis and mutates into a full-blown spider creature, and I don't know if I want to see that exact thing play out here. It might be a bit much. Would I lose it a little if we got Punisher and Hulk fighting a giant mutated Spider-Man? Sure. But I think there's a real risk of overdoing it.

Rereading Perez's actual wording, he says the meltdown would lead Peter to mutate into a creature, not specifically that he becomes the classic Man-Spider design, even though that's how the headline frames it. I think a softer approach makes more sense, where Peter gets a little unstable and rabid with his powers while he's struggling with things like his relationship with MJ, without literally turning into a giant spider. Maybe he becomes something like a servant to Shathra for a stretch, which would explain why Punisher and Hulk are around to help snap him out of it and back to being regular Spider-Man, keeping the organic webbing afterward.

If they do go further than that, I'd rather see the full mutation happen inside his head, like a nightmare or a vision where Shathra is inside his mind and we briefly see him turn into a spider that way, rather than as a literal, permanent physical transformation. That version feels cooler to me and easier to pull off than having him actually mutate into the creature on screen.

Do you want to see Spider-Man actually mutate into Man-Spider in Brand New Day, or would you rather it stay a nightmare or a vision?