Kevin Feige Tells Marvel Comics to Stay 15 Years Ahead of the Movies

Kevin Feige has told the people making Marvel Comics that it's not their job to follow the movies, and that their job is to be 15 years ahead of them. That's according to the new editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, who reported what was discussed at a summit with Feige held in the days before, as reported by AIPT. Not a lot of people are talking about this, but it's very important.

It matters because the relationship between Marvel's film and television division and its publishing division is going to be increasingly important. Kevin Feige's values, and his vision for how he looks at the publishing division, are going to be very predictive for the next 10 years.

Feige says it's not Marvel Comics' job to follow the MCU

According to AIPT, the editor-in-chief said the success of the MCU has created an assumption that the comics should relate to the films and match them. He says that's backwards. Kevin Feige told the team in the first meeting that it's not their job to follow the movies.

Basically, Feige is telling the Marvel Comics writers and editors that they don't have to follow what's being done in the movies. They should forge their own trail.

Marvel Comics should be the creative engine 15 years ahead of the films

The editor-in-chief also said Feige was at the creative summit the day before, and that Feige said their job is to be 15 years ahead of the movies, with Marvel Comics as the creative engine of everything they're doing. Feige said they're all clearly better "when we're leading and not following."

So Feige wants the comics, the printed material, to be breaking the new ground on the stories that inspire the movies that come 15 years later.

Why we think comics chasing movie deals would be a nightmare

That's the way it should be. It would be a nightmare if comics writers were asking what the next movie is and how to tie into it. Let the comics be the comics, and then the individual film and TV writers can take inspiration from them.

If comics writers lose that creative independence and are just trying to print stuff that will make a good movie someday, you get the unfortunate phenomenon already seen in novel publishing and even in nonfiction publishing. You have New York Times writers deciding which stories to pursue as their Pulitzer projects based on what might get a movie rights deal. That's because they want to make money, and because journalists are underpaid, but it's a bummer. You should be chasing the story you feel is most important to you and to the world. I think there are a lot of journalists doing that work. I just think you can't deny the power of Hollywood when it comes to the big money and the paydays these people might get.

A lot of it is Hollywood producers coming in and snatching up the film rights to stories. It's weird, because they're buying up the film rights to stories about people who are still alive, about trials that are still happening, and about verdicts that haven't been issued yet.

Jonathan Hickman wrote Secret Wars with no sense it would become a movie

You could say that since the Marvel Cinematic Universe began in 2008, some storylines in Marvel Comics have been written in the hope that Kevin Feige, an executive or a filmmaker would someday adapt them. Then there's G. Willow Wilson doing the Ms. Marvel comics the way she did it, and Jonathan Hickman doing Secret Wars in 2015 and going as hard as he did.

I think it's clear Hickman had no sense that anyone would ever try to make a movie out of what he did, because it's so insane. It's so fantastical, so terrifying, so creepy, revolting and unsettling that it's kind of crazy if the Russos are going to adapt even 25 percent of it in Doomsday and Secret Wars. I think that's why a lot of people are so confident in these movies, despite Hollywood and film critics saying there's no way they'll top Endgame. It's like, no, you don't understand what Hickman did in this storyline. In that tradition, it's a relief to hear Kevin Feige giving the comics that creative freedom.

Marvel leads in film, but DC has been beating it in comics

It's also worth saying that while Marvel's run in film has been unmatched, and even in its recent downticks it's still the top dog, that isn't the case in comics. DC has actually been beating Marvel there, with some of its much lauded lines among the biggest successes of the last few years.

So part of the context may be Feige saying: we know you're looking for your edge back, don't worry about us over here in the movies, make the absolute best comics you can, and if there ends up being an opportunity to use them in film, great.

Should Marvel Comics stay independent of the MCU, or do readers want closer ties between the comics and the films?