As the President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige successfully managed to establish the Marvel Cinematic Universe as one of the biggest movie franchises of all time. He was appointed as the President in 2007 but his influence in the Marvel Studios has always been constant. Feige served as an associate producer for 2000’s X-Men. Thanks to him, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine’s hairstyle was changed from “weird” to something closer to the source material.
In one of his interviews, film producer Avi Arad revealed that when he first saw Wolverine’s hair, he felt it was “weird.” So, he called up Feige to talk about the hairstyle, who agreed to change it. As a result, Jackman’s Wolverine sported a hairstyle that was very similar to the Wolverine in the Marvel comics.
Due to Avi Arad’s feedback, Kevin Feige changed Wolverine’s haircut in 2000’s Wolverine
During his appearance on The Wall Street Journal’s The Journal podcast, film producer Avi Arad revealed that Kevin Feige changed Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine hairstyle after he told Feige that it was weird. Arad said,
“And Kevin was the guy that I can call and say, ‘I just saw the hair on Wolverine. Do you agree that it’s weird?’ He said, ‘Yes. So, let’s do something about it.'”
In the podcast, journalist Ben Fritz also revealed that Feige was “an onset expert” while working on the movie. He had a close understanding of the characters in the movie. Unfortunately, there are no pictures/videos of Wolverine’s initial hairstyle but the one that made it in the final cut for certainly close to comic books’ Wolverine.
Avi Arad says Kevin Feige got a promotion because of him
Further in the podcast, Fritz explained how Feige climbed the ladder: From driving Arad to meetings to becoming the President of Marvel Studios,
“In 2000, Avi hired Feige who became his shadow on all parts of Marvel productions. At first, Feige drove Avi to meetings and carried his bags. And over time, he went on to become one of Marvel’s most successful creative executives. Eventually, Avi says he pushed to give Feige a big promotion.”
Today, Feige is the man who is praised for his vision of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He was appointed as the President in 2007 and he kicked off the MCU with 2008’s Iron Man. With all his MCU films grossing over $28 billion, he has successfully established MCU as one of the best movie franchises of all time.
