Kevin Feige, a self-proclaimed comic book fan and the President of Marvel Studios, joined the Marvel Studios in the 2000s. He quickly rose through the hierarchy, and under his leadership, the Marvel Studios has thrived and grown, producing numerous popular film franchises such as Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, The Avengers, and many more. Feige’s role in creating films goes beyond producing them, as he is closely involved in the production process with a deep understanding of the characters and the story.
Hence, it’s not wrong to say that Kevin Feige played a role from behind the curtains to ensure MCU’s success. While, he prefers to place his bets on unknown names, who make it big in the MCU, Feige will not be able to work with Joss Whedon after he broke one of his sacred rules, as the director vented out his problems publicly.
Joss Whedon Breaks Kevin Feige’s Cardinal Rule
Kevin Feige often decides to place the faith of his Marvel projects on little-known personalities, and he has much more tolerance than any other boss. However, he has his limits as well, while he will tolerate failure, Feige has zero tolerance for people who break his one of many cardinal rules.
In the book, MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, it reports how Joss Whedon broke one of Feige’s cardinal rules, that is “Don’t air your problems publicly.” As Whedon had vented out his discontent with the franchise publicly stating that he had “grown frustrated with Marvel Studios,” and how questioning every decision is creating hostility.
“With so much at stake, there’s gonna be friction. It’s the Marvel way to question everything. Sometimes that’s amazing. And sometimes”—Whedon growled through gritted teeth, his hostility clear — “that’s amazing.”
Whedon’s comment on the decision-making ability of Marvel Studios came from the creative differences between the Creative Committee and Feige, who had different ideas for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Whedon’s comments were adding fuel to the fire, hence, Feige decided that the filmmaker had earned himself a ticket out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Kevin Feige Put His Job On The Line To Ensure Black Widow Was A Major Character in Avengers
Kevin Feige proved that he was a true pioneer of comic book film adaptations when he proved that Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow could be an integral part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the character is immensely popular, the idea of making her one of the prominent characters was once discarded by the Chairman of Marvel Entertainment, Isaac ‘Ike’ Perlmutter, he felt that female superheroes are much more unremarkable than their male counterparts when it comes to box office collections.
Joss Whedon, the director of The Avengers was obstinate with his idea of having a female member, and this idea was strongly reinforced by Feige. In the same book, MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, during a conversation with Mark Ruffalo, Feige talked about how he risked his position to win the battle.
”Listen, I might not be here tomorrow. Ike does not believe that anyone will go to a female-starring superhero movie. So if I am still here tomorrow, you will know that I won the battle.”
The battle was won successfully as Feige proved to his colleagues, that he was a firm believer of gender equality, and how he helped Black Widow in becoming a prominent figure in the MCU.
Avengers: Age of Ultron can be streamed on Disney+.
