Marvel Studios’ top executive, Kevin Feige, discovered a “learning curve” in telling new MCU stories on Disney+ for the first time after the Infinity Saga.
The MCU’s Phase 4 was the first from Marvel Studios to utilize Disney+ as a storytelling medium to supplement the franchise’s big-screen blockbuster. Phase 4 alone produced eight live-action series for streaming along with two Special Presentations, on top of the MCU’s first animated show, What If…?.
All of these Disney+ projects came with largely mixed reviews, with more positive reception coming for entries like WandaVision and Werewolf by Night, while projects like She-Hulk: Attorney at Law had their fair share of difficulties landing with viewers.
But according to the MCU’s top executive, no matter how the reception for each show turns out, there’s always room for improvement.
Marvel President on Disney+ Learning Curve
Speaking with Jason E. Squire on The Movie Business Podcast, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige addressed the studio’s process behind making improvements on every new movie and Disney+ show that debuts.
The MCU boss expressed that he and the team learned something new on each project, highlighting the 10 Disney+ series that have been released and noting how they took “a whole new learning curve” to work through those new entries:
“I think on every project we worked on, we learned lessons and I think the minute you think you learned it all you should probably get out of the business. It’s incredible to say but ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,’ which is our next feature that comes out in February, will be our 31st film. We’ve now completed over 10 series for Disney+ and the fun thing about starting to do ongoing narrative long-form series was it was a whole new learning curve.”
Feige explained how each new movie or show requires his team to “take [their] lessons,” as the group “does a post-mortem on every project” after its release to analyze its successes and failures:
“And it was a whole new opportunity to stretch and work out a different storytelling muscle for us. But I do think, you know, and I’m sure an example will come to me, but I do think that on every project one works on you need to take your lessons. And we do a post-mortem on every project, or at least we try to if we’re not too busy with the next project, to sit and discuss what went right and what went wrong.”
MCU Team Improves Each New Disney+ Outing
Although it’s only logical that Marvel Studios has looked to bring a better product to the screen every year since the MCU’s inception in 2008, Feige made it clear that this is especially the case with the team’s new ventures on Disney+.
With the streaming world being an entirely new vertical of the MCU business, Feige had to learn on the fly while continuing to add to the Marvel Studios narrative. This is especially the case with some of the Disney+ series being vital to understanding new movies in the Multiverse Saga, the way WandaVision sets up Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Falcon and the Winter Solider will inevitably pave the road to Captain America: New World Order.
While Feige didn’t mention any specifics that are analyzed after each Disney+ outing, he made it clear that the long-form nature is something that the studio is paying close attention to.
Whether they’re six episodes, nine episodes, or even 18 episodes like the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again, the team is always working to make sure that each story is told as effectively as possible while adding something fresh to such a huge franchise.
This trend will continue as Phase 5 of the MCU kicks off in 2023, with potentially half a dozen new Disney+ entries looking to tell stories from all across the universe, some bringing new stories and others following up on other Multiverse Saga plots.
Marvel Studios will be back on Disney+ in Spring 2023 with Secret Invasion.
