How the Marvel Cinematic Universe chooses its heroes

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become one of the most valuable storytelling properties in the world, and that doesn’t always happen by betting on the most popular characters. This was certainly the case with Iron Man, the proper first installment of the MCU, which centered on what was widely considered to be Marvel’s second-level character at the time. In his book Overview: the fight for the future of cinema (via ScreenRant), film historian Ben Fritz explains that Marvel initially intended to open the MCU with Captain American, but that plans changed when children’s focus groups chose Iron Man as the character with the abilities and the coolest guns, and therefore the toy they would most like to play with. More than 15 years later, awaiting Shang-Chi and the legend of the ten rings The Next Era of the MCU, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige explains a bit more about how the entertainment company chooses the characters who will become the next heroes in the MCU.

Feige spoke to Men’s health for their latest cover story, addressing the faux pas that made Tilda Swinton the Elder in 2016 Doctor Strangeand dive into the MCU character selection process. According to the interview, Marvel has a binder full of “great characters who could make great movies no matter how famous they are.” [are]Which has been around since the inception of the MCU. Feige said that the earlier film success of Blade, which was far from one of Marvel’s most popular comics, taught MCU makers an important lesson as the franchise approached.

“It proved very early on that it wasn’t about the fame of the character,” Feige said, “but the greatness of their potential to become a cool movie, or a series of movies. Shang-Chi has had this potential for so long.

Now that the MCU is heading into a new post-era eraEnd of Game (Phase 4 begins with Black Widow), it’s possible to extend MCU stability in new and interesting ways – and, hopefully, without making the kind of culturally appropriate faux pas of a movie like Doctor Strange. Shang-Chi has been on the MCU’s radar for quite some time and is likely a character / comic in the aforementioned binder. The film has been in largely passive development since 2001, when Blade Director Stephen Norrington signed on to direct an adaptation, but before that, in the 1980s, Stan Lee tried to do an adaptation with Bruce Lee as the star. After the success of Black Panther in 2018, Marvel accelerated the development of Shang-Chi, in the hope of capitalizing on underserved audiences with a connection and / or interest in Asian and Asian American cultures alike Black Panther made with African and black American cultural influences.