The Multiverse Saga has delivered a jam-packed era of storytelling for the MCU, with several A-List actors cast as characters we haven't seen since. Among them are Charlize Theron's Clea, Brett Goldstein's Hercules, Harry Styles' Starfox, and Sacha Baron Cohen's Mephisto.
As we write this, there's no obvious place for any of those characters to return, and comments from Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige are unlikely to make you feel any better about the whole thing.
"Do you want to see them again?" the executive initially responded, comparing those debuts to the lengthy wait for Tim Blake Nelson's MCU return in Captain America: Brave New World following his debut as Samuel Sterns in 2008's The Incredible Hulk.
"That is fun to me," he said. "So let’s talk again in 12 years and see who comes back."
Pushed on the fates of bigger-name characters like the Eternals and Moon Knight, Feige replied, "I don’t know that it’s any of the specific ones you just named, but yes, that is part of the plan: Characters we’ve introduced post-'Endgame' will pop up again in some of the upcoming movies and beyond. The fun of the comics is anyone popping up anywhere."
He later indicated that fans can expect the MCU to still take risks, comparing an upcoming MCU movie to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
"We were talking about a structure of an upcoming post-'Secret Wars' movie that I won’t name," Feige teased. "I will say, like 'Shang-Chi,' [it’s] getting back to what genre haven’t we done and want to do and how could this movie be that genre? [We would] focus on a singular storyline by embracing a certain genre we haven’t seen in a while."
The Marvel Studios President also weighed in on plans for the Young Avengers, following The Marvels' big tease that Kamala Khan had set out to assemble a team, starting with Kate Bishop.
"Potentially. In that case, it comes down to where’s the best story and where is the best strange alchemy. Who would be fun to see them with? Each other, because that’s what the Young Avengers are, but also mixing it up more."
Other updates included the fact that we're only getting a single live-action Marvel Television series each year moving forward. Feige also said the number of movies we see in theaters could range from one to two to three per year.
Elaborating on the standalone nature of series like Daredevil: Born Again, Feige confirmed that season 2 will not address The Void's attack on New York in Thunderbolts* (it's like 2015 all over again). However, he does see certain characters making the leap between the big and small screens. Jon Bernthal's Punisher, for example, will be in next summer's Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Let us know your thoughts on these MCU updates from Feige in the comments section below.