It doesn't sound like Kevin Feige intends to hang up his spurs anytime soon.
In their report on Disney naming Disney Experiences chairman Josh D’Amaro as CEO and the successor to Bob Iger and Dana Walden as President and Chief Creative Officer, Deadline notes: "Feige’s future at the company is always a topic the town loves to gossip about. That said, insiders don’t expect a change anytime soon as Feige is focused on delivering the next Avengers movie in December as well as relaunching the X-Men franchise."
Feige himself has never given any indication that he might be planning to step away as President of Marvel Studios, but the rumor mill has been churning since last year. There have been calls for Feige to step down for quite a while - even at the height of the MCU's success and popularity - but even some longtime fans of the franchise have now begun to lose faith in his ability to steer the ship.
Feige is still the highest-grossing film producer of all time, and the projects he's been involved with have a combined worldwide box office gross of over $31 billion. However, the last few Marvel Studios movies - Deadpool and Wolverine aside - have underperformed while also earning mostly negative reviews from critics. The Fantastic Four: First Steps was mostly well-received, but wasn't the massive hit the studio was no doubt hoping for.
Avengers: Doomsday is almost certainly going to be a huge success at the box office, and may end up marking another turning point for the franchise. Even so, it's hard to argue with the perception that the MCU simply isn't the world-conquering juggernaut it once was, and a lot of people believe it's time for Feige to give someone else an opportunity to get things back on track.
Do you think Feige should resign as Marvel Studios President, or are you willing to wait and see how Doomsday and the Mutant Saga play out first?
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were hit with significant delays last year, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
Doomsday will star:
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Lewis Pullman as Sentry, Florence Pugh as Yelena, Danny Ramirez as Falcon, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, James Marsden as Cyclops, Channing Tatum as Gambit, and Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
Along with Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Letitia Wright as Black Panther, Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, and, of course, Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.