Kevin Feige Explains The Delay For Female-Led Marvel Films And Promises "Many" More In "Near Future"

With the release of “Captain Marvel,” Kevin Feige and the folks over at Marvel Studios are finally doing it. They’re finally releasing a film with a solo female lead. While many will scoff and say “about time!” the fact that it’s finally happening, no matter the delay, is a welcome sight. And in a new interview with EW, Feige explains why it took so damn long for a female-led film to take off and how the success of “Wonder Woman” helps the superhero genre move forward.

“With [‘Ant-Man and The Wasp’] and now with ‘Captain Marvel’ and many movies to be announced in the near future, I’m anxious for the time where it’s not a novelty that there is a female-led superhero movie, but it is a norm. And it is less a story of, ‘Oh, look, a female hero,’ and it’s more a story of, ‘Oh, what’s this about? Who’s this character? I’m excited to see that.’ And I think we can get there,” says the Marvel Studios president.

As for what those “many movies” might include, there’s obviously the “Black Widow” solo film, with director Cate Shortland attached and Scarlett Johansson returning to her popular role. The rest of the “many” seem to be more of a question, at this point. Marvel Studios is staying tight-lipped about the film slate post-“Avengers 4,” but there have been some leaks. However, none of those leaks allude to a female-led film.

Perhaps, another option is “Ms. Marvel,” which features the teenage Muslim hero named Kamala Khan? Feige has gone on record to say that he is interested in pursuing a big-screen version of the character, after “Captain Marvel,” naturally, as both characters are linked.

Now, the obvious question on everyone’s mind is “why did it take so long for a solo female film?” The superstar producer has your answer, even if he’s holding back a little bit on the particulars. “I think there are a lot of reasons,” Feige says, “not the least of which was fighting for many years the erroneous notion that audiences did not want to see a female-led hero [film] because of a slew of films 15 years ago that didn’t work. And my belief was always that they didn’t work not because they were female-led stories — they didn’t work because they were not particularly good movies.”

With this answer, Feige gives a brutally honest, albeit vague, answer. However, if you’re a nutso Marvel Studios fan, comic book nerd, and cinephile, like myself, you can put together the pieces and fill in the blanks. Back in 2015, it was reported that Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter was being removed from the chain of command at Marvel Studios, and Kevin Feige would report to the Disney brass personally.

This move has led to incredible results, as the slate of films to come in the three years since this move has been, for the most part, incredible. The main reason is that Perlmutter is an old businessman, with very tight purse-strings and antiquated ideas, including the bit about female superhero films being box office bombs. So, it’s no surprise that the minute that Perlmutter stepped aside, we got a “Captain Marvel” announcement.

And if that wasn’t enough, even though “Captain Marvel” was already announced, the box office performance of “Wonder Woman” blew the doors off that female superhero film theory. Even though that’s from a rival studio, Feige admits that he’s happy to see that film’s huge success.

“I’ve always said, I root for all genre movies because the success of those movies helps us,” Feige says.

He added, “So I’m very pleased when any film in our genre [does well] — not just superheroes, but action or sci-fi or anything. The success of ‘Wonder Woman’ made me very happy because as I’ve said before in the press, I’d much rather the question be, ‘Oh gosh, what did you think about that successful female-led hero that came out a few years ago?’ Rather than the question I used to get, which was, ‘Are you afraid that people don’t want to see a female hero?’”

Hopefully, all those questions will cease when “Captain Marvel” hits theaters on March 8, 2019.