Marvel Studios Head Says Streaming Is 100% The Future of the MCU

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Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige recently weighed in on streaming and the impact it will have on the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU has experienced a year like no other due to the coronavirus pandemic. After releasing content regularly for over a decade, 2020 was the first year in recent memory with no major projects from the studio. Its most recent movie, Spider-Man: Far From Home, came out in July 2019, and its next, Black Widow, isn't set to release until May 2021. Luckily, the MCU's brand-new Disney+ shows will be there to help fill in the gap.

The first, WandaVision, debuts next month and will kick off a series of Marvel shows for the streaming service. The studio has tried its hand at the small screen in the past through its Marvel Television shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Defenders series on Netflix. However, those offerings were only loosely connected to the MCU, with characters from the films rarely appearing. In contrast, the upcoming Disney+ shows are being made by Marvel Studios itself and will play a big role in the movie side of the MCU. It's an exciting departure for the studio, one that's been in the works for quite awhile.

Feige recently sat down with Emmy magazine to discuss WandaVision and his feelings about streaming, including how it relates to the MCU. Feige explained:

Streaming is 100 percent the future and where consumers want to watch things. And hopefully they'll want to watch our longform narrative series. An experience like WandaVision is something you can't get in a movie. You go to movies for things you can't get on streaming, and you go to streaming for things you can't get in a theater. And of course, everything in a theater goes to streaming eventually.

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Feige's positive attitude toward streaming doesn't come as too much of a surprise, considering his studio is gearing up for multiple releases on Disney+. Additionally, the streamer has become a major player for Marvel parent company Disney this year, as subscriber numbers exceeded expectations and theme parks and theaters spent the better part of 2020 closed. The pandemic caused the entertainment industry at large to focus on streaming in a way it never had before, so it makes sense Feige is following suit.

He also makes a great point about a project like WandaVision being suited for streaming, considering it will focus on a different decade each episode. That sort of structure would be hard to pull off in movie form. Ultimately, the Disney+ shows will allow the MCU to explore new types of storytelling, which will add exciting new layers to the franchise. Calling streaming "100 percent the future" may seem like a bold prediction, but it makes sense after both the changes to the industry this year and the innovative new MCU projects Feige and his team have on the way.

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Release Date: May 07, 2021

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021)
Release Date: Jul 09, 2021

Eternals (2021)
Release Date: Nov 05, 2021

Spider-Man: Homecoming 3 (2021)
Release Date: Dec 17, 2021

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022)
Release Date: Mar 25, 2022

Thor: Love And Thunder (2022)
Release Date: May 06, 2022

Black Panther 2 (2022)
Release Date: Jul 08, 2022

Captain Marvel 2 (2022)
Release Date: Nov 11, 2022