Many more Marvel comebacks possible in the MCU: Kevin Feige opens the door to a massive universe

Only recently, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige explained that even after 32 MCU films (and several series), they had only scratched the surface of the popular comic cosmos. After all, the publishing house can look back on an almost 85-year history full of exciting characters who still have potential for film and series appearances.

But that’s not all: the already massive Marvel Cinematic Universe could take on even greater proportions in a way that will especially please fans of previous Marvel projects. The MCU basically already has these dimensions, as the multiverse spectacle “Spider-Man: No Way Home” has already shown and Feige himself has made clear in an official statement…

Everything is part of the MCU multiverse canon

In the foreword to the book ‘Marvel Timelines: The Visual Chronicle of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’, which will be published in English on October 26, 2023 and in German on November 26, Kevin Feige writes the following about the multiverse: ‘We recognize that there are stories – in films and series – that are canonical to Marvel, but were created by other storytellers in other parts of Marvel history. The timeline in this book is specific to the true timeline of the MCU through Phase 4. But as we continue and delve deeper into the Multiverse Saga, you never know when the timelines will collide or converge. (hint, hint/spoiler alert).”

Feige explains more concretely than ever before that previous Marvel films and series are canon for the MCU multiverse and therefore belong at least to the expanded MCU – which is absolutely huge! What this means is essentially made clear by the “Spider-Man” example mentioned above. With the return of the previous Spidey incarnations, played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” trilogy and the two “The Amazing Spider-Man” films were subsequently integrated into the MCU, although they are still exist separately in their own timelines.

And according to Feige’s current statements, that doesn’t seem like an isolated case, but is now finally possible for virtually every previous Marvel film or series. There are virtually no limits to the potential comebacks. By setting all previous projects in parallel worlds or alternate timelines, we could also include the previous Fantastic Four, watched the movie). the MCU) will see you again in the MCU.

There will likely be a lot of excitement in this regard in “Deadpool 3,” which not only brings the titular antihero (Ryan Reynolds) to the MCU, but also gives us a return of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and, reportedly, many other cameos from Marvel -Fox Cosmos will bring the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.

“Star Wars” role model?

If it fits a story or you want to bring back a popular character for a cameo, this is easy thanks to the multiverse. This is somewhat similar to the world of ‘Star Wars’, where the extended universe of books, comics and video games was thrown out of canon when Disney bought Lucasfilm, but individual aspects of these ‘Legends’ were brought back into canon when necessary universe can be transferred (like the villain Thrawn, who recently appeared in the series “Ahsoka”).

Whether in the case of Marvel, such comebacks are always precisely the already known incarnations of the respective characters switching to the real timeline (as in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’) or whether we do it with others. already exist in the True Timeline (as is likely the case with Daredevil and his arch-enemy Kingpin) remains to be seen.

By the way, with the above statement, Kevin Feige also provides an explanation for the often uncertain status of the earlier Marvel TV series, which on paper were initially considered part of the MCU, but never played a role in the films (such as “Agents Of SHIELD” or Netflix’s Defenders series). They can now also be easily located in other timelines where many things were similar, but not exactly the same as in the real timeline in question.