Feige on Marvel Unified Universe
Perhaps interesting reading for Star Wars fans at Wired.com. From How Marvel Unified Its Movie Universe (And Why That Won’t Be Easy for DC):
So where does Feige fit in? In a universe with architecture, he’s the architect. His deep knowledge of Marvel arcana helped make him an associate producer on the first X-Men movie, and since then his ability to translate that comic book knowledge into something useful to filmmakers, though, has proven nothing short of (ahem) uncanny. “Disney has allowed us to be a relatively small, tight-knit brain trust,” Feige says. “These billion-dollar ventures come down to 10 people or fewer in a room saying, ‘You know what would be cool?’”
Feige is coordinating at least a half-dozen films in various stages of production, making sure their individual arcs serve the overall direction. He can offer writers solutions from the Marvel MacGuffin file. (Cosmic Cube? Howling Commandos? Destroyer armor?) He sees costume and makeup tests. He regularly consults with a few writers working at the comic company, but aside from Brubaker, the Russos never talked to them. That was Feige’s job. “The comics side has input, but it’s filtered through Kevin Feige,” says Anthony Russo.
…The universe that Feige oversees is, like the real universe, expanding. The next non-sequel to come from the studio is Guardians of the Galaxy, roughly the opposite of a recognizable comic book or fan favorite.
“It has a small, rabid fan base,” Feige says, potentially overestimating both its size and its disease status. But that doesn’t matter–Marvel isn’t making Guardians because the fans demanded it. “Five years ago, looking at our plan, we knew that if Avengers was going to work, the movies had to stand alone,” he says. “Now we have to prove to the studio that we’re more than just these five characters, these five franchises.”
Guardians does that by opening up a new corner of Marveldom. Thor and even Avengers both teed up a space-opera, science-fictional set of stories. If they work, that opens the door to other space-based heroes like Nova and Captain Marvel. (Not the one who says “Shazam!” That’s DC. The Marvel one is a woman.) Eventually the purple dude introduced in the teaser at the end of Avengers, a universe-destroying Big Bad named Thanos, could even show up and unite both the Avengers and the Guardians.
Emphasis mine. The question is how close the Star Wars formula will adhere to the Marvel Disney Magic formula?
via io9
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Tricia Barr's novel, Wynde, won the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Ebook. She was also part of Silence in the Library's successful all-female creator science fiction and fantasy anthology Athena's Daughters, which is available now. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in creating a fictional universe, hop over to TriciaBarr.com.
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