Marvel Studios Boss Kevin Feige Talks ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and Beyond

With so many huge movies still coming in 2017 (Thor: Ragnarok, Justice League, Star Wars, Jumanji), it's easy to forget that we're mere months away from the release of Avengers: Infinity War and have yet to see a trailer for it—not counting the once shown at SDCC which has yet to be officially released. Well, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige has been doing the rounds for Ragnarok, and has been dropping plenty of hints about Infinity War and the films to come after that earth-shattering event.

First up, Erik Davis of Fandango confirmed on Twitter that the Marvel boss told him the Avengers: Infinity War trailer will arrive "before the end of the year." This likely means we'll see it attached to the other big Disney film coming out sixteen days before the end of the year, Star Wars: The Last Jedi...

I asked Kevin Feige when the #InfinityWar trailer is going to hit, and he confirmed it will arrive “before the end of the year.”

— ErikDavis (@ErikDavis) October 12, 2017

Another interesting tidbit also came during a press junket for Thor: Ragnarok, and involves a potential "all-female" Marvel movie akin to the Gotham City Sirens idea that had been floated in the DCEU. According to The Playlist, Tessa Thompson—who plays Valkyrie in Ragnarok—gathered together some of the MCU's ladies and confronted Feige about the idea...

Thompson had been asked if there were any plans for a solo “Valkyrie” movie and Feige had responded, “Pretty good idea.”

Then Thompson noted, “Recently I marched up with a couple of other women who work in Marvel and [asked Kevin] “How about a movie with some female super heroes? Like all of them.”

Feige says, “It was a pretty amazing moment to be somewhere and have your shoulder be taped and turn around find every female hero we have is standing there going, ‘How about it?’ And I said ‘yes.'”

That elicited some good natured laughs and smiles from the other “Ragnarok” stars on the dais, but make no mistake, Feige had a serious look on his face on the subject.

And Thompson added, “There’s a precedent for it in the comics with the Lady Liberators [and others].”

Genuinely surprised, Feige responded with, “Deep cut! Lady Liberators!”

The Lady Liberators were introduced in 1970, in Avengers issue 83, and originally consisted of Valkyrie, Black Widow, and Medusa‚ the latter of whom was just introduced into the MCU via the TV series Inhumans. Lots of female heroes have fought as part of the team over the years, including MCU members Wasp and Scarlet Witch, so it's possible. 

As far as where they might fit into Marvel's plans, however, is another story. Feige has been pretty tight-lipped about his plans for the MCU in what's known as "Phase 4" aka everything that happens after Avengers 4. In a recent interview with Uproxx, however, the Marvel chief opened up a bit about the way the studio envisions things going once they wrap up their current 22-film arc...

“Well, all I’ll say is the films we are working on now – which take us through to the Avengers Untitled in May of 19 – that’s really all we are focusing on,” says Feige. “And we are focusing on bringing, by that point, an unprecedented, 22-movie, continuous shared fictional narrative to a conclusion in a satisfying way.”

Feige continues, “And where we go beyond that? Of course we will go places beyond that. And, of course, we have ideas of where we go beyond that. But, really, it is all good stories. And as the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation said, ‘All good things must come to an end.’ And part of what makes them special, there is a finite quality to the best of fictional stories through history. And we wanted to do that at the end of our first three phases and 22 movies. How we start anew and wherever we go beyond that is a story for another time. This is really about 10 years on, bringing something to a head in a satisfying and unexpected way.”

So there you have it, all the Marvel news that's fit to print. As always, we'll keep you up to date with the latest info as it comes in.

Header image via Marvel