We’re just days away from
Avengers: Endgame, which will close a massive chapter in Marvel’s decade of film-making. And while the end is nigh, Marvel head Kevin Feige is looking towards the bold, inclusive future of the brand. Marvel is already making good on their promise of diversity in front of and behind the camera, with their upcoming
Shang-Chi adaptation which will introduce Marvel’s first Asian lead.
Feige said of
the film, “I think every movie that we do is a risk. We only want to do movies that people seem to think are risks. Doing the story of an Asian-American hero of Chinese heritage is something that is very intriguing to us. It will be really different and special.”
Alongside
Shang-Chi, Marvel is already in pre-production on
The Eternals, which will
be directed by Chloe Zhao, the first woman of color to helm a Marvel film. The film has cast Angelina Jolie and Kumail Nanjiani, and is currently looking to cast a gay Asian male lead in what will be their
first openly gay character.
Feige also spoke for the first time about body-positivity in the genre, and he had a thoughtful response. When asked if audiences would ever see a superhero that resembled real bodies, he joked “Yes, I would because then maybe I can be a superhero.” Feige followed up by saying, “Traditionally, if you look at the way they are drawn in the comics, they go to very iconic mythic proportions … We happen to have many actors and actresses who have mythic proportions themselves for real but I will just say yes and perhaps sooner than you think.”