The Marvel creative committee no longer holds as much sway over the continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which might prompt some moviegoers to wonder about possible changes to upcoming films. Joe and Anthony Russo, the directors behind Captain America: Civil War (and soon-to-be directors of Avengers: Infinity War – Part I and Part II) have some thoughts on the matter which might be rather reassuring to fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
According to Joe Russo, the effects on the upcoming MCU films should be rather minimal.
“To the audience, I don’t know if they’ll see a difference in the quality of the movies. That’s for sure because Kevin Feige is still the brains behind Marvel, and that hasn’t changed. I just think, from a political standpoint, the machinations of the studio have become more streamlined. Does that make for a better creative storytelling? Yes, absolutely because it’s easier for my brother and I to sit in a room with Kevin and discuss storytelling, and to come to creative decisions, and move through those decisions much quicker.”
Anthony Russo added that the effects of the creative committee were never that great to begin with. In fact, the Russos have never had to deal with them much at all.
“Just to speak to our experience on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we didn’t have a whole lot of interaction with the committee. So, for us on a personal level, I don’t know if it will be that different because we’ve never engaged with them that much anyway. Maybe other directors have had a different experience, but for us, we had a very limited interaction with the committee. We deal with Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios. That’s how we made Captain America: The Winter Soldier and that’s how we made Captain America: Civil War. For us it’s a very similar process.”
Feige initially sought liberation from the Marvel creative committee for budgetary reasons, as he did not want the spending on Civil War to be too restricted. If there is any change to upcoming films, it will simply be that producers are able to throw a little bit more money at the films in order to benefit elements such as actor salaries, costuming, set design, and special effects. As far as director choices are concerned, the men and women making the bulk of the creative decisions will still be reporting primarily to Kevin Feige. Now that the process is more streamlined, he should be able to dedicate much more attention to improving the MCU.
In short, the filmmaking process should remain largely the same for directors. For fans of Marvel films, however, these behind-the-scenes changes may turn out to be a great boon. The creative committee will also be able to dedicate more attention to TV shows such as Daredevil, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Agent Carter, over which they still retain a fair amount of control. It may sound as if big changes have been occurring at Marvel Studios, but this was in fact a simple executive decision that will serve to make everybody’s job a little easier.
As for the Russos’ claims that the films will retain their quality, audiences will see for certain when Captain America: Civil War releases on May 6, 2016. Phase Three of Marvel’s shared universe will be introducing several new characters, so a lack of budget restrictions should result in several action-packed blockbusters over the years to come.
Sources: ComicBookMovie, The Hollywood Reporter
