Kevin Feige wants Marvel TV to be more episodic

Marvel Studios has only been producing TV series since 2021, when “WandaVision” debuted to great fanfare on Disney+, but shows based on MCU characters have quickly become a core part of the company’s business. And while part of the appeal of Marvel projects is how everything ties together, studio president Kevin Feige has some changes in mind for television — which includes making the shows more episodic.

“We want to make shows that can only be shows. I still want to make them even more episodic, which may seem contradictory,” Feige said in an interview with the paper. Entertainment Weekly before the release of “Ant-Man: Quantumania.” “But I think there’s something fun about sitting back and looking at a part that can be relatively self-contained.”

Feige explained that the Disney+ Marvel projects released so far — including “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Loki,” “Hawkeye,” “Moon Knight,” “Ms. Marvel” and “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” – take a heavily serialized approach to storytelling as opposed to giving the audience more stand-alone stories. Name-checking the classic ABC series “Lost,” Feige said some future Marvel shows on Disney+ will feature more episodic storytelling, comparing the approach to how “Star Trek” shows like “The Next Generation” some episodes are built up.

“So now — and I think you’re seeing this not only in our shows, but in a lot of other shows — you’re starting to see the fun of a self-contained, episodic story every week. We’re going to experiment with that in some of the next things,” Feige said. “Cliffhangers are great and I love watching a show where you have to go to bed, but when you see the cliffhanger, you just have to watch the next episode. You definitely want to hook people up. But I’m a big “Star Trek” fan, and I still find it comforting to watch the beginning and end of an episode of “Next Gen.” So I think we will continue to experiment with that.”

In the near future, future MCU series expected to debut this year include ‘Secret Invasion’, ‘Ironheart’, ‘Echo’, ‘Agatha: Coven of Chaos’, ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ and ‘Wonder Man’ a second season of Loki. During his interview, Feige also talked about the challenges of making each MCU project relatively self-contained while also fitting into the overall universe and differentiating the company’s ever-increasing amount of content each year. On the latter topic, Feige said that the company’s pace of new work may change as the MCU enters its ‘5th Generation’. and into phase 6″.

“Many people like homework. Many people find fun in homework, continuity and connection. But it’s a balance between the two,” Feige said. “I think when we’re doing about eight projects a year — and again, I said it’s going to vary a little bit — each one has to be different. Each one should stand apart, stand apart and be different from each other.”

“Ant-Man: Quantumania” opens in theaters on Friday.

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