Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige recently claimed that Marvel Studios does indeed have rules set in place for their foray into the multiverse despite massive contradictions already taking place in Avengers: Endgame and the recently wrapped up Loki series.
Feige appeared on the D23 Inside Disney podcast, an official Disney podcast where he provided quite a bit of information about what is happening at Marvel Studios. He discussed Black Widow, WandaVision, Loki and more.
At one point in the conversation, Feige is asked about the interconnectedness of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, how they keep the plotlines straight, and when he knows what to reveal and when. He’s even asked if there is a dry-erase board that helps him and Marvel Studios keep track of everything.
Feige responded, “Well, we used to not need one because it really was just all in our collective imaginations at the studio. Just before the pandemic we started going, ‘Maybe we need a big white board.’ And then we all went into our houses. So, we still have not done that.”
He continued, “The truth is, is there is a wonderfully dedicated creative, spectacular team at Marvel Studios and one person is dedicated full time to each project. So, Mary Livanos oversaw WandaVision from start to finish. Zoie Nagelhout oversaw The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on the ground every day from start to finish. Kevin Wright came up with much of what you love about the Loki series and was right next to Kate Herron, our director, and Tom Hiddleston the entire time.”
Feige then relayed, “So there are people whose sole task it is to keep it in there head and deliver it for us. And then we have interconnected meetings quite often about how things grow and evolve. And [Louis D’Esposito] and I and [Victoria Alonso] bounce between all of those.”
“So something will come up on one show and then we’ll have to sometimes call and say, ‘Well, actually, we’ve got to alter this, we’ve got to change that.’ But never to the detriment of the individual projects. If that were to happen we wouldn’t do it,” he elaborated.
Feige then transitioned to the multiverse. He said, “And as you indicated before we started recording the multiverse is coming up in a big way. So there is interconnectivity there that people have already started to see and suss out.”
He continued, “And I had a meeting this morning with the whole broad Marvel Studios team going through the multiverse and the rules of the multiverse and exactly how to really deliver on the excitement surrounding the multiverse.”
“Because like with so much with Marvel that is a topic… When we first had Sam Jackson appear in a cameo at the end of Iron Man, I really thought it would be a relatively small group of people that were excited by that and then we’d have to then educate a broader public about what that meant and who Nick Fury was. But almost instantly, if you remember way back to the summer of 2008 it ignited really everyone’s imagination,” he said.
Feige then relayed the history of the multiverse in the MCU, “And in the same way the multiverse is something that we geek out about and we really love all the storytelling potential it brings, but thought we really had to slowly dole out what it was and introducing the conceit even briefly in Doctor Strange and then as a fake out in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
“But I will tell you something. It is more than just fans that are following along with the multiverse storyline. It’s really quite exciting even to see it midway through the Loki series now as people respond to the possibilities,” he added.
While Feige claims they have rules to the multiverse, they have not been clearly communicated to the MCU audience and fans. First, we were introduced to time travel rules in Avengers: Endgame; however, those rules were thrown out with the bath water when they decided to have Captain America not return, but rather selfishly choose to stay with Peggy Carter and live out a life not as Captain America.
Then in Loki, they handwave the contradictions and problems from Avengers: Endgame away with the Sacred Timeline and everything Cap and the Avengers did was done as it was supposed to be.
However, by the end of the first season of Loki it appears the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe is caught up in a never ending time loop as Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains tells Sylvie, “I’ll see you soon” and then proceeds to wink at her after she killed him.
The implication is that if he is killed time will eventually repeat itself and He Who Remains will eventually end up back at The Citadel at the End of Time again.
The only other option was to have Sylvie and Loki run the TVA together in order to keep the Sacred Timeline in tact.
However, throwing another complication into the mix is that Loki is transported to a different version of the TVA as had been seen throughout the entire Loki series. Given time operates differently in the TVA, it’s really unclear what this actually means.
It could be that he found himself in some kind of alternate dimension, universe, or reality separate from the one where the Sacred Timeline and it’s multiple branches are located.
What do you think the rules of time travel in the Marvel Studios actually are?