The two Marvel alums Kevin Feige won’t work with, and other MCU tidbits

Recently, a new book came out all about the rise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the most successful media franchise of our age. MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards is a great read for anybody who wants the inside scoop on the Marvel phenomenon.

Or you can join us as we skip right to some of the juicier, more gossipy bits from the book, all of which have been floating around the internet since its release. The MCU is a highly efficient media-making machine, but nothing this big gets built without any issues behind the scenes.

Marvel boss Kevin Feige will no longer work with Edward Norton or Joss Whedon

First up, we have a report about Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige, widely credited as the architect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Feige picks people to make Marvel movies and shows, but they’re expected to do so in Marvel’s own house style. When folks stray from that, they aren’t always invited back inside.

According to Dextero, one section of the book describes two people that Feige isn’t willing to work with again: Edward Norton, who played Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk before being replaced by Mark Ruffalo; and Joss Whedon, who directed the first two Avengers movies, as well as produced the show Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The book brings up these in the context of discussing Inhumans, a largely forgotten Marvel show about a superhero family. “If the Inhumans could be rehabilitated, apparently everyone in MCU history was on Feige’s call list—except Edward Norton, the franchise’s first Bruce Banner, and Joss Whedon, whose Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. characters remained in limbo.”

Per Dextero, Feige and Norton butted heads over the tone of The Incredible Hulk (which came out in 2008, before the MCU had really established itself as an entertainment powerhouse). As for Whedon, the book theorizes that Feige was unhappy with how Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. messed with the continuity of the MCU, since S.H.I.E.L.D. was destroyed in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I wonder if Whedon’s cancellation and subsequent excommunication from Hollywood also has something to do with why Feige isn’t calling him anymore.

Guardians of the Galaxy writer threw a “F*ck James Gunn” party

Next up, we have the tale of Nicole Perlman, who co-wrote the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie with director James Gunn. According to the book, Perlman wrote the original storyline for the movie, much of which made it into the final version. However, Gunn reportedly didn’t want Perlman’s name in the credits, because he wanted to be credited as the sole writer.

As recounted by MovieWeb, Perlman wasn’t going to take that lying down. According to Thor screenwriter Zack Stentz, she “had to knife-fight” to have her name in the credits. “The thing that I’m still angry about, and I say this as a fan of James Gunn as a director, was that he very clearly was selectively leaking stuff to his friends and the fanboy media circles to undermine her credit,” Stenz said. After Perlman won that fight, Stentz said she threw a “F*ck James Gunn” party to celebrate.

James Gunn hasn’t responded to these allegations as of yet. He is the sole credited writer on both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Vol. 3.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier removed disease storyline because of the pandemic

Moving along, let’s talk a bit about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, one of the first TV shows to be set in the MCU. Speaking on the Fade to Black podcast in 2021, Director Malcom Spellman said that the show had cut a storyline involving Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson trying to stop the spread of a disease, but denied it had anything to do with the pandemic. According to The Direct, MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios disputes that reading. Quoting from the book:

"‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ had already canceled location work in Puerto Rico after a devastating earthquake in January 2020. The pandemic not only forced the show to abort a shoot in Prague but made a planned plotline about the heroes rushing to stop a fast-spreading disease feel a bit too close to reality."

Okay, for our final bit of gossip, let’s pivot to a different book, this one put out by Marvel itself: Marvel Studios’ The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline.

Official Marvel book confirms that Wanda Maximoff is dead

Characters die in superhero comics, but they rarely stay dead for long. So when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ended with Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlett Witch, bringing down the haunted temple of Mount Wundagore around herself, people were suspicious. It doesn’t seem like anyone could survive that, but most people don’t have superpowers.

Well, the new book Marvel Studios’ The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline seems to confirm that Wanda is dead…or at least this version of her is. “Wanda destroys Wundagore—and collapses it upon herself—ending two great threats to all of the Multiverse,” the book reads. There’s also a symbol next to name that means “Major Character Dies.”

"‘The MCU: An Official Timeline’ confirms the 616 version of Wanda is dead byu/007Kryptonian inmarvelstudios"

All that said, right now Marvel’s thing is exploring the depth and breadth of the multiverse, where there are infinite numbers of all characters. So if they want to bring back Wanda in some form, they can.

Both Marvel Studios’ The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline and MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios are on sale now.

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h/t ScreenRant