The MCU Movie Marvel Fully Expected to Fail, Use it as Bargaining Chip to Take Back Kevin Feige’s Control
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is one of the most popular franchises in the world, and also one of the most beloved as it features characters from the iconic Marvel Comics. The MCU started in 2008 with the superhero movie Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. as the titular superhero. Since then, the franchise has made many movies and series, most of which have been quite successful.
The MCU releases its movies in groups called Phases. The first phase which started with Iron Man ended with the 2012 crossover movie The Avengers. Guardians of the Galaxy was released as a part of Phase 2 in 2014 and has since earned a huge fandom, but at one point it was expected to be a massive failure.
Marvel Expected Guardians of the Galaxy to Fail
Guardians of the Galaxy is the tenth film in the MCU and features an ensemble cast that includes Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper. There were many other actors in the movie such as Benicio del Toro and Karen Gillan. The movie follows Peter Quill (portrayed by Chris Pratt) and his group of extraterrestrial criminals who are on the run after stealing a powerful artifact.
The new tell-all book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios reads that the reason Guardians of the Galaxy was expected to be a failure was that it was very different from the projects that the MCU usually undertakes. The only thing that kept it connected to the MCU was Thanos and one infinity stone that would later play a huge role in the franchise.
No studio ever wants its movies to bomb and Marvel is most certainly not one. In fact, Marvel Studios goes to rather great lengths to protect its movies before their release. So, the fact that the studios wanted Guardians of the Galaxy to fail is rather surprising but not without its own ulterior motive which was to oust Kevin Feige from the company. Considering how long it has been since the movie’s release, it is evident that Feige is quite irreplaceable.
James Gunn Was Thankful for Kevin Feige Being on His Side
James Gunn might not be the most agreeable person when it comes to some opinions, but he is certainly a good director if the success of the Guardians of the Galaxy film series is anything to go by. There were initially some notes on Gunn’s version of the screenplay for the movie but they were all met with resistance from Kevin Feige and Louis D’Esposito.
Speaking of how Feige being on his side was helpful to him, Gunn said:
“Every problem I had on the first movie was because of this weird entity that would stop the conversation between director and producer. I’m really grateful to have Kevin be the guy. At the heart of it, Kevin loves movies. And that’s all we’re trying to do: make great pop cinema.”
The one time that Marvel expected its movie to fail, the opposite happened and according to The Numbers Guardians of the Galaxy grossed $770 million worldwide. Consequently, the movie spawned two even more successful sequels.
