In a recent interview with select journalists, Kevin Feige opened about the past, the present and (his) future of Marvel Studios. However, he also acknowledged some characters who fans have already been teased as having a major arc.

The first (and arguably biggest) was Jonathan Majors’ Kang.

Majors was arrested for domestic assault just weeks after the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and (as the post-credit sequence for that film reveals) early on in Marvel’s planning phase for the next Avengers film. Majors was ultimately convicted for that assault and was let go from the role, seemingly throwing the studio’s future in turmoil.

But in the interview, Feige disputes the notion that Majors’ public problems led to his replacement with Dr. Doom. He claims Marvel was already preparing to pivot from Kang after realizing that he wasn’t as big or threatening of a hero as Thanos.

“There was only one character that could be that [villain], because he was that in the comics for decades and decades,” said Feige. “Because of the Fox acquisition, we finally had it, and it was Dr. Doom. So we had started talking about Dr. Doom even before we officially pivoted from Kang.”

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He added that the studio was already talking with Robert Downey Jr. about returning to the franchise (as Doom) prior to Quantumania‘s release!

Speaking of heroes who have been a part of the franchise for too long, Feige also chatted about Mahershala Ali’s long-awaited Blade movie, though he could only confirm three things about it. The first being that the film is still in-development. The second being Ali is still attached to star. The third being that after four different stabs at the script, the studio has finally decided to settle on one that takes place in present day. Now, let’s just hope it comes out before a potential Sinners sequel!

Funny enough, while he couldn’t provide a timeline for when the film would begin production, he did confirm that he had already spoken to Ryan Coogler about the next Black Panther film.

In the interview also broke down whether comic book fans would ever get the chance to see Peter Parker cross paths with another Spider-Man, Miles Morales.

He said development on any such project was “nowhere.”

“Sony has their brilliant, genius, incredible Spider- Verse animated franchise going and until that finishes, we’ve been told to stay away,” said Feige.

He spoke about plenty of other topics though, which you can read here.

SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter