Comic Con started yesterday, but before heading to San Diego, almost everyone affiliated with Marvel was at Kevin Feige’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in Los Angeles.
His ubiquitous baseball cap and general mien of unshakeable pleasantness makes it easy to forget he’s arguably the most powerful producer in the business right now, but then there’s a ceremony honoring him and so many people show up to kiss the ring you’re forcibly reminded.
The ceremony brought out Deadpool & Wolverine stars Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds, both of whom spoke during the ceremony. There was also Emma Corrin, David Harbour and Lily Allen, Ke Huy Quan, Simu Liu, Kathryn Hahn, Chrises Evans and Pratt, Sebastian Stan, and Brie Larson. Something tells me we’re about to see most of these people in San Diego on Saturday. (The Deadpool & Wolverine crew was already there last night for their “Celebration of Life” panel.)
People who are this famous—like “household name” famous—just for producing are thin on the ground. There’s Jerry Bruckheimer, Jason Blum, and Kathleen Kennedy, though her fame is tainted by toxic fandom, which is not her fault but is still part of it. The thing about those three, though, is that they’re all pretty big personalities—Bruckheimer, especially. Kevin Feige is not what I’d call a big personality. In fact, he tries very hard NOT to be. He’s smart and calculating and deploys his dimples at will to disarm people. HE never wants to be the story, and he rarely is. For as much as we see of him at Marvel publicity events, what do you actually KNOW about Kevin Feige?
Exactly. Anything you come up with will be related to the work. He’s not chucking staplers at people’s heads, so he side-stepped the whole toxic boss mess several years ago. He’s happily married going on twenty years—if that’s not the case, it’s certainly never gotten out—and he’s worked at the same place even longer, which is practically unheard of in the film industry. He’s essentially made himself into the corporate equivalent of oatmeal, but damn if it didn’t work.
He balances an entire cinematic universe worth of mega-personalities, he’s pulled his company through one very acrimonious inter-office divorce (along with his partner at Marvel, Louis D’Esposito), and is currently riding out a wave of poorly received films, with an unrelenting smile and determination to see Marvel back on top.
Whether or not Marvel can reclaim their 2010s dominance remains to be seen, but this is why Robert Downey, Jr. says “never, ever bet against Kevin Feige”. The guy is kind of Teflon. He built a franchise of unprecedented success, and he’s got through rough patches before, so until the opposite actually happens, I’m just going to assume he’ll get through it again.
You can watch Kevin Feige’s Walk of Fame ceremony below or click here.
