After writing six Marvel movies over the last decade, including three gargantuan super-crossovers, Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus are setting their sights for the moment on other cinematic adventures. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they're swearing off the Marvel Cinematic Universe forever.

"It would have to be a new character," Markus tells SYFY WIRE. McFeely agrees, adding, "I feel like we've left people in a pretty good spot, and yeah, I'm comfortable with what we've done so far."

It’s hard to argue with that self-assessment; their final film, Avengers: Endgame, did exactly what its title promised, completing an epic 23-movie saga, killing several beloved characters and putting others on new trajectories. It actually positioned Marvel to launch into its Phase 4, with a squadron of new characters both in movies and Disney+ TV series, from The Eternals and Shang-Chi to Squirrel Girl and Moon Knight. But more interesting to Markus and McFeely are the superheroes that were out of bounds for Disney until it closed its deal to buy 20th Century Fox earlier this year.

Mere mention of the possibilities activates their hive mind, with glimmers of their collaborative style on display as they discuss the options, completing one another's sentences. It is banter about who they might want to write banter. For the sake of clarity, here's their back-and-forth:

McFeely: If we had to go back ...

Markus: An X-Man?

McFeely: That's a whole world of characters that we've never gotten to play with. So, I mean ... Silver Surfer?

Markus: Silver Surfer's intriguing, although so cosmic.

McFeely: I'd have to do homework.

Markus: I mean, Fantastic Four is fun.

The conversation shifted from there, but it was clear that to return to the MCU, Markus and McFeely would be most interested in rebooting returning characters with their own cinematic legacies.