✖

Marvel Studios has had nothing short of a gangbusters year with a couple of staggering successes in theaters. Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home have been absolute money with audiences all over the world. But, what’s the secret to all that success? Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely told Deadline what they think the strengths of these movies are. 22 films in, and the MCU is still thrilling movie-goers and people just love these characters. Phase 4 might hold some new surprises for the future, but if the studio can harness the magic from the past 10 years, they should be fine. With the highest-grossing movie of all-time in their back pocket, the sky is the limit for these franchises as they look to the future.

“You can think of genre as an amplifier for a small human story,” Markus told Deadline. “We want to tell these little stories about people. You can tell a tiny story about a dad and a daughter, and it has a certain amount of mileage. The dad puts on an iron suit and the range of not only eyes and ears you can reach goes up exponentially, but the stresses you can put those stories under.”

When the topic of secret identities cropped up, McFeely talked about how the decision made all the way back in Iron Man has influenced everything that came afterwards. The writer argues that the limitation of a secret identity limits the numbers of stories that you can produce. Getting that out of the way has allowed the studio to cast a wider net.

“Think about the storytelling that allowed them,” McFeely continued. “If they had decided to keep the idea that we had to keep that secret, now you’re telling certain types of stories.”

“We often think that the character’s flaw is their strength,” McFeely said. “[Captain America‘s] Steve Rogers, for example — he’s the guy that can do this all day. He is absolutely fixed in his opinion. He’s Gary Cooper in many ways, but that gets him in trouble. He won’t bend. He will sacrifice himself.”

Other upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in spring 2021, Loki in spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If? In summer 2021, Hawkeye in fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios Disney+ series without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.