Superhero movies have been getting some shade recently from high profile directors, with Steven Spielberg predicting the genre will go "way of the Western" and Zack Snyder responding by saying "Batman and Superman are transcendent of superhero movies" versus "the flavor of the week Ant-Man." When I caught up with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige at an event promoting the Avengers: Age of Ultron Blu-ray release, I asked him for his take on the comments.

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"People have been asking me that for 15 years," he told me of whether he thinks superhero movies are going out of style. "In 2001, 2002, 2003 there were two Marvel movies, three Marvel movies, and I still believe the same thing, which is as long as the ones that we can control are as good as they can be, that's all that I care about. I think we've been doing pretty well. I'm very confident in the films we've announced that we have coming forward that they're going to be surprising and different and unique. I've said a lot: I don't believe in the comic book genre. I don't believe in the superhero genre. I believe that each of our films can be very different."When prompted specifically about Spielberg's "way of the Western" quote, Feige didn't seem to consider the prediction a negative implication. "It could, but the Western lasted 40-50 years, and they still pop up occasionally," he said. "It's been, what, eight years since Iron Man 1 if we count that, which I do, as the beginning of our MCU? Maybe [the superhero genre] will only last another 42 years."In reference to Snyder's comments, Feige defended the unique qualities of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, saying, "Those are all very different movies. They all happen to be based on Marvel characters and Marvel comics, but from a genre and a cinematic perspective, they're all very unique. Civil War may as well be a different genre from Age of Ultron.""The way Winter Soldier was a political thriller, I think there is a more emotional and more geopolitical and real world through line through Civil War than there was in the broader Age of Ultron with the killer AI Tony Stark invention," he continued. "I think it's the same thing as saying, 'I don't know how many more movies can be made from novels. I think people are going to bored with novels being turned into movies. I don't know how long it's going to last.'"Reflecting back on the time between Age of Ultron's release in May and its home video release on October 2nd, Feige said, "The year went very well for us, the way we wanted it to: big giant movie with huge expectations that met those expectations with Age of Ultron, and a crazy movie that no one had heard of with a character that people were dubious of that also became a big hit with Ant-Man. That had happened the year before with Winter Soldier and Guardians, so for us that very much is in keeping. Next year, we hope the same thing for Civil War and Doctor Strange. It is, as it often is with us, sticking to the plan and continuing to follow through on what we've laid out."

Terri Schwartz is Entertainment Editor at IGN. Follow her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz