While initially no more thanCaptain America’s best friend, Sebastian Stan has seen Bucky Barnes' stock soar over the last decade as the Winter Soldier’s importance in the MCU grows, and he’s well aware if there’s someone to thank for the meticulous planning that led to that, it’s Kevin Feige.
Since being hired by Marvel in the year 2000, Feige’s vast comic book knowledge propelled him as an essential component for every studio trying to make a Marvel superhero movie. However, Feige’s true stroke of genius came when he championed the hail mary idea thatMarvel Studioscould create its own cinematic universe,even without Spider-Manand the X-Men, with the project’s Phase One resorting to slightly lesser-known characters.
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The journey that followed is all too familiar for Stan, who recalled his first audition for the Steve Rogers role during an interview with Vanity Fair. Stan explained that at first he was vaguely told about the potential for Bucky’s role, and it didn’t sound too convincing. It’s clear plans for the MCU turned out better than anyone could have foreseen, prompting him to say, “I just think Kevin Feige doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves for being the genius mastermind for putting this entire thing together."
Stan was referring to the way every film is tightly and seamlessly connected. He even mentioned that back when he was chosen for the role, Marvel Studios was quite humble due to the fact that all these movies were a very expensive experiment, although one for which Feige did have concrete plans from the very start. This is evidenced by the actor remembering there were plans from him to lose his arm on screen inCaptain America: The First Avengerbefore the idea got scrapped.
Feige has commented on past occasions that events in the MCU are planned out several years in advance, including the transition into Phase Four where he now has to make room for Disney Plus' streaming content. Overall, Marvel Studios had a much better year on streaming than at movie theaters, especially consideringBlack Widow,Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, andEternalsarguably underperformed for Disney, with Sony’sSpider-Man: No Way Homesaving the yearfor superheroes.
Unlike most Marvel heroes,the Winter Soldier characterwasn’t created until 2005 when Ed Brubaker came up with the idea that definitely didn’t make him rich. After the positive receptionThe Falcon and the Winter Soldierexperienced, it’s still up for grabs whether the show might get a second season, though Stan will most likely return forCaptain America 4.
