The Marvel Studios head points to the success of "Black Panther" as just one indicator of the different stories that audiences are eager to see (and that the studio is eager to make).

Photo Courtesy of Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios is always looking to the future. With the imminent release of this week’s “Avengers: Infinity War” — the nineteenth film in a series that started in 2008 with the release of “Iron Man” — the studio is grappling with what’s to come, especially after Phase Three wraps up in 2019 with the release of the currently untitled fourth “Avengers” film, long touted as a conclusion of sorts.

According to studio head Kevin Feige, there’s still plenty of material to mine, and much of it is likely to spring from a hunger for more diverse and inclusive stories.

“I think that’s what’s fun to us, to continue to go to different places, different genres of film, which you hear us talk about a lot,” Feige said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “I do think that Marvel Studios is only limited by the imaginations of the filmmakers that we collaborate with, [and] to try all different types of genres and all different types of films. I think that’s what we’ve done over the course of these 19 movies leading up to ‘Infinity War,’ 22 movies leading up to Avengers four next year, and certainly want to continue to do that.”

Feige pointed specifically to Ryan Coogler’s smash hit “Black Panther” for proof that Marvel moviegoers are eager for new stories made by diverse talents. “As audiences stay with us and audiences keep telling us, as they certainly did all around the world with ‘Black Panther,’ that they’re embracing new ideas and new visions and new places and new ways of telling stories, we will just continue to grow and build on that,” Feige said.

As conversations in the industry regarding a greater desire for diversity and inclusion have started to produce results, Feige said he was confident that the MCU will be able to keep pace, and noted that the success of “Black Panther” and the excitement around “Captain Marvel” are indicative of those aims.

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