Marvel Executive Comments Should Excite Fans

Asad Ayaz teases more standalone entries in 2025 following Deadpool.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is coming next year and some new comments from a Marvel Studios executive should make some fans really excited about the future of the franchise. Asad Ayaz is the chief brand officer for all of Disney now and he joined Fast Company to discuss their whirlwind 2024 projects. During this conversation, the executive looked ahead to 2025 and heralded an accessible slate featuring Captain America: Brave New World, Fantastic Four’s MCU debut and Thunderbolts*. Each one of these has a distinct flavor for the MCU. And, excitingly for some viewers, there’s very minimal preparation to get into the stories and connect with the characters.

“If you’ve seen our first trailer, it’s a very grounded political thriller. It couldn’t be more different [to Deadpool] in every way. When you see our work for Fantastic Four or Thunderbolts, they’re going to feel very unique,” Ayaz explained. “And while, yes, there is a connection between these characters in the same universe, it is creatively very unique, and feels like you could come into any one of these movies.”

Thunderbolts* is still shrouded in mystery and all we know about The Fantastic Four: First Steps is that it’s a period piece. (In fact, Marvel’s First Family could originate in another universe entirely.) So, the barrier to entry is very low. You could pretty easily imagine someone walking into Thunderbolts* because Florence Pugh is doing cool stunts and they like David Harbour from Stranger Things. The same might be true for a Fantastic Four viewer as they might remember the 2000s movies and be intrigued by the retro vibes from a trailer. There’s also the goodwill from Deadpool & Wolverine in a lot of Marvel fans’ minds as well.

Marvel Studios Pulls Back & Reloading After 2023

In the year leading up to 2020, Marvel Studios had marching orders to produce a bunch of content to help Disney+ launch. While a lot of fans enjoyed having a new MCU show to obsess over every other month. Some viewers felt like it was too much too fast. (Although a lot of that pushback can be understood as a reaction to other outside factors that are not as easy to get online and marshall anger at.) So, now, the studio has pulled back a bit. There are less movies coming out and less shows. (But, there are still a bunch of excellent animated programs on the horizon.) ComicBook’s Phase Zero asked Marvel TV executive Brad Winderbaum about the much-ballyhooed pivot. He says that the extra time is already paying dividends.

“I mean, frankly, in all honesty, there was a mandate to kind of create as much as we could for Disney+ as quickly as we could,” Winderbaum told us during the Phase Zero podcast. “And then there was a shift. And all of a sudden, we have to start spreading our release dates out. So, that really accounts for a lot of the delays. 

“Now, we’re using that time. We’re not sitting idle. So, it’s like it stays in the oven. You can bake certain things a little more,” he added. “It’s actually, I think, ultimately, it’s only going to make things better. But, most of it is just frankly shrapnel from the business.” 

It’s a moment of frank honesty from someone entrenched in the MCU’s braintrust. But, it’s also a sign that they think the new approach is already doing good things for the brand. If you look at the recent releases, there hasn’t really been anything the audience vehemently disagreed with since Loki Season 2. X-Men ’97 drew universal acclaim, Echo surprised the fans who gave the series a chance, Deadpool & Wolverine proved to be absolutely massive at the box office in their only 2024 outing. So, there’s a lot of positive momentum behind the MCU right now. Agatha All Along just got rolling and should get a bump as Halloween stretches closer and closer.

Do you like that the movies are being billed as more standalone now? Did you want more connection? Check out all the pop culture discussion at @ComicBook!