Marvel Studios Head Kevin Feige Secretly Consulting 'The Mandalorian'

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Written By Mikey Sutton • Editor-in-Chief • Owner

Kevin Feige Star Wars

His fingerprints couldn’t be more obvious. He receives no credit, but doesn’t ask for any; nevertheless, the presence of MCU mastermind Kevin Feige on The Mandalorian is becoming more evident. According to sources, there’s fire behind the smoke; Feige has been consulting on The Mandalorian since the beginning.

How much input Feige has contributed to the Disney+ hit is not known. What I’ve heard is that Feige would prefer, for now, to have all of his contributions to The Mandalorian be unlisted. A large part of this is because he doesn’t want any of the spotlight taken away from creator Jon Favreau and fellow executive producer Dave Filoni. Certainly Favreau and Filoni combined are the creative heart of the show. The Western feel and Rebels connections on the series can be rooted back to both of them.

Yet fans and bloggers are beginning to realize how the series is following the MCU blueprint. In Season Two, Mando is obviously putting his own Avengers together, meeting a group of diverse heroes – and anti-heroes – that will eventually unite against a Big Bad, Thrawn, which is this show’s Thanos. After the polarized reaction to The Last Jedi, Disney began to grow concerned about Star Wars.

While 2015’s The Force Awakens was able to reel back in fans, becoming the biggest box-office hit in U.S. history, director Rian Johnson’s polarizing 2017 sequel waved a huge red flag that something was terribly wrong. I am told that Feige was brought in to assist, to help shape the franchise’s future on Disney+.

Like Feige’s MCU movies, The Mandalorian borrows characters and elements from past and present, even from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, which was thought to be no longer canon. Feige is a lifelong Star Wars fan; he loves Star Wars more than Marvel Comics, actually, and “let the past die” is not a philosophy he agrees with.

The Mandalorian is so unlike the Disney’s new Star Wars trilogy in so many aspects, a number of which a la the MCU reveal tight long-term planning and a contemporary take on ’80s-styled science-fiction adventure that is largely more upbeat and nostalgic than the stiff pretensions that stopped the works of J.J. Abrams and Johnson from soaring where they should. Part of this is due to what Favreau learned from directing the MCU’s initial blast, 2008’s Iron Man, which Feige produced like all of the succeeding Marvel Studios movies.

You may not see Feige’s name on The Mandalorian, but no matter. The Force is with him, whether you can see him or not.

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