Feige's Factory, Tesla Voodoo, and the Cuomo Imbroglio
Hello and welcome back to The Daily Courant, highlighting the latest and most noteworthy journalism being produced across Puck.
Plus, below the fold: William D. Cohan reflects on the Tesla-ification of the U.S. stock market and Peter Hamby gets together with Dylan Byers to break down the latest Cuomo gossip inside CNN.
Marvel has been so successful for so long, begging the question: if we've reached Peak Marvel, how is Kevin Feige using his power? Quick, name the most important moment in the rise of Marvel Studios. You’d probably say the May 2008 release of Iron Man, which proved Marvel could produce its own films and take lesser-known characters to box-office heights. Or maybe Disney’s $4.24 billion purchase of the company 18 months later, supercharging Marvel content, theme park rides, and my kid’s awesome Hulk PJs. Or perhaps when Samuel L. Jackson signed an unprecedented deal to play Nick Fury in nine pictures, signaling the interlocking narrative strategy that would lead to the dominance of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But if you ask people inside Marvel, many will cite a much quieter 2015 event. That’s when Marvel president Kevin Feige engineered a daring escape from under chairman Ike Perlmutter. Perlmutter was a cheap, impulsive, rude, and short-sighted Trump crony who would annoy the crap out of everyone (including Disney’s then-C.E.O., Bob Iger) with angry early-morning phone calls from New York or Florida. By 2015, Feige all but threatened to walk if Iger didn’t move Marvel’s films (and later television) under Alan Horn’s studio unit. Iger did, and the result wasn’t just better, more diverse creative output, including Black Panther and Captain Marvel, two films Perlmutter had actively blocked. Feige was also free to refashion the Marvel culture in his own image: Low-key but hyper-competitive; creative-driven yet centralized around his own personal vision for Marvel; fan-first while taking more risks—well, “risks” under the limitations of the Marvel banner. No producer or executive in the modern era has known his audience better than Feige.
Marvel has been so successful for so long, and Spider-Man: No Way Home is about to set a pandemic-era box office benchmark, so I was curious how Feige is using his power. If we’ve reached Peak Marvel, as I posited on Thursday, what does that leverage look like in practice?
I checked in with some top talent reps to survey what it’s like dealing with Marvel these days. I expected tons of gripes—Marvel in the Permutter days was notoriously difficult on deals—but got only a few. (Agents, for starters, would very much like Feige to call them and not their clients directly.) Either Marvel has beaten the town into submission, or with great power has come a certain responsibility...
FOUR STORIES WE'RE TALKING ABOUT 
Diminishing returns seem inescapable, especially if lower box office results in fewer megahits. Has Marvel passed its peak? MATT BELLONI 
The Puck newsroom engages in a spirited debate about the inside conversations in Hollywood, Washington, and Wall Street. PETER HAMBY AND DYLAN BYERS 
Three questions, predictions, and some insider gossip about potential media moves and acquisitions in the new year. DYLAN BYERS 
As Mike Milken once said, “When the ducks are quacking, you have to feed them...” WILLIAM D. COHAN 
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