Kevin Feige's Biggest Avengers: Doomsday Fear Is Already Undermining GRRM's Game of Thrones Universe
The era of endless Marvel is over—for now. MCU boss Kevin Feige is cutting back releases starting this year, conceding that more isn’t better as the studio pivots from quantity to quality to win back overwhelmed fans.
Remember when every new Marvel movie felt like an event and not homework? That rush faded once the conveyor belt started cranking at full speed. Now Kevin Feige is acknowledging the obvious and easing off the gas.
Feige says the quiet part out loud
In a new round of comments, Feige admits Marvel overextended itself when Disney+ came online and the mission subtly shifted from carefully curated to constantly expanding. He framed it this way in an interview with Variety:
"I have always thought if you take success and do not experiment with it and do not risk with it, then it is not worth it. What we also ended up focusing on because of Disney+ was expansion - and it is that expansion that I think led people to say, 'It used to be fun, but now do I have to know everything about all of these?'"
Translation: the homework problem was real. Feige even concedes that, for the first time, Marvel prioritized volume over quality. That choice boomeranged. A bunch of recent titles underperformed with audiences and critics, and interest dipped once it felt like you had to keep up with every series to understand the next movie.
How we got here: from clean arcs to content pileup
Early MCU was simple and satisfying: heroes headlined their own adventures, then teamed up to punch a Big Bad. As those characters matured into trilogies and crossovers, the storytelling got denser but still coherent, all building to the Infinity Saga. When that run turned into one of the highest-grossing streaks ever, the unspoken mandate became: make more. And more. And more. The slate ballooned across theaters and Disney+, and the fun started to feel like a chore.
The new plan: less, on purpose
Marvel is dialing back. Going forward, the studio is capping output at a maximum of three films and one live-action series per year. That is a big philosophical reset meant to re-center on quality control and give projects room to breathe.
Meanwhile in Westeros: HBO is expanding too
Over on HBO, George R.R. Martin's universe is growing beyond Game of Thrones. House of the Dragon is already rolling, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is on deck. Fans are getting deeper cuts of Westerosi history, which is cool... until it is not. The cautionary tale here is obvious: brand success does not mean every spinoff automatically clicks. If the flow turns into a flood, people tune out. HBO will need to pace these shows strategically to avoid the same fatigue Marvel just owned up to.
Quick status check
- Marvel: scaling back to a max of 3 films + 1 live-action series per year.
- Game of Thrones basics: created by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, aired April 17, 2011 - May 19, 2019, Rotten Tomatoes sits at 89%, and the series is streaming on Max.
Do you think the Thrones universe is edging toward the same overload problem the MCU hit? Drop your take in the comments.