Kevin Feige On How The Mandalorian Has Inspired Marvel Studios

The Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Star Wars franchise are continuning to captivate fans worldwide thanks to Disney+, home of the smash-hit series The Mandalorian and the place where Phase 4 of the MCU kicked off with the release of WandaVision, Marvel Studios' first television foray. As it turns out, two of the biggest franchises in history are influencing each other.

The MCU officially launched with director Jon Favreau's Iron Man in 2008, and appropriately, Favreau has applied the MCU's shared universe storytelling sensibilities to the Star Wars universe as the creator of The Mandalorian. As fans have discovered since then, Favreau and executive producer Dave Filoni are not only pulling characters and elements from Star Wars feature films and placing them into The Mandalorian , but they're also helping Star Wars' animated series realize a live-action reality within the framework of their new shared universe.

The stunning accomplishments of Favreau and Filoni's work haven't gone unnoticed — especially not by Marvel President Kevin Feige, one of the chief architects of the MCU and producer of an upcoming Star Wars feature film. At a recent press event for WandaVision, Looper asked Feige if The Mandalorian has inspired Marvel in return after viewers so enthusiastically responded to the way the series is unfolding.

"We were well underway on WandaVision long before we saw The Mandalorian, but there's lots and lots of The Mandalorian that has inspired us at Marvel Studios — not the least of which the stagecraft technology that they pioneered that we're using on some upcoming projects," Feige said. "I think, though, it was wonderful to see the amazing job that Disney did, and Disney Marketing did in eventizing [the series]."

Feige then stressed that all of Marvel's projects are of equal importance, no matter what screen they appear on. "We want to want to make people understand [that] these projects we make on Disney+ are as important as the projects going into theaters, and we want to feel that same excitement," he noted. "With Disney's marketing team being the best in the world — the best of all-time, frankly, right now, with the people running it, they can do that — and they certainly showed that they could do that spectacularly on Disney+ with The Mandalorian."

As such, Feige is hoping that WandaVision will be able to ramp up the anticipation week to week and create the same fervor The Mandalorian achieved by spreading out its episodes over a number of weeks.

"Sometimes, series drop all at once on streaming services, but Disney was very smart in doing the week-by-week [release strategy], because that conversation that happens every week between episodes is very important, and frankly, just a lot of fun," Feige said. "Each time I witness that and experience that — and join in that — with The Mandalorian, it got me excited for the way for WandaVision, which had already been building, [would] be unveiled."

WandaVision and The Mandalorian are available to stream on Disney+ now.