Much of Marvel's success can be attributed to
Kevin Feige. He has a special understanding of comics, fans, superheroes, and narrative. He concedes that Marvel won't recover the film rights to
Spider-Man or the
X-Men anytime soon but says Marvel has something more valuable: a universe of thousands of characters it controls entirely. That means
Kevin Feige can produce an unlimited number of films with interweaving story lines and characters, creating a vast audience for almost any Marvel movie. People might show up for
Marvel's The Avengers, meet the Black Widow, and come back for her movie, too. There's a map of films reaching far into the next decade on the wall of
Kevin Feige's office.