To create the perfect narrative, Marvel made sure to have a lot of actors for a long time and to have them in a lot of movies. But now it is different.
After what Hombre de Hierro (2008) was a success, they made sure that all the stars they were signing had big contracts so they could tell the story the way they wanted. All of that is done with Avengers: Endgame (2019) and now Marvel strategy has changed.
The big boss of the MCU, Kevin Feiggives the keys of how Marvel interact with the actors
“It varies, project by project, cast by cast. Really, what we want is people who come, who are excited to be in the universe, who are excited by the opportunity to do more things, instead of being trapped in contractual obligations.
Former lead production attorney for Marvel Studios, Paul Sarkertalked about why Marvel doesn’t want long-term contracts anymore:
“So I mean, as you know, I’ve been away for six years. So that change in direction is not something I really have a first-hand idea of. What I would think, just pure speculation, is that it’s challenging for actors to commit to the next, potentially, 10 years of their lives. Kevin Feige knows that it’s more marketable to have a short-term contract because it’s not as big of a commitment as: Oh! Play Bucky for the next nine years, or whatever, how many years? And it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So maybe you’re okay with that.”
Paul Sarker also explained more about this new strategy:
“But the other thing is, I think at Marvel, they’re more along the lines of, their point of view is, we want people who want to be here. So we don’t want you to feel that this is discouraging. I have to do this for the next 10 years. If you make 10 years of movies, we want it to be because you wanted to and after each one, you want to go back up and do more. So I think it’s more of a talent-friendly approach to having short-term deals or fewer options, and I’m not sure how much shorter they are now, because I don’t do deals anymore, but that would be the reason I would think is which is a little easier to sell to the city».
Currently, Marvel has released Thor: Love and Thunder and we will have to check what happens with actors like Chris Hemsworth Y Natalie Portman. But at least we know that at San Diego Comic-Con they will reveal a lot of information about the new movies and TV series. Disney Plus.