With director Jon Watts' Spider-Man: No Way Home getting ready to break pandemic box office records when it opens in theaters December 17th, I recently got to speak with Kevin Feige about the upcoming Sony/Marvel sequel. During the brief but informative interview, he talked about how why the multiverse has to be used carefully, if Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will dramatically reshape the MCU, why making any movie is a challenge, how making Captain America: Civil War reshaped their ambition for future movies, when they decided to bring Venom into the MCU, and more. In addition, I tried to get an update on a Secret Wars movie without success.

As most of you know, Spider-Man: No Way Home begins after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home where J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons) has revealed Spider-Man’s identity to the whole world after being convinced by Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) that the Web Crawler is a villain. As you’ve seen in the trailer, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) goes to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to see if he can erase Spider-Man’s real identity from everyone’s memory. Unfortunately, the spell doesn’t work and instead brings visitors from other realities into the MCU.

No Way Home also sees the return of Zendaya as MJ, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Marisa Tomei as May Parker, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong as Wong, Tony Revolori as Flash Thompson, Angourie Rice as Betty Brant, Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus, Jamie Foxx’s Electro, Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Thomas Haden Church's Sandman, and Rhys Ifans' Lizard. Jon Watts returns to direct this third installment, based on a script written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, who both penned the previous two films.

Spider Man No Way Home Tom Holland
Image via Sony

RELATED: Producer Amy Pascal on ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ and the Status of ‘Venom 3’

Check out what Kevin Feige had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about followed by the full transcript. Look for more Spider-Man: No Way Home interviews soon.

Kevin Feige

  • Haw long had they been planning the multiverse and did that timetable move up or get changed when Disney acquired Fox?
  • Will Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness dramatically change the MCU?
  • Is the multiverse the first steps towards the eventual Secret Wars movie?
  • How difficult was making No Way Home compared to the other Marvel movies?
  • How long had they been planning on bringing Venom into the MCU?

COLLIDER: I really want to start with a sincere, that opening of Spider-Man, this new one, is fantastic.

KEVIN FEIGE: Oh, great. I can't wait for you to see the rest.

How long have you guys been planning the Multiverse and did that timetable get moved up, or changed, as a result of the acquisition of the Fox characters?

FEIGE: I think we first mentioned it, I think The Ancient One mentions it in Doctor Strange, when she's taking Steven Strange through that sort of mind warping journey. It was always one of the most powerful storytelling tools in the comics. One you have to wield carefully, because it can get overwhelming. But one that now with, obviously the 60 to 80 year history of the comics, now we have a 20 plus history of the movies and there are enough characters that we can start playing with it that way. So it was, and we mentioned it obviously, as part of Mysterio's ruse in Far From Home.

But no, I don't think it was... I think the toys that were added to the toy box increased with that Fox acquisition, but it didn't change the time table on when we were introducing the idea of the Multiverse.

Spider Man No Way Home Tom Holland
Image via Sony

RELATED: 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' Is Predicted to Make $190-$200 Million Opening Weekend

Obviously every MCU builds on each other, but it does feel like this Spider-Man movie and the upcoming Doctor Strange movie could really reshape the MCU in a completely new direction. Is it safe to say that this is like a dramatic...With those two films, is it safe to say this is a dramatic change coming to the MCU?

FEIGE: I think, yes. Whenever we tap into an entire sub-genre of the comics, or an entire realm of storytelling possibility from the comics, that just increases what we're able to do in the movies. I would add, for people following along with the MCU, Loki, in the final episode of Loki to that, in terms of how and why, sort of what you are about to see is possible and why it's happening.

Is the Multiverse the first steps towards the eventual Secret Wars movie?

FEIGE: Every movie is a step towards the next one, Steve.

Sure. I understand. I'm looking forward to an eventual Secret Wars thing. You've made so many challenging movies running Marvel. How would you rank this Spider-Man movie, if you were going to give it like a one through 10, in terms of the difficulty of pulling this one off?

FEIGE: They're all a 10. Any movie is a 10. Eternals, Shang-Chi, Black Widow from this year were all tens, in terms of how hard the universe doesn't want movies to happen for some reason, and you have to fight against everything to bring them to fruition.

This one, it's often the people you're working with, and Amy Pascal and Jon Watts and the whole team, between the Marvel Studios team and the Sony team, work so well together and are so passionate about Spidey and this character, that that makes everything much easier. But I think going back to Civil War and having an idea for a movie that is based entirely on what actors and what characters we can get to work together and shoot on a single day. When that worked, it gave us the ambition for movies like Infinity War, Endgame, and I would include No Way Home into that level of ambition, for sure.

Spider Man No Way Home villains
Image via Sony

The ending of the recent Venom sequel puts Venom in the MCU, which a lot of fans are overjoyed about. How long had you been planning on doing something like that, or how long had that been in the works?

FEIGE: Well, you look at the obvious comic connotations between Venom and Spider-Man and it is inherent. So, the minute Sony made their Venom movie, and it worked as well as it did, and Tom Hardy became as iconic as he has become as Venom, then the obvious questions, and how do we start to merge them?

I'm already out of time. I'm just going to stop and say, thank you. I sincerely cannot wait to see the finished film.

FEIGE: All right, Steve. Good seeing you.