Kevin Feige, the producer extraordinaire behind Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, participated in a chat on Reddit that made his intentions crystal clear about the tone of future films. While this may come to the chagrin of a subset of fans that resent the humorous tone of Marvel’s films- which stands in stark contrast to the dark, moody tones we’ve seen from what DC has been cooking up- Feige says that humor is here to stay. That’s not all, but he promises that the studio’s films will never take a turn towards the dark side.

Here’s a synopsis of what Feige had to say on the matter:

There is no dark turn in the MCU. He says every year fans come up to him and ask him if this movie is when the MCU goes “dark” or takes a “dark” turn. He said while the trailers may seem ominous or have a sense of impending doom, the movies do not have that feel, and will not. He said he “Hoped people would catch on by now” – there will be no giant dark turns in the MCU where it then continues to head in that direction. The humor is in the DNA of the movies, there are no plans to change that.

I find this interesting, personally, cause I had a mild crisis while watching Avengers: Age of Ultron. My four year old daughter loves The Avengers- to the point where she requests, on her own, to watch it. So when I went to go catch Ultron the night before its release, I promised her I would take her to see it the following week. But as I sat there watching the sequel, I just couldn’t see myself bringing her to it. It felt…too dark! Maybe I’m just over-protective, but the first film was very colorful, easy to follow, and all the plot elements were very clear. Ultron felt darker, more emotionally complex, and slightly more dreary. Not saying that’s a bad thing. I enjoyed the film. But I don’t think it’s for little kids, and that surprised me since I’ve felt Marvel has nailed that balance so far.

Therefore, I find these comments from Feige striking. I wonder if it’s something that came up a lot as he and Joss Whedon were developing the film? I’m probably just reading too much into it, as he was just responding to fan questions on Reddit, but I still maintain that Ultron felt like a nudge in a direction that Feige insists they’re not going in.

SOURCE: IndieWire