Why Does The MCU Keep Returning To Christmas? Kevin Feige Explains

Is every Marvel movie secretly a Christmas movie? Not quite, but that doesn't mean that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige doesn't have a soft spot for the holidays. The man behind the curtain of many of your favorite super hero movies is speaking out about why he enjoys setting films during Christmastime and what the holidays bring emotionally to his big budget and big scale action movies. If you need a break from the same old viewings of "It's a Wonderful Life" and "White Christmas" this year, maybe Feige will help you convince your family to watch "Iron Man 3" instead?

In an interview with Collider about the new Disney+ series "Hawkeye," which takes place over the holidays, Feige admitted that he especially enjoys mixing Marvel with Christmas. For "Hawkeye" specifically, Feige liked the idea of lowering the stakes and focusing on a very real and human dilemma, making it home in time for Christmas. As Feige says in the interview:

"This is fun because it is a Christmas story that is taking place during the holidays. It also is based on early discussions about a limited time period and about setting a series in not quite real time, but essentially in a six-day period. With six episodes and six days, will Clint make it home for Christmas? That was fun and a breath of fresh air, after world ending stakes and celestials bursting out of planets and multiverse shenanigans. Like Hawkeye himself, this is a grounded, family-based show."

Feige's narrative love for the holidays extends beyond the "Hawkeye" series. In the same interview, he argues that "Iron Man 3" is a Christmas movie, despite the fact that it slid into theaters in the middle of the summer. But beyond "Iron Man 3" and "Hawkeye," Feige has a pretty solid reason for why he keeps going back to the Christmas well time and time again, and it's a deceptively simple answer:

"I've always loved films or shows or specials that take place over the holiday season. There's a heightened amount of emotion and a heightened amount of conflict and tension that can occur in this glorious season. I have always, honestly, been looking for opportunities."

If you too enjoy watching super heroes grapple with their morality (among other things) while having to deal with the stress of the holidays (they're just like us!), then you're in luck because Feige isn't stopping the holiday love anytime soon. You still have "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" to look forward to, which will be taking over Disney+ in 2022. As Feige says:

"We've already announced The Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special, which has literally been in the works for four years. [Hawkeye] has come up and now come out in that time. I thought that Guardians would be our first. I just love this time of year, for the storytelling possibilities."

And the good news here is that it will probably be easier to convince your friends and family to count that one as a holiday movie over "Iron Man 3," although, at the rate Feige is pumping out holiday-adjacent Marvel movies, you'll probably be able to replace all of your holiday films with Marvel movies in the not to distant future. Although, you are an adult (probably, maybe) and you can watch whatever you want whenever you want, but it's still nice to stay on theme.