Kevin Feige told Collider that Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox worked well for their story. After the acquisition, they owned the rights to movies featuring their old characters and movies already in production. When he talks about Dr. Strange being introduced to the multiverse by the Ancient One, it's clear what his ideas are.
"When she's taking Stephen Strange through that 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. One that now with the 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."
Other than to push them as well, I cannot think of any other reason he would mention the older movies that Marvel didn't make.
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Fox's Marvel Movies in the MCU
The MCU was started in 2008, years before Disney bought the company. That's a lot less time than 20 years, as he mentioned. However, two films in the Blade Trilogy, The entire X-Men Saga, and both Fantastic Four movies would meet that timeline.
No Way Home will bring back characters from different Spider-Man movies, acknowledging that they are not part of this timeline. Marvel even introduced their What If…? And Loki Disney + series to push that idea.
We could see Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Wesley Snipes' Blade returning (even though Marvel made Blade and Marvel mentioned rebooting it). Without a doubt, Marvel is looking forward to seeing their characters come together. Meanwhile, Disney wants to monetize older products as new toys or movies on Disney+.
It's a win-win situation for everyone, so why wouldn't they plan to capitalize on it? If Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield appear in the new Spider-Man, it will be more evidence of the older movies joining the party.
How do you feel about this? Is this whole experience becoming too crowded and confusing, or should Disney purchase Sony next?