The Avengers: Age Of Ultron came to an official wrap this past August, and everyone rejoiced that one of next summer's biggest blockbusters was in the can and ready for the post-production haul. However, as with many major Hollywood blockbusters, that little gremlin we know as reshoots has reportedly reared its ugly head and summoned the cast back for a couple more pick ups, hero shots, and a potential after credits tag. These are all of the possible scenarios that certain cast members are being called back to London to engage in, and we have some ideas on what might be going on.
The Daily Mail recently reported the re-shoots, and dropped the following list of cast members supposedly returning for extra credit.
Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Paul Bettany (The Vision), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Tom Hiddleston (bad-guy Loki) have all been asked to make themselves available over a two-week period in January to film additional scenes at Pinewood Studios.
The report sounds pretty routine, up until you notice two particularly interesting bits of casting. The first is, naturally, that Tom Hiddleston is coming back to wreak a little havoc on The Avengers in their sequel, despite the fact that Joss Whedon swore up and down that this wasn't happening as early as last summer. So naturally, with a change of heart/big reveal of such magnitude as this, The Avengers: Age Of Ultron would require extra script pages, which would then require some more shooting to be done. Seems pretty ship shape on that end, when you think about it. What's more interesting about this announcement is who's not listed as returning for the new round of shooting.
If you read the list above carefully, you'll see that fellow Avenger Chris Evans and Age Of Ultron heavy James Spader are both absent from the new call list, which could mean one or two different things for the reshoots that are taking place. With Spader being absent, it's safe to assume that this could be a post credits sequence that sets up Thor: Ragnarok, as Loki really doesn't have a reason to be here other than to do just that. Unless, of course, he's the reason Thor leaves the group, in which case this could be a cameo in the film proper that sets up the continuing adventures of Thor. Ten bucks says this is how Thor finds out all is not right in Asgard.
However, with Evans absent from the new round of shooting, this could mean that Captain America is either dead, out of commission, or possibly facing off against Ultron on his lonesome. In fact, if there was any juice to be squeezed from this story, it would have to be this aspect right here. Considering it's pretty much "The Avengers minus Cap" being summoned for this shoot, it leaves a lot of room for speculation as to how The Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War link into each other. Best guess and comic knowledge would lead one to believe that the Captain is out of commission, because he shouldn't be taking his last bow until Captain America: Civil War. In fact, Cap might walk his own path for a little, while the rest of the team goes off in another direction.
While The Avengers: Age Of Ultron isn't set in stone until post-production is finished, these reshoots could have a significant effect on the film, and even the Marvel Cinematic Universe, at large. Speculation will continue to run rampant until any sort of hint or confirmation of what this scene is about happens to be dropped. In other words, don't count on knowing what's up with the reshoots until The Avengers: Age Of Ultron is released on May 1, 2015.
