The way that Marvel Studios maps out its releases, there are very few coincidences, but more than a few happy accidents. For example, Spider-Man (Tom Holland) was only inserted into Captain America: Civil War after it was known that Sony would share the rights to the character, which also led to Spider-Man: Homecoming.
But contrary to popular belief, the current MCU blockbuster, Captain Marvel, can’t really have as big of an impact on this month’s Avengers: Endgame, for a very specific reason: Namely, Joe and Anthony Russo planned out and actually shot the bulk of Endgame long before Marvel even told them that there was going to BE a Captain Marvel movie.
The Russos basically filmed Endgame and Infinity War back to back, and so when we recently spoke with Anthony and asked him if the response to Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel was encouraging, he honestly explained:
Part of the thing that I've always loved about Marvel, my brother and I have really appreciated it, is that Marvel has had this whole attitude of ‘One movie at a time.’ They want every movie to be everything it can be when it’s time for that movie to be made. And then once it's made, you carry the story forward from there. And it's been really effective. Obviously by now, because Marvel is making more movies per year, and because we made these two movies back to back, we couldn't really use that process at this point.So the truth is we made these movies long before we could appreciate anything about [Captain Marvel]. Certainly not even how the audiences would react to Captain Marvel in her own standalone film. We had to make these movie before the idea of that film even exists. So our approach to the storytelling in regards to that character was just coming very specifically from the needs of this story.
People might not realize that Joe and Anthony Russo filmed a lot of Avengers: Infinity War and the continuation, which would become Avengers: Endgame, at the same time. In fact, when CinemaBlend traveled to the set of the movies in Atlanta years ago, we learned about scenes that we never saw in Infinity War, and many people on set for those days were never 100% sure what movie they were filming at any given time.
So from the sound of it, the Russos always knew that they were going to have Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) in Endgame, but didn’t know at all how her movie would set her up, or be received, when they filmed her parts years ago. I brought up to Anthony Russo that this sounds similar to them using Wakanda as a key location in Infinity War, long before audiences saw the movie Black Panther. But he clarified:
Back then, it was easier because we launched that character in Civil War. We had already begun, with our partners Markus and McFeely on the writing side, sort of creating and tracking that narrative forward. Certainly, what the Black Panther film with Ryan Coogler brought to that was a great surprise to us, and a thrill for us. But that was a little easier in the sense that we already had deep roots in that character on a narrative level.
Thankfully, for Marvel Studios, most audiences are gravitating toward Carol Danvers, and are digging Captain Marvel. Her movie has grossed nearly $1 billion at the global box office, and audiences are ready to see her fighting alongside the Avengers as they get vengeance on Thanos (Josh Brolin). But the current movie had no effect on the planning on Endgame, and now you know the reason why.
Avengers: Endgame will be in theaters on April 26, and as of today, you can buy your tickets, so go get them, now!
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