The Russo Brothers Confirm A Major Captain America Theory We Had After Avengers: Endgame

The Russo Brothers Confirm A Major Captain America Theory We Had After Avengers: Endgame

The following story contains spoilers from Avengers: Endgame.

When the latest Marvel Studios movie drew to a close, Captain America (Chris Evans) embarked on one final mission. He agreed to be the one who traveled back in time to return the Infinity Stones from the moments in which they were borrowed, thereby eliminating any multiverses that might have sprung away from the main timeline.

In doing so, this means that Cap had to travel to the remote planet of Vormir to return the Soul Stone. And that should mean that Steve Rogers would encounter – for the first time in decades – the arch-nemesis who helped bury him in the ice way back in 1945: Red Skull. We have seen the Skull in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, where he stands guard over the pit where a sacrifice must be made to retrieve the Stone. So when ReelBlend sat down with Joe and Anthony Russo to talk Endgame spoilers, we asked if this meant that Cap encountered Red Skull again, and what the rules of Soul Stone returns actually are:

Joe Russo: He would have to encounter Red Skull. And nobody knows what the rules are when you return the Soul Stone.

Anthony Russo: Nobody knows. But knowing Red Skull, he probably has a no-money-back policy.

Captain America’s final trip through time is the biggest gap in storytelling that Avengers: Endgame doesn’t bother to address. Hulk sends Cap back in time using the technology that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) perfected. And he expects to bring Steve Rogers back… only, that doesn’t happen.

Instead, Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) notice that Old Man Rogers is waiting for him. It turns out, after returning the Stones, Cap decided to go back in time and live his life in full with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), and choosing not to elaborate on the steps that he took to bring the Stones back.

That leaves a LOT of story left to tell, and Marvel actually has ways to tell it. After all, with Disney+ as a new streaming service, Marvel fans already expect to see new stories branching out from Avengers: Endgame starring Tom Hiddleston as Loki, as well as Stan and Mackie. Why couldn’t Chris Evans choose to keep playing Captain America, just going on adventures in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s and beyond?

Also, Marvel Studios easily could bring back the One Shots that they used to include on DVDs and Blu-rays. Who doesn’t want to see a short film that shows Steve encountering Red Skull, one last time?

The Russo brothers confirm that the meeting takes place in their version of the story, but they stop short from telling us when we might ever see it happen. To hear the rest of our conversation with the brothers, where we talk all things SPOILERY for Avengers: Endgame, press play on this bonus segment of the ReelBlend podcast.

As for Avengers: Endgame, that blockbuster is shattering records left and right, passing $2 billion in 11 days. Staggering. Have you seen it yet? What did you think?

All The Major Awards Bohemian Rhapsody Won

All The Major Awards Bohemian Rhapsody Won

Last year, Bohemian Rhapsody dethroned 2015’s Straight Outta Compton to become the highest grossing music biopic of all time with its $902 million worldwide box office haul. It’s no surprise a musical epic about the formation, struggles and success of Queen was a blockbuster, the British rock band is one of the most recognized acts across the globe.

The movie also found triumph stacking up a ton of distinguished accolades during award season despite average reviews from critics about the film’s “paint-by-numbers” approach to the band’s bold legacy. Overall, Bohemian Rhapsody was nominated for 57 awards in over 30 ceremonies during the star-studded movie season and was decorated with 21 total wins.

Now that the gold glitter has settled from Oscar season, let’s break down some of the movie’s biggest award wins. Pro tip: Play Queen’s “We Are The Champions” as you read on:

Bohemian Rhapsody At The 2019 Golden Globes

While Bohemian Rhapsody was in award conversation from the beginning, bets weren’t high on the biopic taking the cake for award season’s highest merits until it took home some key trophies at the Golden Globes during the Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh hosted movie and television show recognized by the Hollywood Foreign Press. The movie was nominated for two awards and won them both. Take a look:

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama, Rami Malek

Best Motion Picture - Drama

Rami Malek offered up a transformative performance of a lifetime as rock icon Freddie Mercury, not just donning fake teeth to resemble the frontman, but replicating his mannerisms and his on-stage energy (almost shot-for-shot in the film’s final Live Aid scene). He won over Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born), Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate), Lucas Hedges (Boy Erased) and John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman).

Bohemian Rhapsody was nominated for the most distinguished award of the night “Best Picture” alongside Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, Spike Lee’s BlackKklansman, Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk and Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born in the drama category over the comedy/musical category, which Green Book won for.

It was certainly a surprise win, especially since the movie has the lowest Rotten Tomato score of 61% among its fellow nominees in the 89% - 97% range. The win showed the movie was being taken seriously by voters going forward gave the movie a huge boost for the remainder of Oscar season.

Bohemian Rhapsody At the 2019 Screen Actors Guild Awards

A few weeks later, the movie about rock’s “Killer Queen” took the 25th SAG Awards with similar accolades then what had just won at the Golden Globes on the board for the film: recognition for Malek and the award show’s own version of “Best Picture” – “Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture”. Here’s what Bohemian Rhapsody won that night:

Outstanding Performance by an Male Actor in a Leading Role - Rami Malek

He did it again. The Mr. Robot actor even won over Christian Bale’s Dick Cheney performance, who won in the comedy Best Actor category at the Golden Globes this time around, really proving he could sweep this whole thing. The film’s other nomination went to the cast of Black Panther who made history as the first Marvel film to receive such accolade and the highest-grossing film to ever win the SAG award.

Bohemian Rhapsody At the 2019 BAFTA Awards

The Queen movie then braved the British Academy of Film and Television Arts award show at Royal Albert Hall in London with a whopping seven nominations in the running including Best Costume Design, Best Make Up/Hair, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound, Best Leading Actor and Outstanding British Film of the Year. Check out which one’s the movie won below:

Best Leading Actor - Rami Malek

Best Sound - John Casali, Tim Cavagin, Nina Hartstone, Paul Massey and John Warhurst

Once again, no other male actor could beat out Rami’s Freddie Mercury portrayal. This time the movie was also recognized for “Best Sound” for all the work that was put into creating a realistic portrayal of various Queen performances, using a mixture of Freddie’s voice, Rami’s and even an expert Queen-sounding YouTube star. This award gave Bohemian Rhapsody a leg up in one technical category going into the Oscars, though Netflix’s Roma and The Favourite primarily won over the movie in other categories.

The 2019 Academy Awards Bohemian Rhapsody Won

Then came Hollywood’s biggest night and the official cap on award season: The Oscars. Bohemian Rhapsody’s award reign opened up the hostless show with a energetic kickoff performance by Queen and new frontman Adam Lambert. The movie had five awards on the line that night. After Bohemian Rhapsody had previously not been considered as an Oscar’s favorite it's gained traction from ceremonies gave the movie a overall triumphant conclusion.

Best Performance By An Actor in Leading Role - Rami Malek

Best Achievement in Film Editing - John Ottman

Best Achievement in Sound Editing - John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing - Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin, John Casali

Bohemian Rhapsody won everyone of their nominations except for Best Picture, which was now infamously given to Green Book. The film swept a lot of the Academy’s technical awards, with more nods to its use of sound and most controversially for its Film Editing, which has been since criticized for its whiplash cuts in one particular restaurant scene.

Rami Malek’s performance as Freddie Mercury is clearly the MVP of Bohemian Rhapsody, which early critics of the film still undeniably praised, even if they were bothered by other elements of the movie. Take a look at the actor’s last hurrah “Another One Bites The Dust” first Oscar win from the big night below:

What a success story Bohemian Rhapsody was! The film itself went through its own roadblocks before hitting all these milestones such as Bryan Singer’s firing as director late in the project’s filming and it received early criticism for not exploring all the facets of the band. Now looking back, Bohemian Rhapsody is a grand celebration of the late rock icon Freddie Mercury, his Queen band mates and the lasting impact of their music and story.

Why Chris Hemsworth Wants Thor To Have More Scenes With Black Panther

Why Chris Hemsworth Wants Thor To Have More Scenes With Black Panther

As fans gear up for Avengers: Endgame in a couple weeks, they can expect more fun match-ups between the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and more recently introduced MCU characters. Throughout Chris Hemsworth’s time as Thor, over eight years, he’s had tons of memorable moments playing off other characters in the universe. But if he had to choose one to work alongside with, it would be the King of Wakanda:

I'd say Black Panther Chadwick Boseman. I don't think Thor and him have hung out before and I think they'd get along. I think they'd have some fun. Maybe it would be fun for us to go and do something completely different. He's just a great guy, and very kind, and a lot of fun to work with. We'd do something different, yeah.

Marvel, are you listening? Because we need this to happen! The God of Thunder and T’Challa teaming up is a great choice from Hemsworth, from his an interview with MTV, and we hope they’ll get to share the screen in the MCU at some point. When Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther was introduced during Captain America: Civil War, Thor was notably absent. In Infinity War, Thor spent much of his time with Rocket and Peter Dinklage’s Eitri before wreaking havoc in the Wakanda battle, though he didn’t have much (if any) screen time alongside Black Panther.

We have no idea whether Thor and Black Panther will be sharing scenes in Endgame because T’Challa was one of the dusted Avengers. When asked about his return to the MCU, Chadwick Boseman recently went viral with his blunt "I’m dead" responses. However, the character is set to return in Black Panther 2, coming up in Phase Four, so there may be more opportunities for the two characters to interact… that is, if Thor makes it out of Endgame alive.

Since the film is the culmination of the MCU thus far, fans are bracing themselves for some potentially sad goodbyes – most looking to the original six Avengers. Chris Hemsworth seems game to keep going with the MCU, recently even stating his interest in doing a Disney+ series with Thor's Australian roommate Darryl, his co-star for a few funny Marvel shorts.

Per an Endgame scene from the trailers that has Thor interacting with Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, some fans have speculated the two heroes may have a romantic storyline together. The first MCU leading lady was purposefully not given a love interest in Captain Marvel to best serve her individual storyline. Instead, fan art started to emerge of Carol and Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie.

There’s tons of possibilities as far as the MCU is concerned, and with Chris Hemsworth’s sharp humor and fun Thor character, we hope he stays on for more MCU films and gets some moments with T’Challa someday. Who knows? Maybe he’ll have a scene with him in Endgame when it hits theaters on April 26.

Robert Downey Jr. Shares Video Of Tony’s Emotional Endgame Reunion

Robert Downey Jr. Shares Video Of Tony’s Emotional Endgame Reunion

Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Endgame!

It's been three weeks since Avengers: Endgame finally arrived in theaters, and conversation about the blockbuster is showing no signs of slowing down. The Russo Brothers crammed a ton of exciting content into the movie, so each frame has been dissected and discussed by the rabid fanbase. Endgame succeeded in many ways, but it really did justice to OG Avengers like Tony Stark.

Iron Man was given quite the arc in Avengers: Endgame, one that was deeply reflective on everything he'd gained and lost since Thanos snapped his fingers and wiped out half of all life. After the time jump, Tony was shown living a happy life with Pepper Potts and their daughter Morgan. But he was haunted by his failures, especially Peter Parker's dusting during Infinity War. Iron Man's eventual reunion with Spider-Man was super emotional, and now Robert Downey Jr. has shared a video filming that scene. Check it out below.

I'm not crying, you're crying. It looks like Tony and Peter's brief scene on the battlefield went through some variations, including different lines of dialogue. And they're likely all emotional gut punches.

This video comes to us from Robert Downey Jr's official Instagram page. With the spoiler ban for Endgame officially lifted by the Russo Brothers, the film's cast and crew has been able to get more chatty about their experience. Plenty of actors have been posting footage from Endgame's set, revealing potentially illegal videos they took working on the massive blockbuster.

In the above clip, you can see Robert Downey Jr. working alongside Tom Holland. The latter actor is wearing his signature motion capture pajamas, and strikes a pose before limping onto the set and catching up with his onscreen Marvel mentor. Those who remember the emotional reunion in Avengers: Endgame will notice that the actors are saying different lines. It almost seems improvised, so perhaps they were given freedom to play, and not necessarily parrot the same words from the script.

Personally, I love how Peter asked Tony what all the "grey stuff" in his beard was. RDJ brilliantly delivers his response, revealing they're just grey hairs. It's a great comedic beat, although the theatrical cut included Peter discussing his return from the dead, and Doctor Strange's magical abilities.

Related: How Spider-Man: Far From Home Can Wrap Up Marvel's Phase Three

Another change in the scene was how Tony embraced his superheroic protegee. He hugs Peter for much longer than what we saw in Avengers: Endgame, even giving the young hero a kiss on the cheek in the process. Peter and Tony's relationship with hugging has spanned multiple movies, as their connection grew deeper in Spider-Man: Far From Home and Avengers: Infinity War.

Peter Parker's relationship with Tony should be a major plot line in Spider-Man: Far From Home, as the new trailer teased a protagonist that was deeply in mourning. The adventure will also pair Peter with Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Happy Hogan, allowing RDJ's signature character to still have a presence, despite his epic death scene.

Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now, and Spider-Man: Far From Home will follow suit on July 2nd. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Ghostbusters 3 Has Cast Its Lead Actress

Ghostbusters 3 Has Cast Its Lead Actress

After years of waiting and development hell, it seemed like there would never be another sequel in the original Ghostbusters franchise. But, as if rising from the grave like a specter, Ghostbusters 3 is officially happening. Jason Reitman, the son of the original Ghostbusters director, is on board as director, but not a lot about the film is known. We do know that it will feature several new characters who will strap on proton packs, and it looks like the lead actor has been found. McKenna Grace ain't 'fraid of no ghosts!

While technically a sequel to the comedy classic that starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson, there's no word on if any of those characters will return. Instead, four teenagers -- an older set and a younger set -- are taking over as our main characters, and it sounds like they will be led by Mckenna Grace.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mckenna Grace has been cast in the new Ghostbusters film. The report even goes as far as to say that Grace might be in the starring role, which would be a major get for the rising star. Grace joins the already cast Finn Wolfhard and Carrie Coon. Wolfhard will play her brother while Coon is their single mother.

Mckenna Grace should be a familiar face to many. She recently played the younger version of Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel, which went on to break numerous records at the box office. Playing younger versions of a main character has become something of a specialty for Grace, having also done it in The Haunting of Hillhouse, I, Tonya, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. The young actor also starred alongside Chris Evans in the drama Gifted.

Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters has been the subject of some debate ever since it was announced. Some saw it as a response to the sexist backlash that plagued the all-female Ghostbusters reboot, and this wasn't helped by the director's poor choice of words that they were giving the franchise "back to fans."

However, the casting of Mckenna Grace as the ostensible lead and the focus of an all-new, younger cast seems to put those criticisms to bed. After all, you don't make the lead of your legacyquel a 12-year-old girl if you are trying to appease the "Ghost Bros" who trolled an all female Ghostbusters movie.

All in all, the new Ghostbusters is shaping up with a really promising cast. Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard are rising stars and Carrie Coon is amazing in everything she's ever done her whole entire life. (I'm a big Leftovers fan). I'm curious to see who they will cast to play the other two teenagers or how involved the original cast will be. Until then, enjoy this tweet from Reitman celebrating his newly casted family.

There's no release date for this movie just yet, but be sure to keep checking in with CinemaBlend and we'll keep you updated.

Wait, Does Spider-Man’s Endgame Fate Connect To Captain Marvel?

Wait, Does Spider-Man’s Endgame Fate Connect To Captain Marvel?

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame are ahead!

Even though Marvel remained quiet about whether or not the characters who were turned to dust at the end of Avengers: Infinity War would in Avengers: Endgame, it was generally assumed that some, if not all of these casualties would be brought back to the land of the living. At the very least, Spider-Man would definitely be back, as his next movie, Far From Home, is coming out this summer.

Sure enough, Spider-Man is among the many Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes back in play, and although within the franchise’s timeline it’s been five years since The Decimation, Peter is the same age as he was when he disappeared, so it’s back to high school he goes. And strangely enough, it’s now being speculated that Peter Parker’s school now has a character we met in Captain Marvel hanging around there: the Skrull known as Talos.

One of the final scenes in Avengers: Endgame showed Peter Parker reuniting with his best friend Ned at school, but before that happens, if you look closely in the background (via Imgur), you’ll see a teacher in the background high-fiving some of the students coming in. Although this man is far away, he bares a resemblance to the human guise that Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos took during Captain Marvel, which includes him rocking a grey suit.

In case you didn’t see Captain Marvel earlier this year or need a refresher, like most other Skrulls, Talos is a shapeshifter, so it was easy enough for him to blend in when he landed on Earth in 1995. He primarily disguised himself as Keller, Nick Fury’s boss at S.H.I.E.L.D. Avengers: Endgame takes place nearly three decades after Carol Danvers’ origin story, so it would be unusual for Talos to being using the same guise after all this time, although if the real Keller has since passed away, it’s not like that would cause any major problems.

Avengers: Endgame included a lot of MCU cameos, but Ben Mendelsohn was not among the credited actors, so it’d be strange if he showed up and wasn’t mentioned alongside everyone else. What would be the point in keeping that a secret given all the other bombshells this movie dropped?

Plus, the last time we saw Talos, he, his family and the rest of the Skrull refugees left to find a new homeworld with Captain Marvel. His work on Earth was already accomplished, so what reason would he have to return decades later, and as a high school teacher no less?

I’m guessing that this teacher at Peter Parker’s school just looks similar to Ben Mendelsohn, and is not in fact a disguised Skrull who’s keen on teaching gifted adolescents about science, math, literature, etc. That’s not to say that Mendelsohn couldn’t return to the MCU someday, but it’s likelier he’d show up in Captain Marvel 2.

As for Peter Parker, his next movie, Spider-Man: Far From Home, will serve as the final installment of Phase 3 and see he and his classmates going on a trip to Europe, where Peter will be recruited by Nick Fury to team up with Mysterio to fight the Elementals. Presumably Far From Home will explore how Peter is coping with the post-Endgame status quo, namely with how five years have passed since he disappeared and his mentor, Tony Stark, dying.

Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on the MCU as they come in. For now, you can learn what’s currently in the works for the superhero franchise by looking through our Marvel movies guide.

Robert Rodriguez Rewrote Alita: Battle Angel For Free Before James Cameron Let Him Direct

Robert Rodriguez Rewrote Alita: Battle Angel For Free Before James Cameron Let Him Direct

Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron was talking about doing a feature film adaptation of the Battle Angel Alita manga since the early 2000s, but he never got around to it. Now, roughly two decades later, Alita: Battle Angel is finally in theaters; but James Cameron only produced the film, while Robert Rodriguez directed it. James Cameron didn’t just give up the reins to his passion project easily though, Robert Rodriguez had to work for it, as the latter explained:

Jim would rather put something in a drawer and not do it at all than do it incorrectly with the wrong director. I saw his original drawings and they took my breath away. The main character had porcelain arms and huge manga eyes, and I thought, Wow, he’s going full manga with this. And he trusted me with the version that was in his head, and he said: if you fix the script for me, you can direct. So a month later I come back and say: here you go, free of charge. And he said: all right, it’s yours.

It sounds like Robert Rodriguez basically had to prove himself to James Cameron to take on a project that was so important to the Aliens director. That test required Robert Rodriguez working on the script for Alita: Battle Angel and fixing its issues, thereby not only proving himself capable, but also proving that he had a grasp on the material. He understood how it should be adapted, and was clearly the right fit to direct.

It’s quite a vote of confidence because, as Robert Rodriguez told The Irish Times, James Cameron has no problem shelving a project he has the rights to indefinitely rather than see it done poorly. That’s an admirable trait, but with the can getting perpetually kicked further down the road thanks to the priority of his multiple Avatar sequels, it risked never happening if he didn’t pass it off to someone else.

As we’ve heard, Robert Rodriguez wanted to see James Cameron’s Alita: Battle Angel and since James Cameron wasn’t going to make it, he did and endeavored to make it feel like a James Cameron movie. Fortunately, James Cameron was still involved and gave him a great starting point.

Robert Rodriguez didn’t have to start from scratch, because James Cameron had already laid out his vision for Alita: Battle Angel in 600 pages of notes and drawings. And we’ve previously heared how Cameron introduced Rodriguez to Alita with a 15-minute presentation complete with narration, artwork and story concepts.

That all made it clear that James Cameron indeed wanted to make a manga movie that felt like the source material, retaining the weirder elements less familiar to Western audiences, like Alita’s giant eyes. So the movie was all there, Robert Rodriguez just had to fix the 186-page screenplay and it was his. He did just that and it sounds like he did it with style too, taking only a month and doing it for free.

Now Alita: Battle Angel is finally in theaters and despite mixed reviews, it has gotten a positive audience response and recently crossed $350 million at the worldwide box office. Although it still has a ways to go to become profitable and hopefully get a sequel greenlit.

Alita: Battle Angel is now playing. Check out our 2019 release schedule to keep track of all the year’s biggest releases and for all your movie news, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.