Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Endgame
It's been over a month since Avengers: Endgame arrived in theaters, and the public is still reeling from the dizzying narrative that The Russo Brothers crafted. And with the spoiler-ban long since lifted, collaborators from the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be more chatty about the movie's contents, revealing how the superheroic sausage gets made.
Endgame and Infinity War were filmed back to back, and with Captain Marvel set to arrive in the interim between releases. The latter movie was directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, and they recently revealed to CinemaBlend how they collaborated on The Russo Brothers' pair of Avengers flicks, saying:
Ryan Fleck: Yeah, sure. Just to clarify, we were actually shooting simultaneously. They shared the script with us, we shared ours with them, and we each gave each other feedback on them, so it was a very fluid approach to the character. You want to add to that, Anna?
Anna Boden: They did shoot with her before and after she shot with us. But, you know, it was a really nice introduction into that world because the Russo brothers have been working with Marvel for so many years, and had already made a couple of our favorite Marvel films at that point. And we were on set with Brie for her first day of shooting in Atlanta. We saw the first time that she tried on that Captain Marvel costume. It was really exciting and just feeling the energy of bringing this new, really important character into that world, and getting a sense of where she was going to go and how important she was going to be before making our film was really, really amazing.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a well-oiled machine, and the Captain Marvel co-directors' comments to CinemaBlend's Eric Eisenberg prove just that. While the script for Infinity War and Endgame were kept largely under wraps, there was still room for collaboration with directors in the franchise.
Captain Marvel's long-awaited adaptation into live-action came about during a fascinating time in the MCU. Captain Marvel and Ant-Man and The Wasp were released after Avengers: Infinity War, helping to move the story forward and satiate the fans after Thanos snapped his fingers and wiped out half of all life. Brie Larson was cast years earlier, and all eyes were on what Carol Danvers would do with her super powerful abilities.
Brie Larson's role in Endgame was also fascinating because she had to play the role prior to actually filming Captain Marvel. The Oscar-winning actress jumped feet first into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it turns out that the co-directors of the origin movie were cued in to her role in the massive ensemble project. That's how you do serialized storytelling, folks.
Captain Marvel had a fairly limited role in Avengers: Endgame, as The Russo Brothers primarily focused on the original six team members. But she was a macguffin for some of the biggest moments in the blockbuster, starting off by saving Tony Stark and Nebula from certain death in the void of space.
She was noticeably absent from the Time Heist, with a bit of exposition revealing Carol Danvers was policing the galaxy during the fallout of Thanos' snap. But she came back during the knick of time during the final epic battle in the ruins of the Avengers compound. Captain Marvel singlehandedly destroyed Thanos ship, and engaged the Mad Titan directly. She was also in the all-female moment, which caused applause during countless screenings.
Related: One Marvel Hero Had To Be Added To Endgame's Women-Of-Marvel Sequence Via Digital Effects
It should be interesting to see how Captain Marvel factors into Phase Four. She should be in direct communication with the Avengers, and a sequel seems inevitable. The audience also hasn't been privy to how her conflict with the Supreme Intelligence went down, or where the Skrulls ended up taking up residence. And Brie Larson is hoping Ms. Marvel might be introduced in a future installment as well.
Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now. Be sure to check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.