About 80% Of Captain Marvel's Goose Shots Are CGI, VFX Boss Says

About 80% Of Captain Marvel's Goose Shots Are CGI, VFX Boss Says

Goose the cat is a scene-stealer in Captain Marvel, but apparently most of the scenes were stolen by computer-generated images. We've already heard from the trainer who coached four different cats -- mostly a little guy named Reggie -- to play the role of Goose on set. But Captain Marvel visual effects supervisor Chris Townsend said most of the shots actually used in the MCU film were done through effects company Trixter, even beyond just the obvious Flerken fun.

There are about over 100 shots of the cat in the film, 70 or 80 of them are CG, including the shots, obviously, where the tentacles come out of the face.

Visual effects supervisor Chris Townsend told HuffPost the CG version of Goose looked so realistic, even directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck didn't recognize real from fake. Townsend explained some of the times they felt they needed to go with a CG version, including when working around star Brie Larson's (Carol Danvers) allergy to cats:

Whenever Brie’s holding a cat, almost always it’s a CG cat, and a lot of the times when the cat is on Nick Fury’s lap or is wandering around, it’s CG as well. There’s a lot of stuff that I would look at as a viewer and think, ‘Well, surely they could’ve got a cat to do that.’ In reality, no, we couldn’t get the cat to perform correctly in the same takes we got the actors to perform.

Divas! Chris Townsend did praise the cats and the cat trainers, but he's right that there's only so much you can demand from a cat -- especially one that probably doesn't even have profit participation, so what's their motivation, really?

Pet trailer Ursula Brauner had said, of the four cats used, a dude named Reggie was probably in about 70% of the Goose scenes. But Chris Townsend is saying about 20-30% of what's seen on screen was CG. So it sounds like Reggie didn't really get that much screen time. (Call your agent, man.)

The cats did spend a lot of time on set, though, and that's useful for the VFX team. Apparently Ben Mendelsohn was very patient with the cats, to get them used to the Skrulls. Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) gave mixed reactions to working with the cats, but the trainer said he was one of the best people working with them, and that the cats would go right up to him.

Goose is a character out of Marvel Comics, but on the page the Flerken "cat" was called Chewie. The movie decided to change the name to have a reference that was more era-specific to pilot Carol Danvers.

Captain Marvel is hurtling toward $1 billion at the global box office as we speak, even though it was just dethroned this weekend by new horror film Us. The MCU has more treats ahead in Avengers: Endgame on April 26, and right now we are just crossing our Flerken fingers that Goose -- CGI or not -- has a role in that story. Keep up with everything headed to the big screen with our 2019 movie schedule.

IT: Chapter 2 Just Showed Its First Footage, And It Was Chilling

IT: Chapter 2 Just Showed Its First Footage, And It Was Chilling

We’ve seen a surprising number of record-breaking horror movies come out in recent months, including David Gordon Green’s Halloween and Jordan Peele’s Us, but later this year we will finally get to see the release of what is arguably one of the most anticipated titles we’ve ever seen from the genre. Director Andres Muschietti absolutely blew audiences away in 2017 when he unleashed his adaptation of Stephen King’s IT, and soon he will be ready to take us back to Derry, Maine for IT: Chapter 2.

The film is still a few months away from release, arriving in theaters this fall, but this afternoon we were lucky enough to experience an early dose of its creepy magic. Warner Bros. hosted its annual presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas today, and the big showstopper they saved for the very end was our first look at the upcoming IT sequel. And based on what was shown, there are going to be millions of chills going down millions of spines when audiences everywhere get to see the finished blockbuster later this year.

Rather than being cut as a typical trailer, the IT: Chapter 2 footage instead began with an extended sequence from the film – specifically a moment that any fan of the book will definitely remember. Having returned to her hometown after spending years away, adult Beverly Marsh (now Beverly Rogan and played by Jessica Chastain) makes the decision to return to her childhood home – albeit while filled with intense dread about the possibility of seeing her father again. At first she thinks it’s a real possibility, as the name “Marsh” is still written on the door, but when an elderly woman greets her she realizes that she was mistaken, and that the label actually reads “Kersh.”

After Beverly notices this, she asks about her father, and Mrs. Kersh dourly explains that he passed away – but then kindly invites her to come in, look around, and have a cup of team. After some initial hesitance the lone female member of The Losers Club agrees, and while walking around the place notes that the house is a lot cleaner than when she lived there. While the woman goes to the kitchen to put the kettle on, Bev goes to the bathroom and uncovers a hole in the baseboard, from which she pulls out a familiar postcard. As she turns it over in her hands, she reads it aloud – “Your hair is winter fire; January embers. My heart burns there, too”- and we see a quick flashback to her as a kid (Sophia Lillis) reading the poem while sitting in the bathtub.

As she reads, however, the audiences’ eye is drawn down the hallway behind her, where we see a silhouetted Mrs. Kersh standing still before starting to walk out of sight with her arms flailing wildly.

We see a handful of flies on the glass window as Mrs. Kersh walks into the living room, and she gives Beverly a cup of tea as they sit opposite one another. The polite, grey-haired woman then apologizes to her guest about the heat, saying that you could just die. However, she follows it up with an old saying about Derry: “No one who ever dies here ever really dies.” Her face then basically freezes, as she neither moves nor says anything for a few creep-tastic seconds.

Breaking the silence, Mrs. Kersh asks what it’s like being back in town, and Bev replies that it’s strange – suddenly noticing the nasty chest wound that her host is sporting when the collar of her blouse shifts. Before she can ask a real follow-up, there is a ding from the kitchen that indicates that cookies are done. As she leaves, her guests starts looking at and asking about the photos on the wall. As it turns out, Kersh’s father was an immigrant who came to America to start a new life for himself… and did so by joining the local circus.

As Beverly stares at one particularly creepy photo, things escalate when it’s revealed that Mrs. Kersh is now standing naked – though obscured – in the kitchen. She calls from the room, “I was always daddy’s little girl. What about you? Are you still his little girl, Beverly? ARE YOU?” Hearing the horrifying words of her father come out of the elderly woman’s mouth, Bev quickly becomes frightened, and the situation further escalates as Mrs. Kersh begins an all-out naked sprint towards her.

From there the footage cut to a montage of various clips from IT: Chapter 2, showing off both the members of the young cast we already know (Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Wyatt Oleff), as well as the adult members of The Losers Club to whom we’ll be introduced (James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Jay Ryan, Isaiah Mustafa, James Ransone, and Andy Bean). Pennywise’s giggle accentuates particular moments up until the very end, when a black screen is cut through my the murderous clown, who lets out a friendly yet sinister, “Hello!”

This was obviously just a taste of what IT: Chapter 2 has to offer, but boy was it wonderfully satisfying. “When you see it” scares are infinitely more powerful and effective than jump scares, and the footage was chock full of them – filling the sequence with tremendous dread. One can only imagine at this point the horrors that will be contained within the full feature.

Hopefully it won’t be too long before we finally get an official trailer for IT: Chapter 2 – one that we can watch over and over again in hopes that it makes our waiting time for the full thing dissolve faster. Right now, though, our anticipation for the blockbuster horror film is somehow even higher than where it was this morning. It probably goes without saying at this point, but September 6, 2019 cannot get here soon enough.

In the meantime, stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for not only more IT: Chapter 2 stories and features, but also plenty more of our coverage out of CinemaCon 2019.

Kevin Feige ‘Wasn’t Pleased’ With Those Avengers: Endgame Leaks

Kevin Feige ‘Wasn’t Pleased’ With Those Avengers: Endgame Leaks

After a long year of waiting, the time is finally upon us. Avengers: Endgame arrives in theaters this week, picking up the narrative from Infinity War. The Russo Brothers shocked audiences by having Thanos win the day, and wipe out half of all life with the snap of his fingers. Audiences watched in horror as countless fan favorites faded to dust, and were left wondering what TF could happen next.

Marvel Studios has been guarding its secrets for the past year, focusing on Ant-Man and The Wasp and Captain Marvel before revealing the first trailer and title of Endgame. But with days left before Endgame's premier, spoilers began leaking online. Now Marvel Studios Kevin Feige has addressed these leaks, saying:

I wasn’t pleased. It’s not cool. It’s not fun. But the response was what I expected, which was everybody turning it off, dismissing it, ‘Don’t watch it, don’t spoil it for anybody else.’

Considering how methodically Marvel has released information about Endgame, you can't blame Kevin Feige for being miffed about spoilers hitting the web before its release. But there is a silver lining: most fans have actively avoided them, attempting to get the full theatrical experience for the movie's opening weekend.

Kevin Feige's comments to The Associated Press make a great deal of sense, especially given how high the stakes of Avengers: Endgame are. Aside from picking the story from Infinity War, The Russo Brothers' highly anticipated blockbuster has been teased as the cumulation of the last 21 movies. Endgame's runtime is longer to accommodate the various plot lines, and the fandom deserves to experience each surprise. They've been shelling out money for a decade, after all.

The marketing campaign for Avengers: Endgame has been purposefully vague, mostly setting up the bleak world after Thanos' finger snap of death (aka The Decimation). While the surviving heroes will attempt to unite the stones and reverse Thanos' mass extermination, it's unclear exactly how. We have a ton of questions ahead of the film's release, and the limited footage doesn't answer much. So if the fandom actively tries to avoid spoilers, they should hopefully be able to see Endgame without knowing anything about the film's contents.

Related: 10 Questions We Still Have About Avengers: Endgame

The next few days are crucial regarding Endgame spoilers, as the movie is finally being screened for the press and insiders. We're also only a day away from early Thursday shows, so social media will be a dangerous place for cinephiles waiting for their showing. CinemaBlend will continue covering the fourth Avengers flick but any spoiler-ey content will have a warning at the top of the page.

Avengers: Endgame will finally arrive in theaters on April 26th. In the meantime, fill out CinemaBlend's Endgame death pool, and check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Whoa, What's With Brightburn's Huge Second Weekend Drop?

Whoa, What's With Brightburn's Huge Second Weekend Drop?

What happened to Brightburn? Not only did it get lost in the shuffle of Memorial Day weekend, it just fell more than almost any other movie in its second weekend.

Brightburn ended its three-day opening weekend with $7.8 million, which placed it fifth on last week's box office chart, almost a million dollars above Booksmart. Fast-forward to Week 2, and the situation is reversed. Booksmart got a boost of 13 theaters, which isn't much, but it put it at 2,518 theaters and gave it an estimated $3,328,648 for this weekend.

Brightburn, on the other hand, didn't gain or lose any theaters, it still has more than Booksmart at 2,607. But it only made an estimated $2,315,000, which is a drop of -70.5%.

That's big.

There are other films lower on the chart with slightly bigger box office drops, per Box Office Mojo, but those films also lost hundreds or even a thousand screens from last week to now. That's not the case for Brightburn. That drop put Brightburn's per-screen average at just $888, which is pretty low.

Compare that to the $11,934 per-screen average for this weekend's box office leader, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, or even the $1,322 per-screen average of Booksmart. A Dog's Journey has a lower per-screen average at $621, but it also just lost 1,605 screens after being out for three weeks.

Brightburn is a smaller movie, made for a reported production budget around $6 million. In addition to the $14.2 million it has made at the domestic box office so far -- from across this past week, including Memorial Day Monday -- it has also made $10.5 million so far at the foreign box office. The total as of today is $24,712,552.

So Brightburn isn't likely to lose any money, it's just not a good sign for any potential sequels that fans seem to have lost interest so quickly.

Brightburn got middle-of-the-road reviews from critics and a mostly positive RT Audience Score of 68% so far, but that's from only 3,091 users. It actually got a pretty lame C+ CinemaScore from moviegoers polled on opening night. Usually those scores tend to be high, but when people are disappointed, they can grade low.

Brightburn got a lot of attention because of Guardians of the Galaxy writer/director James Gunn, who is a producer of the film, which was written by his brother Brian Gunn and cousin Mark Gunn. David Yarovesky directed the movie. It also captured fans' imaginations that Brightburn took the Superman origin story and gave it a dark twist. Otherwise, Brightburn is just an indie horror film that found a small following but maybe not enough to continue this universe. We'll see.

Did you see Brightburn? If so, how would you grade it?

When Disney's Star Wars, Marvel And Pixar Projects Are Leaving Netflix

When Disney's Star Wars, Marvel And Pixar Projects Are Leaving Netflix

The world of online streaming services is about to change when Disney+ makes its debut later this year. The nearly 100 year old company has some of the most beloved films of all-time in its library, however, not all of them will be available when the service launches in November. Many of the studio's most recent hits can only be found on Netflix.

Back in 2016, Disney signed a deal with Netflix that gave the service first run streaming rights to all of Disney's theatrically released features from that point forward, as well as access to much of the studio's back catalog. As a result, many of the most popular movies currently on Netflix are Disney films. Such as those from Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm

That deal officially ended at the close of 2018, meaning all new movies from Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar starting this year will be debuting directly on Disney+ rather than going to Netflix first.

However, the fact that no new movies will be coming to Netflix doesn't impact the films that are already there, at least not yet. While Disney's back catalog films are handled on a case by case basis, and thus only Disney and Netflix know when those films might leave, when it comes to the recent releases, we know exactly how long those movies are hanging around.

So if you're not looking to subscribe to Disney+ any time soon, how much longer will you have these films available to watch on Netflix at all? Here's a breakdown of what's left, and when it's going.

Pixar

Cars 3: July 31, 2019

Coco: November 29, 2019

Incredibles 2: July 30, 2020

The first Pixar movie to be added to Netflix after the initial deal was signed was Finding Dory, which joined Netflix in February of 2017 and left Netflix in August 2018. The 18-month window has proven to be the period of time that all new movies have spent on the service. Disney has already stated that all Pixar movies, with the exception of Coco, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 4, will be available on Disney+ on day one, November 12, 2019.

Based on the dates above, you can see why that is. While Cars 3 will be leaving Netflix this summer, well ahead of the Disney+ launch, Coco will be leaving Netflix a couple of weeks after Disney+ launches, with Incredibles 2 hanging around until July of next year. Toy Story 4, and every Pixar movie there after, will make the jump straight to Disney+.

Star Wars

Star Wars: The Last Jedi: December 26, 2019

Solo: A Star Wars Story: July 9, 2020

Only three Star Wars films have ever been available on Netflix and two of them still are. The deal between Disney and Netflix was signed after the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens so it never appeared. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story appeared in July of 2017 and left Netflix this past January. As with Pixar, Disney has confirmed that all Star Wars movies will be available on day one of Disney+, with the exception of these two films, and the forthcoming, Star Wars; The Rise of Skywalker. However, all three will hit Disney+ within its first year.

If you want to continue to enjoy Star Wars: The Last Jedi you only have until the end of the year on Netflix. On the plus side, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens hitting Disney+ on day one, if you have both Disney+ and Netflix, you'll be able to rewatch both episodes of the new trilogy before The Rise of Skywalker debuts in theaters on December 20.

Marvel

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: May 5, 2019

Thor: Ragnarok: December 6, 2019

Black Panther: March 4, 2020

Avengers: Infinity War: June 25, 2020

Ant-Man and the Wasp: July 29, 2020

Marvel has the most content currently on Netflix of the three major Disney labels, with five movies currently available. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has already been announced to be leaving the service shortly, in just a few days as of this writing, with the rest of the MCU films following in short order. Interestingly, this would seem to indicate that every MCU movie from Iron Man to Guardians 2 could appear on Disney+ on day one, but only a few movies have been confirmed to do so.

Everything from Thor: Ragnarok through Ant-Man and the Wasp, however, has been confirmed to make the jump to Disney+ within the first year, which would seem to indicate that the time between leaving Netflix and arriving on Disney+ won't be too long.

By the end of July 2020, all of the most recent films from Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars, will be gone from Netflix. From that point on, if you want to see any of the films from these three divisions, you'll only be able to find them on Disney+.

Certainly, with it's aggressive price point that's about half what Netflix costs per month, Disney is hoping that people who have been enjoying Disney movies on Netflix will at the very least be willing to add Disney+ to their existing Netflix subscription, if not make the switch away from Netflix entirely. If there are a lot of people who have been using Netflix as their go to source for Disney family fun, something like that could very well happen.

It will certainly be interesting to see how Netflix handles being without these big releases. In the same way that Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar movies have been good for huge box office returns, they're also major draws for Netflix. Will the lack of these movies cause people to actually drop Netflix entirely, or will Netflix find other movies, to take the place of these major Disney titles?

Netflix has spent years building up its library of exclusive content specifically to deal with issues like this. It wants people to want Netflix in order to get access to content that not only can't be found elsewhere, but can't ever go anywhere else. The next several months may be the biggest test yet of that strategy.

Could Captain Marvel Hit A Billion Dollars This Weekend?

Could Captain Marvel Hit A Billion Dollars This Weekend?

Captain Marvel has gone higher, further and faster than many of Marvel’s other superheroes, at least where box office is involved. The movie is already well over the $900 million week after hitting theaters earlier this month, but will it be able to hit 1 billion this weekend? It’ll be close.

First and foremost, as of March 25, Captain Marvel has already pulled in a whopping $914 million dollars worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). Box office numbers typically slow down earlier in the way and pick up closer to the weekend, so once Monday and Tuesday’s numbers are official, I’d expect it to add to the tally but not get us close to the billion dollar mark yet.

Which brings us to this weekend. Domestically, Captain Marvel is facing the behemoth that is Jordan Peele’s Us. Disney itself will also enter a bit of competition into the fold this weekend with its live action Dumbo remake spearheaded by director Tim Burton.

If you’d like to see the full list of releases so far in 2019, we have you covered.

Last weekend, Captain Marvel earned $35 million domestically, which was definitely enough for second place, but earned well below Us, which opened to $70.3 million. It’s likely that Captain Marvel’s numbers will drop domestically again, although it should do well enough that it should make a few million to add to that over $900 million total.

The worldwide box office has contributed much of the box office intake for Captain Marvel and that likely will continue into the weekend. However, Captain Marvel has already previously opened in most major markets, including China.

It has also opened in Mexico, South Korea, The UK, Brazil, France and other markets, so there’s not a lot of room for the movie to continue to squeeze out top dollar overseas. Just like the domestic market, as new and exciting movies hit theaters, the audience for older movies wanes.

The question really isn’t if Captain Marvel will be able to hit $1 billion worldwide, but when. There’s a chance the Marvel flick flies to that record this weekend, which would mean the movie has hit that box office milestone before it has even been in theaters for a whole month. However, it’s going to be close, and I think it may fall short over the weekend.

The good news is that once Captain Marvel hits a billion, it will actually be the seventh Marvel flick to achieve that massive number, so it will be big news when it happens. It should also be the start of a giant box office tally for Marvel in 2019, as the studio also has Avengers: Endgame coming. That movie should open high and could go on to make over $2 billion for Disney. Spider-Man: Far From Home and it's complicated infrastructure with Sony and Disney will also be released in 2019.

If you’d like to see the movie get there sooner rather than later, you can always catch it in theaters this weekend, perhaps even for a second or third time.

7 Period Movies Marvel Should Make In The Future

7 Period Movies Marvel Should Make In The Future

As long as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to exist it will consistently produce contemporary stories – but it’s been shown that the occasional period piece can be a real treat for audiences. We’ve only really seen a couple of examples from the franchise so far, including Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger and Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel, but there are few that would disagree that the details in the settings and aesthetics of those features set them apart from the 20-plus other offerings from Marvel Studios.

Obviously period storytelling presents some specific challenges for a continuity-centric franchise, as filmmakers have to create explanations for keeping characters around for decades, and reasons why audiences haven’t previously heard about the adventures. All the same, they present flavorful stylistic opportunities that can be incredibly fun to explore. This in mind, we’ve taken a trip back through history (skipping the already-done 1940s and 1990s), and formulated ideas for potential new Marvel big screen stories – starting with the decade that everything started with Timely Comics…

1930s – Namor The Submariner

One could make the argument that Marvel Comics was built on the backs of three heroes: Captain America, Human Torch (the android, not Johnny Storm), and Namor The Submariner. They were among the first heroes introduced in the aforementioned Timely Comics, and their pages helped shape the superhero world as we know it. The first two have appeared in the MCU – the former as a primary hero, the latter as an Easter egg in Captain America: The First Avenger – but, sadly, certain rights complications have prevented us from seeing a big screen version of Namor. Right now we don’t know what the future will hold for the character, but if it were up to us, we would get to see a movie featuring him in the decade he was created: the 1930s.

The DC Extended Universe has already beaten the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the punch when it comes to undersea adventure, as Aquaman is the biggest hit the brand has ever released, but that doesn’t mean a Namor The Submariner movie couldn’t still work. Not only does there still exist plenty of material for land vs. sea conflict, but the early origin could set up the Atlantian King/hero/anti-hero/villain for appearances in some other potential period stories (especially what we have in mind for the 1960s).

1950s – Man-Thing

Superheroes have been a staple of comic books for decades, but during the 20th century there was a lull in their popularity, and one particular genre simultaneously hit its stride. That period was during the late-1940s and early-1950s and the genre was horror. Marvel’s predecessor, Atlas Comics, was deep into this game, scaring audiences with monsters in the pages of Amazing Mysteries and Marvel Tales – and it’s in recognition of this history that the Marvel Cinematic Universe could make an excellent Man-Thing feature.

Not to be confused with DC Comics’ Swamp Thing (which was introduced around the same time), Man-Thing is a creature that lives in the Florida Everglades – formerly a scientist forced to dose himself with his own secret serum while being pursued by terrorists. This could be a very different kind of film for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, specifically an opportunity to dig into a genre that has not yet been explored by the studio, and there is room to be heavily inspired by 1954’s Creature From The Black Lagoon.

1960s – The Fantastic Four

With 20th Century Fox being bought by the Walt Disney Corporation, Marvel Studios will soon have the ability to create their own version of the Fantastic Four, and redeem the big screen legacy of Marvel’s first family. In doing this, the company could certainly go the easy route and introduce them as a team of new heroes ready to join the fight against evil alongside the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy – but if they were to go the period piece route there could be some real fun to be had. (With a hat tip to Peyton Reed – who we very much hope someday gets to execute his vision.)

Like Namor and Captain America, this would be another case where the characters are introduced within the same decade they made their debut on the page, as the Fantastic Four made their debut in 1961. What would be wonderful about this version is not only the possibility of differentiating itself from the previous cinematic adaptations, but also exploring the beautifully weird 1960s sci-fi aesthetic, taking notes from classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Fantastic Voyage, and Planet Of The Apes. As for where the characters have been in the decades since, it’s very easy to believe that they went off on some kind of space exploration mission and never returned, got trapped in another dimension, or somehow got erased from existence because of a time travel incident.

1970s – Blade

Basically being half-vampire, Blade a.k.a. Eric Brooks ages at a much slower rate than most Marvel heroes, which makes him a perfect candidate for period storytelling. It’s very easy to establish that the guy has been hunting the undead for decades without having to recast or use advanced makeup/effects when he makes contemporary appearances. Add in the fact that he was created in 1973 by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan to hunt Dracula, and you have a recipe for an awesome new Marvel Cinematic Universe film.

Like Man-Thing, this is another opportunity for the franchise to dip into the horror genre, and also distance itself from the version of the character we’ve already seen from a different continuity. Given the era, perhaps this version of Blade could have the affection of being like Shaft with vampire hunting – maybe even straight-up having him travel to Transylvania to hunt Dracula. In the hands of the right filmmaker that could be a blast.

1980s – The Astonishing Tales Of Ant-Man And The Wasp

This entry is a bit different than every other one in this feature as it centers on characters with whom we are already familiar. No, I’m not talking about Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne – I’m talking about Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne. Portrayed by Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer, we know from the previous Ant-Man movies that they were spies working together for S.H.I.E.L.D. during the Cold War, and a 1980s-set prequel film titled something along the lines of The Astonishing Tale Of Ant-Man And The Wasp could do exactly that.

One of the “drawbacks” of using established characters is that the project would have to make heavy use of the impressive de-aging technology that Marvel has been employing in recent years, but there’s every reason to be confident that it could be done. After all, not only is the digital work done on Samuel L. Jackson in Captain Marvel absolutely flawless, but we’ve already seen what magic can be done with both Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer in the previous two Ant-Man films.

2000s – She-Hulk

While the first Marvel Studios films were released in 2008 - Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk – technically we have not yet seen a 21st century aughts story in the MCU. Given the way things line up in the continuity, the former is set in 2010, while the latter unfolds in 2011. That on the table, however, a She-Hulk film set during the previous decade may still be possible. After all, fans will remember that the first Hulk story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not an origin story, and there is a period of four to five years that we don’t know much about in between Bruce Banner’s disastrous gamma experiment and where we first caught up with him. This is where Jennifer Walters’ tale could start.

It is possible that we could meet the future She-Hulk at some point this mystery time, with an accident leading her to get a blood transfusion from her on-the-run cousin, Bruce Banner. The result is that she experiences a different form of his Hulk condition – transforming into a powerful green giant, but keeping her personality and intelligence. Given the trouble Banner experiences as a fugitive, she tries to control her transformations and live a normal life… all while the age of heroes is just about ready to bloom.

2099 – Marvel 2099

Period pieces aren’t necessarily relegated to the past, and Marvel Comics has already provided the movies with an interesting roadmap towards looking at the distant future. Marvel 2099 was an imprint published throughout the 1990s that had writers and artists on a wide variety of books telling stories set approximately 100 years in the future. This included new versions of Spider-Man, the X-Men, Hulk, the Fantastic Four, and more, and all of them could possibly come together in a different kind of Marvel Cinematic Universe event feature.

There is enough existing Marvel 2099 source material that Marvel Studios could use for an entire Phase’s worth of features, but assuming that won’t happen it would be cool to use one massive blockbuster to let audiences peek into the highly advanced world. You could use time travel as an entry point into the story, with a contemporary character being hurtled into the distant year, but from there fans could be introduced to a completely different vision of the MCU that has been altered by all the events that have already been depicted.

What do you think of these ideas? Do you think they would work? Do you have ideas of your own? Hit the comments section below with your thoughts, and check out Captain Marvel in theaters this Friday, March 8th.