The Particular Issue Captain Marvel Posed for the Avengers: Endgame Writers

Including Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) ahead of her 1995-set solo movie posed a unique problem for [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

Including Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) ahead of her 1995-set solo movie posed a unique problem for Avengers: Endgame screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

The writers had to be consistent in penning a character who canonically premieres 23 years earlier but first filmed on Endgame, before handling of the character — and her voice — was passed from Avengers directors Anthony and Joe Russo to Captain Marvel caretakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, whose movie hit theaters first.

"Yeah, that was a... God, I can't imagine too many people in Hollywood have had to deal with that particular issue," McFeely told Backstory Magazine.

"I remember sitting next to Anna and Ryan as they called action on Brie's first day as Captain Marvel, which is on Endgame, and for the few weeks before that, they'd been around watching Joe and Anthony work because this is a big step up for [Boden and Fleck] in terms of size of movie."

Markus and McFeely worked closely with Boden and Fleck to develop the character, who joins the Avengers first in 2018 and stays on intermittently through 2023 after a five-year time jump.

"We sat with them and showed them the draft and said, 'Here's how she works in our movie, and here's how she sounds. Do you think this version of her, which is a version we had to decide on for our movie, which is 20 years after the hypothetical movie you're going to make — have we done anything that would force you to do anything you didn't want to do previously?'" McFeely said.

"It was fine, but we certainly got their input."

The Avengers scribes also enjoyed the leeway allowed by Carol Danvers' first superhero adventure taking place in '95, which meant any inconsistencies could be attributed to development that occurred during the unseen 20-plus years separating Captain Marvel and Endgame.

"I mean, that 20 years is both a weird thing to prompt us and a bit of a cushion in that there's no telling what happens between the end of Captain Marvel and her appearance in our world," added Markus. "So, any fluctuations in character or appearance can be chalked up to the 20 years. I don't look like I looked 20 years ago. We had to come to some consensus."

"Well, that's fine," countered McFeely, "but, like, if her behaviors was 180 degrees, we were screwed."

Markus and McFeely saw the Captain Marvel script during shooting on Endgame, and according to Markus, "It was informative, but if anything, it was too late to make any changes to ours."

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