Avengers: Endgame Nearly Included Epic “Fastball Special” With Ant-Man, Hulk, and Spider-Man

Imagine Marvel Studios adopting the classic “Fastball Special” maneuver using some of the biggest heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to Marvel’s visual development head Ryan Meinerding, there was an instance where the story team thought about adopting the move first made popular by Colossus and Wolverine. In the live-action case, viewers would have seen Hulk about the throw Spider-Man, only for the camera to pan back showing Giant-Man was about to throw Hulk. Unfortunately enough, the Fastball Special within a Fastball Special never made it past the concept art and development stage.

“I did a frame, which is just so perfect,” Meinerding says about the move in Avengers: Endgame – The Art of the Movie. “Spider-Man is about to be thrown by Hulk, and then you pull back to see that Giant-Man is holding Hulk. So it was going to be Giant-Man throws Hulk, and then Hulk throws Spider-Man. I wish they could have fit it in.”

Maybe fans will be able to see a similar move in Ant-Man 3, a threequel currently set to feature the return of director Peyton Reed. Reed previously told us he’d like to explore the Quantum Realm further in-depth, meaning Ant-Man and the Wasp could totally pull the move on some quantum baddies.

“I think that was the case in the first movie, particularly when Adam McKay and Paul were reworking the script on the first movie,” Reed previously shared with ComicBook.com. “In that movie, we added the Quantum Realm and Janet and stuff like that knowing that if we were able to make a sequel that that could be fertile ground.”

He added, “There are definitely things in this movie that, if we’re fortunate enough to make another one, there’s a lot to play with. We spend more time in the Quantum Realm in this movie, obviously, than the first movie but it feels like we’re just dipping our toes into it.”

Avengers: Endgame is now streaming on Disney+.

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall of 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios has yet to set release dates for its theatrical releases in Ant-Man 3 and Blade or the Disney+ shows consisting of Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.