ESPN’s Matthew Berry Talks His Epic Avengers: Endgame Cameo and Playing Fantasy Football With the MCU’s Finest

With three hours of seemingly non-stop action and time-travelling, taking fans to all of the most beloved corners of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers: Endgame had no shortage of cameos. Some were easy to spot, like Robert Redford, Natalie Portman, or Yvette Nicole Brown. However, there were others that many Marvel fans might not have picked up on, like the Talented Mr. Roto himself, Matthew Berry.

Anyone who plays fantasy football immediately recognized ESPN’s popular host, analyst, and personality about halfway through Endgame, during the scene back in 2012. If you aren’t familiar with Berry, he was the head SHIELD/Hydra agent that accompanied Redford’s Alexnder Pierce to retrieve the Tesseract from Stark Tower. Remember that tall guy right next to Pierce who kept insisting on taking the briefcase from Tony? That’s Matthew Berry.

How did the most well-known face in the world of fantasy sports end up in Avengers: Endgame? Well, as it turns out, the cameo was actually a by-product of a friendship built playing fantasy football. ComicBook.com spoke with Berry a bit about his appearance in what will soon be the biggest movie of all time, and he explained that he and director Joe Russo go way back, having played fantasy football together for some time.

“Yeah, my first reaction [when Joe asked] was one of shock and surprise, because it was part of a larger conversation, it wasn’t like he called specifically for that,” Berry explained. “So I’m just like, ‘Really? Yeah, of course.’ He’s like, ‘All right, cool. We’ll be in touch.’”

Berry, already a self-proclaimed nerd and massive fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was understandably beside himself after receiving the request. In fact, for a while after speaking with Russo the first time, he thought that nothing would ever come of it.

“I just can’t imagine everything that was on their minds in terms of this [filming] process, and so I had assumed that either he would forget, or that somebody at Marvel or Disney would hear about this and say, ‘Listen, we like this guy over at ESPN, but this is Avengers: Endgame. We’re not screwing around with this,’” he continued. “So I thought at some point somebody would be like, ‘Yeah, can we see if we can do better here.’ And that didn’t happen. In fact, a week later after Joe and I spoke I got a phone call, ‘Hey Matthew, this is Chris Castaldi, first [assistant director] on the Avengers. I understand you’ll be joining us soon.’ I’m like, ‘I am? Yeah, I am.’ It was one of those like, oh my gosh this is actually happening.

“It still didn’t totally sink in until I was on set. I kept thinking that at some point somebody would say, ‘Throw him in the back. Throw him where no one can see him.’ Or something like that. So it was very surreal.”

Berry had to keep the secret of his Endgame role for years, as he had filmed it during the initial shoot, back before even Avengers: Infinity War was finished. The payoff for the secret was worth it, even though there were some friends and fans of Berry’s who didn’t even recognize him in the movie the first time around. “I have had friends that texted me to just talk about the movie knowing what a big fan I am, and never mentioning I was in,” Berry said with a laugh.

While this may sound irritating to some, Berry finds it flattering. For him to be featured on the camera during this massive movie and have people completely miss it is a compliment in his eyes, because it means he didn’t do anything to distract from the scene itself.

Being as big of a nerd as the rest of us, Berry took his role as a nameless agent to heart, so much so that he even fleshed out the guy’s story in the MCU. Berry joked that his character had a “change of heart” after the reveal that Hydra was low-key running SHIELD in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Berry’s favorite MCU movie, by the way). “He ultimately had a Nebula-like redemption arc where he was somewhere in the background helping Captain America and Sharon Carter,” he added. “That’s what I decided.”

Being on set was no simple task for a fan as big as Berry, considering he was sharing the screen with Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Hiddleston, and Robert Redford. He kept telling himself to “hold it together” throughout the entire day, which is easier said than done.

“But it is mind-blowing. It’s indescribable. Words don’t do it justice,” Berry told us, reflecting on his work in the movie. “It was completely surreal, and it was like an out of body experience where I’m watching someone do this. Like, I can’t describe it other than to say words are inadequate to describe the experience.”

Berry can now count himself one of the few people who can truly say they have a part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but that’s not the only connection he has to some of the franchise’s stars and creators. Both Joe Russo and Anthony Mackie have been playing fantasy football with Berry in ESPN’s Celebrity League for a couple of years now (along with other Marvel-connected people like Miles Teller and Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller). He’s also been known to offer advice to some of the stars of the franchise from time to time, particularly Chris Pratt.

“I’ve talked fantasy football a decent amount with Chris and he really knows what he’s doing. He’s really smart,” said Berry. He mentioned that Mackie, Paul Rudd, Jeremy Renner, John Krasinski, and Chris Evans were good players as well.

Evans is the standout of the list, at least from a statistical standpoint. The Captain America star has won the league he’s in two years in a row, beating out the likes of Russo, Mackie, Rudd, Renner, Krasinski, Pratt, Teller, Don Cheadle, and James Marsden. Berry described it as “a very competitive league” with “a bunch of smart players.”

Of course, now that he’s also a bonafide Marvel star, Berry is trying to get himself a spot in this coveted league. “I’ve been told I’m on the shortlist, so we’ll see,” he joked. “I’ve submitted my application, but there’s a tremendous amount of interest in that league so we’ll see if I manage to get in.”

Beating Captain America at fantasy football would certainly be a big check off the bucket list, but it’s likely no experience will be able to top a role in Avengers: Endgame. Honestly, how many people can say they were able to do that?

“It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Right up there behind my wedding and the birth of my kids. Seriously.”

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