‘Iron Man 3’ Writer Reveals Why Marvel Studios Doesn’t Make One-Shots Anymore

It’s been more than four years since Marvel Studios released a direct-to-video short film. Iron Man 3 writer Drew Pearce, who directed the last one, said one reason for this is they simply take too much time to make.

“They literally just take up too much time,” Pearce told The Empire Film Podcast. “Because [Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige] cares so much about everything that goes out the door that he throws as much commitment and time into making one of the shorts as he does one of the films. At some point – even timewise – economically, that is a feasible thing for him to do, particularly now, that they have three films a year rather than two.”

There has not been a Marvel One-Shot since All Hail The King, which Pearce directed in 2014 and appeared on the Thor: The Dark World Blu-ray. The 14-minute film had Sir Ben Kingsley reprising his role as Trevor Slattery from Iron Man 3, which Pearce wrote with director Shane Black.

In total, there were five Marvel One-Shots – The Consultant (2011), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer (2011), Item 27 (2012) and Agent Carter (2013). The original plan for these films was to expand the MCU by telling stories set just outside the films and highlight the further adventures of supporting characters. Each are included on home video releases and helped launch the Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter TV series.

Despite Pearce’s comments, there have been rumors over the years of One-Shots returning. Last year, Spider-Man: Homecoming star Tom Holland hinted that they might come back, or at least he really wants to do one with Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man.

“I think they are planning on doing it again,” Holland told Uproxx at the time.

Thor: Ragnarok writer Eric Pearson also said last year there were “whispers” of One-Shots making a comeback.

“I can’t confirm that at all, but I’ve definitely heard whispers of it. And I have a whole folder full of other One-Shots that I just came up with. And I was like, ‘Oh, this will be a fun eight to 12 pages,’” Pearson told CinemaBlend in October 2017.

In April, producer Louis D’Esposito told Entertainment Weekly that Disney wants more One-Shots, but producers are just too busy.

“We’re just so busy,” D’Esposito told EW. “Disney wants us to do it, we want to do it, and I keep telling them, ‘I’ll do it on the next film,’ but I keep breaking my promise.”

The next MCU movie is Captain Marvel, which hits theaters on March 8, 2019, and the untitled fourth Avengers movie, which is scheduled for May 3, 2019. In 2018, Marvel released three movies in the first six months – Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man And The Wasp.