Avengers: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, and Russo Brothers Reveal New MCU Secrets

Doctor Strange is wearing the Iron Man suit. Peter Parker is in big trouble for Spider-Man 3. Video of Chris Evans wrapping his career as Captain America. None of these nor the many other reveals over the weekend come from trailers or announcements for future films but, instead, the writers and directors of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame having a worldwide re-watch of the films. Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely took over the official ComicBook.com Twitter account on Sunday night for a Quarantine Watch Party of Avengers: Infinity War before the Joe Russo, co-director of the epic two-part conclusion to the Infinity Saga joined with their own live social media commentary on Monday night with Avengers: Endgame.

Since Avengers: Endgame hit theaters, the creative team behind it have certainly done their fair share of interviews breaking down the best moments or those which were left on the cutting room floor. Two years after Avengers: Infinity War and one year after Avengers: Endgame, it would seem every possible detail of these films and their massive production process would have been covered. Not the case.

While behind-the-scenes videos and photos revealing exclusive looks at the sets and costumes were among the most engaged-with tweets from the Quarantine Watch Party (which prompted a Worldwide Twitter trend, largely in part thanks to the Russo Brothers’ #AvengersAssemble tag, generating 80,000 tweets during Monday’s movie, and #QuarantineWatchParty which generated more than 50,000 tweets through the two-night event).

If you’re the one person on the planet who has not yet seen Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, this is a good time to finally go watch them, as spoilers for the movies are below as the best new details, cut scenes, and behind-the-scenes content is rounded up below.

Iron Strange

Perhaps the most exciting tweet of the entire Quarantine Watch Party event called for Stephen McFeely revealing the first look at Benedict Cumberbatch wearing the Iron Man armor while in character as Doctor Strange. The moment was revealed earlier in concept art, along with photos of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark donning Strange’s cloak. However, until Sunday night, there was no hard evidence of Cumberbatch wearing the iconic Iron Man armor.

Now, there is, and the image has surfaced on every Marvel fan account and across media outlets, everywhere.

As the story goes, Spider-Man crafted the plan which freed Doctor Strange from Ebony Maw’s grasp. However, an alternate version of the sequence called for Tony sending his armor to Strange as a means to escape and now we can imagine what it would have looked like.

No Love for Nova

Nova, also known as Richard Rider, is one of the most hotly anticipated characters from the Marvel Comics canon for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The character was cut from a draft of Guardians of the Galaxy and also cut from Avengers: Infinity War’s opening scene.

In an early draft of Infinity War, Nova was going to come crashing into Earth as he did in the Avengers vs. X-Men comic. Instead of warning the Avengers of the Phoenix Force threat, he would be telling them about Thanos following the destruction of Xandar. However, the movie had reached a “critical mass of new characters,” according to Markus, and Nova’s appearance went the way of Xandar. Gone.

Spider-Man 3

Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame aren’t posing too much trouble for Peter Parker going forward, aside from the emotional damage of losing Tony Stark. However, a confirmation from Christopher Markus might spell trouble for Peter when you take the ending of Spider-Man: Far From Home into account.

In Captain America: Civil War, another film written by the Markus and McFeely duo, the Sokovia Accords came into play for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Being a super hero is a essentially illegal. Now, the whole world knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man, thanks to Mysterio, so not only will villains be after him but the law is coming, too.

As for the rumor of Daredevil being his attorney, it is unfortunately not true according to Charlie Cox, who loves the idea of his Matt Murdock giving advice to Peter Parker.

Chris Evans’ Last Day

Chris Evans began his run as Captain America in the Markus and McFeely written Captain America: The First Avenger. His run came to an end in Avengers: Endgame. 

What was certainly an emotional moment on set was captured and shared by the Russo Brothers, tweeted with a claim of tthis being the actors “last day of playing Captain America, ever.” It’s hard to imagine a world without Evans as the star-spangled hero but that mantle has now been passed to Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson. There is no indication Evans will appear in the  MCU again.

Brie Larson’s First Day

 As one story ends, another one begins.

While the video of Evans wrapping his time as Captain America is a sad story for long time fans, a video of Brie Larson on the set of Avengers: Endgame, suited up as Captain Marvel and meeting the rest of the Avengers in their costumes should get Marvel fans pretty excited. Avengers: Endgame hit theaters after Captain Marvel but was in production prior to Larson’s standalone movie. 

Captain Marvel essentially book-ended Avengers: Endgame, appearing in the beginning to save Tony Stark and returning at the end to bail the Avengers out in a critical moment during their feud with Thanos. The reason she was not a major focus in the movie, according to McFeely, is that the movie’s goal was to focus on the original Avengers as fans readied themselves to say goodbye.  

Time Travel

One of the most rewarding experiences for MCU fans was the time travel element of Avengers: Endgame. Not only did the film completely recreate the opening sequence of Star-Lord dancing from Guardians of the Galaxy with completely new footage but it also rebuilt the set of Avengers Tower and all of the costumes the cast wore in 2012’s The Avengers. 

The Russo Brothers shared the above photo, showing the updated take on the set, cast, and costumes based on 2012 but shot in 2018.

It is hard to imagine a version of Avengers: Endgame which did not revisit the Battle of New York. At first, the conclusion of the Infinity Saga did not call for the trip to 2012. “First draft, we did not go back to Avengers 1,” McFeely said. “Which was a mistake.”

Old Man Cap Confirmed

In a tweet which has thus far managed to fly under the radar, Christopher Markus confirmed a major time travel theory which fans have been debating. According to the writers, Old Man Cap was at Peggy Carter’s funeral in Captain America: Civil War. 

This presents a bit of confusion for fans, still. The common theory seems to imply that Captain America’s time travel created a “branch reality,” as the Ancient One would call it, and has no impact on the main timeline which fans have been following. This means there was two Steve Rogers in the world throughout the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and everything else in between. 

Regardless of the headache created by the time travel argument, it was still fun to see Chris Evans suited up as Old Man Cap but showing off his NFL Combine skill set. 

The Soul Stone

Lots of chatter about the Soul Stone, one of the most theorized topics ahead of the movies releasing.

There was an idea for the Saga which saw Captain America returning the Soul Stone to Red Skull but it “didn’t make much sense” so they decided to leave Cap’s journey off-screen. As awkward as it would have been to see Cap come face to face with the villain of his first movie, it’s quite not as awkward as the idea of Steve Rogers literally being the Soul Stone, which Joe Russo revealed was actually an idea at one point.

There was almost another out of body experience for the Hulk in this movie — when he Snapped, he was going to go to the Soul World and there was going to be a conversation between Bruce Banner and the Hulk but it was squashed before making it to production. 

The Script

When actors said they didn’t know what was happening in the movie, such comments might have been more honest than wee thought. Not everyone had the same intel Mark Ruffalo did and the ability to spoil it was therefore stripped from them.

In the case of Emma Fuhrmann, merely part of a page was provided out of the hundreds of pages of script for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Fuhrmann joined the franchise as Cassie Lang, Ant-Man’s daughter, following the five-year time jump. “I literally showed up on set with no idea what the plot line was,” Fuhrmann said during the Quarantine Watch Party. “Everything was redacted except my scene!”

Natasha’s Funeral?

A common question for the writers and directors regards the fate of Black Widow. One of the original six Avengers on the big screen, Scarlett Johansson’s character sacrificed herself to provide her fellow heroes the opportunity to save the world. However, the Avengers being sad at their HQ and Hulk tossing a bench was about as close as it came to giving her a funeral.

McFeely fielded a fan question about why there was not more to honor Black Widow’s death in the movie. “We tried a few things,” he said. “We could never land on one that felt good enough (and that didn’t take you out of the moment in front of you).”

The Real Heroes

As the opening credits of Deadpool would dub them, the writers are “The Real Heroes Here.” Both Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeely appeared in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, one member of the duo appearing in each film.

In Endgame, Markus posed as a SHIELD Agent during Tony Stark and Steve Rogers’ journey to 1970. McFeely shared the photo of his writing partner above.

Of course, Markus had already shared a behind-the-scenes image of a monitor on set which captured McFeely sitting beside William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross in Avengers: Infinity War. 

Rage of Ultron

One commonly asked question was finally resolved on Sunday night! 

In the post-credits scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thanos was seen getting an Infinity Gauntlet but would go on to demand Eitri make him a Gauntlet. Why did he need a new one if he already had one? “I believe theree is an existing myth of a gauntlet that could unify the stones,” the writers explained. “Hence the fake one in Odin’s vault, and Thanos wearing this fashionable “practice gauntlet.” When he needed a real one, he went to Eitri. Who also provided a handy carrying case.”

The Gauntlet prop was quite massive and heavy.

And, just like that, the Infinity Gauntlet was a thing of the past.