Earlier this week, we brought you guys a breakdown of new
Avengers: Endgame details from the latest issue of Empire Magazine (see below). One of the key takeaways was that the Russos want to market the movie as secretly as possible, and they confessed that an early idea was to show absolutely nothing from it prior to release.
That would have been a very interesting approach to marketing arguably one of the biggest movies of all-time, but a lot of outlets have been running stories this week claiming that the filmmakers have admitted to using shots in the trailers that won't be used in the final cut of the movie.
While it's definitely possible that will be the case (it certainly was for
Avengers: Infinity War), I've read and re-read the Empire Magazine feature and nowhere in that do Joe or Anthony even allude to this.
Why is this important? Well, because of these type of articles there's been a lot of speculation that everything from Ronin's costume to the white Quantum Realm suits are fake and, honestly, that's ridiculous. Again, I'm not entirely sure why their words have been twisted like this, but you can read what they really said below.
In related news, this week's Entertainment Weekly cover story is Veep so it seems like we'll be waiting a little bit longer before seeing anything new from Avengers: Endgame courtesy of the publication.
There Was Very Nearly Zero Marketing
So far, we've had two posters, two trailers, and one TV spot for
Avengers: Endgame. That's not quite enough for some but it's by no means a bad haul for such a secretive movie. But, did Marvel Studios consider doing no marketing whatsoever for the
Avengers: Infinity War sequel?
"We did," Joe Russo confirms.
"We talked about all scales of marketing."
"The thing that's most important to us is that we preserve the surprise of the narrative," he continues.
"When I was a kid and saw The Empire Strikes Back at 11am on the day it opened, and sat there until 10pm watching it back to back to back, it so profoundly moved me because I didn't know a damn thing about the story I was going to watch. We're trying to replicate that experience."
Does Kevin Feige Regret Those Deaths?
Infinity War obviously wraps up with characters like Star-Lord, Spider-Man, and Black Panther all turning to dust after the Mad Titan snapped his fingers and unleashed the power of the Infinity Stones, but does Feige regret such a bold storytelling decision?
"I was a hundred percent confident in that ending," he says,
"until about the Monday before release. Then I started to get really nervous. It was like, 'Wait a minute: what have we done?' For years, leading up to the release of that ending, people were going, 'These movies are predictable. The good guy always wins.'"
"And for years I was thinking, 'Just wait.'"
The Snap Was Nearly Saved For Avengers: Endgame
"We had so much story in those early drafts of Infinity War that, if anything, we thought we maybe shouldn't do The Snap until the end of act one of Endgame," says McFeely. Feige, meanwhile, confirms that adapting that moment from the comics was always a priority:
"We talked about that ending for years and years and years. It was the reason to adapt Infinity Gauntlet."
"What was the most shocking thing we could do?" he asks.
"End the movie with The Snap."
As for whether or not he thinks the cliffhanger ending is a bad thing, Feige adds:
"I understand why people would use that word, but it comes to an end, and that end is, Thanos wins."
What Makes Endgame Different To Infinity War
The Russos point out that the movie's ending leaves them in a position where they had to say,
"Alright, we have no idea how the story can move forward from here. We've just killed half the characters" according to Joe.
McFeely, meanwhile, notes that after telling the previous movie from Thanos' perspective, the biggest change here is that there's a much narrower focus on Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
"Infinity War had 23 people on the poster," he says.
"That dictated a certain type of pace and a certain type of movie."
"There's only, what, nine people on the poster for Endgame? So maybe you can do a different type of storytelling."
What Comes Next?
"The jumping off point for [Endgame] is the question, 'How do you move forward when you've lost like this?'" Anthony says.
"What is the way forward from that kind of experience?'"
According to McFeely, Thor is
"not blaming anybody but himself" and he
"does have a lot of guilt" for failing to deliver the killing blow to the Mad Titan the last time they crossed paths.
"I don't want to say it's a laugh riot," the writer notes when asked about the first act.
"It comes from a darker place."
Why The Heroes Didn't Just Vanish
In the comic books, when Thanos snaps his fingers, half of the universe just vanishes. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, they turned to ash. Now, Feige has elaborated on why that change was made and who exactly came up with it.
"Dan DeLeeuw, our visual effects supervisor, and our visual effects team, came up with the ash effect. We didn't want people to simply disappear, and people think they had been teleported somewhere. It needed to seem much more permanent than that." Looking back, it's fair to say that Marvel made the right decision in this regard.
Test Screening Reactions
Remember that feeling you were left with after watching Earth's Mightiest Heroes perish? Well, those same reactions were what Infinity War received during test screenings as well.
"When we do test screenings, you can judge the authenticity of reactions based on when the applause starts," Feige reveals.
"Here, there was nothing. Nothing. Silence. The best reactions after were like, 'I hated it, but I loved it.' 'I hated it, but I understand why it had to happen.'"
Feige also reveals that it was always the plan to kill off some big names as Spider-Man's demise was
"filmed on the first or second day of what would be an almost two-year process."
Endgame Will Feature An "Epic Narrative"
After Feige jokingly said that
Avengers: Endgame will be three hours of Steve Rogers in a support group meeting, Anthony Russo more seriously states that we can expect an
"epic narrative" and McFeely promises that
"It's just the most. It's just the biggest."
That's hardly a surprise, and it's clear this movie will take us to some unexpected places.
This Movie Will Change The MCU Forever
"We are in different territory, possibly than anyone's ever been in before in terms of a movie series," Markus says in regards to how
Endgame will impact the rest of this shared world.
"The MCU continues to exist. Who happens to be in it is fluid and evolving things where, because it's all connected, you can't reboot one. All the parts have to work together. Things continue, but like life, losses are real, and change is real."
As for why we've heard very little about what comes next, Feige adds:
"It's not even just about spoilers. It's about keeping the focus on what we're working on."
Focusing On The Original Six
"He's been our guy since we started at Marvel," Markus says in regards to Captain America.
"He's the barometer for the team. You go look for Captain America and if he's still fighting, you keep fighting. But if he's sitting on his butt in the dirt, saying, 'Oh God,' that really, really means you lost."
"People would point out that that Cap wasn't in Infinity War a whole lot," adds Feige.
"And Iron Man didn't really speak for that last half hour because of what was going on. But those characters, and all of the original six, are very much the focus of Endgame in a very personal and emotional way."