Now that Avengers: Endgame has been released, Marvel Studios is much more open about its secrets and creative process from the first eleven years of filmmaking. Visual effects frames are being shared, questions about the films are being answered, and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was nice enough to chat with fans over Reddit.
Sadly, one of the things Feige revealed was that the late and great Stan Lee never got the chance to see the final cut of Endgame before he passed away.
Image via Forbes
“Stan loved to wait to see the final movie at the premiere, so unfortunately he did not get to see the finished movie,” Feige explains. “Stan got a download of the full story the day he came and shot his cameo.”
It’s sad enough that Stan didn’t get to celebrate Marvel’s success and Endgame’s overwhelmingly positive reception, but the fact that he didn’t get to witness the conclusion of the Infinity Saga’s eleven-year build-up is legitimately heartbreaking. However (AVENGERS SPOILER INCOMING), just as Wanda assures Clint at the end of Endgame that their fallen loved ones know that they succeeded, Lee undoubtedly knows that Marvel succeeded as well. (Are you crying yet?)
Image via People
And while it’s unknown if Stan Lee had shot any cameos meant for any other movies beyond Endgame, until anything more is confirmed, his final MCU words were, “Make love, not war.”
Avengers: Endgame not only gave us an epic end to the Infinity saga, but it also closed the book on several characters’ storylines, paving the way for a new generation of Marvel superheroes to lead the MCU in a new direction
WARNING: MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: ENDGAME
After Iron Man saved the universe by using Thanos’ infinity gauntlet against him, Captain America went back in time to place the infinity stones back in their rightful place in the current timeline. But rather than come back to the present, Steve Rogers stayed in the past to be with his lover Peggy Carter. He then passed on the mantle of Captain America to his friend Sam Wilson.
Despite closing out his storyline, Steve Rogers might still have some story left to tell in the MCU.
As part of the new Disney+ streaming service, a television series centered on Loki, Thor’s half-brother played by Tom Hiddleston, is in development. How a Loki series would work after his death in Infinity War was a mystery until now.
In an interview with Business Insider, directors Joe and Anthony Russo explained that a loose end for Endgame could lead to a new plot for the upcoming series. When traveling back in time to 2012 (during the events of the first Avengers film), the heroes accidentally let past Loki escape with one of the Infinity Stones they were trying to recover. According to the Russo brothers, this would create a new timeline that Captain America would have to rectify during his mission.
“Loki, when he teleports away with the Time Stone, would create his own timeline. It gets very complicated, but it would be impossible for [Cap] to rectify the timeline unless he found Loki. The minute that Loki does something as dramatic as take the Space Stone, he creates a branched reality.”
Of course, this is just speculation and it hasn’t been confirmed, but it would be amazing to see Chris Evans in the MCU one last time.
A few weeks ago, Disney announced their upcoming slate of films post-Fox merger. This included a new Star Wars trilogy and the rescheduling of the long-delayed Avatar sequels. Since the announcement, there has been no word on who will lead this new saga of films. Today, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed who it will be.
Speaking at the MoffetNathanson Media and Communications Summit, Iger confirmed that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the showrunners for Game of Thrones, will be writing the new trilogy of films.
Image Via Metro
“We did a deal with David Benioff and D.B Weiss, who are famous for Game of Thrones, and the next movie that we release will be theirs,” Iger said. “And we’re not saying anything more about that.”
Though their involvement with Lucasfilm was announced last year, this is the first confirmation we’ve had about when their films will come out.
The announcement that Benioff and Weiss are leading the new saga of Star Wars films is a little awkward considering the timing. Game of Thrones is in its final season, with the series finale airing this Sunday. As the season has progressed, the quality of the writing has declined, with the last few episodes being viewed as the worst in the series’ history. The rushed narrative, sudden shifts in character development and treatment of female characters has drawn the ire of both critics and fans alike. Don’t believe it? Just look at the like/dislike ratio for the latest “Inside The Episode” video where Benioff and Weiss talk about “The Bells”:
With no information about what this new saga will be about, we’ll just have to wait and see what Benioff and Weiss come up with. Hopefully, it’ll be better than this latest crop of GOT episodes.
Avengers: Endgame has smashed box office records since its debut, and hasn’t stopped since. One of the film’s most significant accomplishments was passing $2 billion in global box office revenue in two short weeks. It now joins the same high-earning club as Avengers: Infinity War, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Titanic, and Avatar.
Image Via VR & fUN
James Cameron directed these latter two films, previously the two highest-grossing movies of all time. When Endgame crossed the $2 billion mark, it broke Cameron’s monopoly on the top two spots to become the second-highest-grossing film of all time. It is now less than 500 million away from surpassing Avatar to become the highest-grossing film of all time. Even if its doesn’t hit that mark, there’s no reason to downplay the massive success the film has already achieved: Titanic, released in 1997, had maintained its record for two decades before Avengers: Endgame. While Avataris a more recent film, its earnings are impressive… but, of course,Avengers: Endgame already beat its opening weekend.
After passing Titanic, James Cameron tweeted his congratulations to Marvel Studios on the success of the film:
Image Via Twitter
This isn’t the first time studios congratulated others on a successful weekend. Star Wars did the same with Marvel Studios when Infinity War broke the record back in 2015.
Cecil Castellucci is incredibly talented— known for writing comics, novels, lyrics, and plays. Currently on a comic book writing roll, she will soon release her memoir as a graphic novel.
Image via LA Review of Books
While many of us dream of being novelists, graphic novelists, playwrights, or lyricists, Castellucci has done all four!
For a long time I thought that I had to choose one. I even had people in my life say to me, you have to choose a direction. But after a while, I realized that they were all the same thing. They were all different modes of telling a story. I always felt a little jealous that visual artists could choose the tool, pencil, pastel, water color, oils, ink, etc, to draw their picture. But it struck me at some point in my thirties that a song, a comic, a play, a movie, a novel, a libretto are also tools. And whichever one you use to tell your story colors the way that it’s told.
-Cecil Castellucci, Publisher’s Weekly, 2019
For Castellucci, writing is “the spark that can billow out into any other art form. It’s the big bang.” Castellucci’s writing career began back in the 90s, when she was the singer and songwriter for the indie pop/rock band Nerdy Girl. As indicated by the name, the band created music for nerds with a particular love for Star Wars. Their full biography can be read here.
Here one of the band’s first songs written by Castellucci, expressing her obsession with the galactic adventure saga.
After her band, Cecil Castellucci moved on to writing young adult novels, a number of them earning her awards on top of being on New York Times bestselling list. Two of her most famous novels are Tin Star and its sequel Stone In The Sky.
Images via Square Space
As reflected in her music, her passion for the Star Wars films was what sparked her desire to write. In an interview with Publishers Weekly, Castellucci shares the story of how she realized her dream career.
Seeing Star Wars was an inciting moment for me. When I (SPOILER!) saw that Darth Vader had spun away from the Death Star and hadn’t died, I knew that the story could continue. I wanted it to continue and I understood that someone would be tasked with the writing of that story. I wanted to be that person.
As a child she dreamed, now as an adult she achieved her dream, and then some! After striking a deal with Disney, Castellucci was given the amazing opportunity to truly live her dream and to add to the universe of Star Wars. This opportunity was the illustrated novel Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure.
Image via Amazon
Castellucci has also done work with the publisher DC comics and has entered the world of the Opera playwright as well. Some of her work includes DC’s Shade: The Changing Woman and the comic book opera, Les Aventures De Madame Merveille. With Cecil Castellucci’s philosophy of writing being the “big bang” for everything art related, it’s a thrill to wonder what is the next storytelling art form she will conquer next.
Also, for anyone interested in reading her graphic novel biography, its titled Girl On Film, and it will be released November this year.
Image via Forbes
