Captain Marvel Footage Was Shot for Avengers: Age of Ultron

By now most are aware that Marvel Studios is finally developing its first female-led superhero movie, Captain Marvel. The film is slated for release on November 2, 2018, and last night we learned that Marvel has hired Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Meg LeFauve (Inside Out) to pen the script. But we were very close to getting our first look at Captain Marvel in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Like, “footage was shot” close.

Rumors have been swirling for a couple of years that Captain Marvel would have a cameo in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Now that the finished film has screened, it’s been confirmed that while she was in an early draft of the script, she isn’t in the film after all. Speaking with Badass Digest, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige explained why Captain Marvel was taken out of the script:

“[Captain Marvel] was in a draft. But to me, it would have done that character a disservice, to meet her fully formed, in a costume and part of the Avengers already when 99% of the audience would go, ‘Who is that?’ It’s just not the way we’ve done it before.”

captain-marvel-comic-cover — Image via Marvel Comics

Feige went on to explain that teasing Thanos at the end of The Avengers works because he’s clearly a bad guy, but Marvel didn’t want to treat a title character that way. Characters that will lead their own films deserve more lengthy introductions.

However, Marvel Studios came very close to debuting Captain Marvel in cameo fashion. Feige went on to reveal that FX footage was shot with the intention of using them as plates for Captain Marvel (a minor spoiler for Age of Ultron follows):

“The way we reveal Scarlet Witch [in costume] at the end of the movie? Those were Captain Marvel plate shots. Joss said, ‘We’ll cast her later!’ And I said, ‘Yeah Joss, we’ll cast her later.’ [Whispers to an invisible associate who isn't Joss] ‘We’re not putting her in there!’”

Not only is this some fascinating insight into a “What Could Have Been” for Age of Ultron, but it also confirms that Marvel movies are very, very fluid. Sure, Feige and Co. have big over-arching plans, but they’re also open to alterations and changes throughout production and post-production.

With writers finally being hired for the Captain Marvel films, I imagine it won’t be long before we hear word on the director front for the picture. But given the decision to nix her cameo in Age of Ultron, it seems unlikely we’ll see Captain Marvel before 2018.