As the first year of the latest Phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes to a close, it's easy to forget just how much has changed since the days when Tony Stark declared that he was Iron Man. An interconnected universe, especially in a film franchise, was a pipe dream back in 2008. Yet, the MCU emerges as one of the biggest box office and streaming draws the world over with the highly anticipated Spider-Man: No Way Home released in December. Yet, the MCU could have looked totally different, once upon a time.
From an alternate post-credits scene making its way to audiences to cameos that could have brought mutants to the MCU as early as 2011, there are plenty of moments over the decade-plus long history of the franchise that could have changed everything.
After the credits are done on the first MCU film, Iron Man, audiences are introduced to Nick Fury. He says to Tony that he wants to talk to him about the Avengers Initiative. This post-credits sting is the first major moment that led to the creation of their interlocking franchise. However, it could have played out much differently.
In an alternate scene released online to market the then-upcoming Infinity Saga box set, Fury had a drastically different line. "As if gamma accidents, radioactive bug bites, and assorted mutants weren't enough", he says to Tony. This implies that at one time, Feige anticipated Iron Man fitting in the same universe as Fox's X-Men franchise and Sony's Spider-Man films.
Marvel Studios used to be so interested in studio crossovers, especially when it came to The Hulk. The Incredible Hulk is an interesting yet continually overlooked installment in the MCU. It's a miracle that Universal allowed Marvel Studios to make it MCU canon, honestly.
Sony was still interested in making Spider-Man 4 with Sam Raimi during the time that Universal went into production on the only MCU solo Hulk film. At the time, Marvel was keen to have Tobey be the Spider-Man of the MCU. Instead of Columbia University, according to MTV, director Louis Leterrier wanted the university Banner visits to be Empire State University, where Peter Parker goes to school in the Raimi films.
Marvel Studios had regained the rights to Punisher and Ghost Rider fairly early in their history and were eager to get new movies out. In 2008, Punisher: War Zone was released under the Marvel Knights branch of Marvel Studios. Named for the edgier side of the Marvel comics, Marvel Knights would have been the home of the darker Marvel Studios, and potentially MCU, films.
It's not a given that Punisher: War Zone or Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance would have been incorporated into the MCU had they done well at the box office, but considering that they were Marvel Studios-produced films, it's a pretty safe bet to assume. The films, however, didn't do well. Luckily, fans didn't have to take long before Marvel Entertainment brought them to TV with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and The Punisher.
"We have considered everything," said the Russo Brothers when asked if they considered including the Netflix heroes, commonly known as The Defenders, to the final Avengers Infinity Saga films (per Collider). Fans have been eagerly anticipating if Marvel Studios would ever acknowledge the fan-favorite characters that debuted on Netflix.
In Phase 4, it looks inevitable that they will show up in some capacity. In Phase 3, however, fans weren't sure. According to the filmmakers, the only reason why they weren't included was due to not wanting to coordinate with the TV producers of the Netflix shows.
It seems Kevin Feige was confident some version of Spider-Man would make it to the Avengers eventually. The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man both came out in the same year and featured prominent towers in the New York Skyline.
According to the producers of The Amazing Spider-Man, Avi Arad and Matthew Tolmach, Marvel and Sony were "this close" to including Oscorp Tower in The Avengers (per IGN). If this had happened, then Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man would have potentially been introduced in a future MCU film. As a consequence, Tom Holland would never have been cast in the role.
The new Marvel Studios were still figuring things out in those early days of Phase 1. The filmmakers seemed pretty confident that any Marvel character, no matter the franchise, was fair game. To Marvel, setting Captain America: The First Avenger in World War II meant they could include other Marvel characters from that time, namely Wolverine and Magneto.
Early scripts for the Captain America origin film included cameos from the fan-favorite mutants, with the intention that Hugh Jackman would reprise his role. At the time, Fox was more interested in getting X-Men: First Class off the ground and didn't even want to negotiate. It's taken a long time, but mutants should appear in the MCU at some point in the future. It's interesting to think about how the X-Men films would have gone if they were already part of the MCU.
Hope Van Dyne wasn't introduced until after Avengers: Age of Ultron and wouldn't become the superhero The Wasp until 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp. At one time, however, The Wasp was considered for a spot on the original six Avengers all the back in 2012.
For some reason, it didn't look like Scarlett Johansson was interested in reprising her Iron Man 2 role so, director Joss Whedon wrote in Janet Van Dyne, the original Wasp. "I wrote a draft of The Avengers that was about The Wasp", he told Digital Spy. If this had happened, then Edgar Wright's long-delayed Ant-Man movie might have come out quicker.
At the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America, and Black Widow look out at their new Avengers team of Falcon, War Machine, Vision, and Scarlet Witch. But at one point, instead of Scarlet Witch, Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel was going to fly in. It was so close to happening that the CGI they use for Scarlet Witch's entrance was meant for Captain Marvel.
It's unclear why Joss Whedon felt introducing this character at the end of his second Avengers movie was a good idea. However, Feige and the other producers felt that this entrance didn't serve anything for the movie or the character. Captain Marvel might have still gotten a solo film if they had kept this scene. Her power levels in Captain America: Civil War would have made for a drastically different battle.
Loki is one of, if not the most iconic villains, in the MCU and he's seemingly died, more times than any other. He doesn't officially meet his end until the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War when Thanos does the god of mischief in. How much of Thor's story would have changed if he had died earlier?
Loki's end almost came during Thor: The Dark World. In the script, Loki died saving Thor and Jane and that would be the end of his arc. But audiences didn't take to that ending for the character and the ending was rewritten to show that he has taken over Odin's place. Thor: Ragnarok would have been a very different movie if this death had stuck.
The iconic "I am Iron Man" line spoken by Tony Stark at the end of Iron Man set the MCU on a unique path from other Superhero films. Feige considers it the moment that they were freed from the constraints of the secret identity. But that line almost didn't happen.
Initially, Robert Downy Jr. was meant to deny that he was Iron Man and convince the room full of reporters and that would be that. On the day, RDJ said, "I am Iron Man." After considering it for a moment, the filmmakers all decided to keep it in the movie. If he hadn't decided to improve the line, the MCU would have started on a very different path.
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