Lots of New Details About the ‘Avengers 4’ Reshoots
Avengers 4 reshoots are currently in high-gear over at Marvel Studios, and with it comes a flood of information about the story of the closing chapter of one part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s long-term story.
Mantis May Team Up With Okoye And Captain Marvel
Mantis actress Pom Klementieff recently spoke to Paper about #MeToo, and in doing so may have hinted at an unexpected team-up:
“It’s scary and it’s beautiful, too. I remember Brie Larsen coming to me and Danai Gurira on the set of The Avengers and she told me about the [Time’s Up] letter to sign and I found it really amazing to have all these women — and men too — together in fighting for a better world. Things need to change so it’s great that we women are united and speaking out now.”
Bear in mind that appearing on the set does not necessarily indicate that you’re filming the same scene on that day, so just because Klementieff met with Gurira and Larsen doesn’t mean that they filmed something on that day. Still, it’s worth considering the possibility.
Set Photos Have Ant-Man Meet With Captain America And Black Widow
Something we can seem to prove, however, is that Captain America, Black Widow, and Ant-Man all appear in one location, albeit out of costume. Just Jared managed to get their hands on a bunch of set photos showing all three of them on one set. (We won’t share them here, but feel free to check out that link.)
Also worth noting is that the actor who portrayed Ebony Maw in Infinity War is seen here wearing mo-cap gear, lending credence to the idea that messing around with time and reality could play a role in this story. Furthermore, this also tells us something else of note…
Yep, That Promotional Art Was Accurate
Since we have Captain America clean-shaven and Black Widow is back to having long, red hair like she did before she went on the run, this bit of promotional art looks pretty accurate.
Captain Marvel Plays A Huge Part…
This piece isn’t necessarily tied to the reshoots in particular so much as Entertainment Weekly‘s ongoing coverage of Captain Marvel, but they talked with Marvel Studios mogul Kevin Feige, and he did say that the Captain herself has a pretty big part to play in this story:
“She is more powerful than any character we’ve introduced thus far, so that alone tells you that there’s a reason Nick hit that button at the end [of Avengers: Infinity War], when he realized that they were up against something far bigger than they had ever been up against before. And having her on your side is hopefully going to change the balance of power in a way that they desperately need.”
Thanos was basically able to tank most of what the Avengers and Guardians threw at him and he bodied basically every character, so having someone who can punch at his weight is something that should help our heroes significantly this time around. Feige has noted that Captain Marvel will be the face of the setting after Avengers 4, so leaving an impression between this movie and her first standalone is something that absolutely needs to count.
…As Does Hawkeye
Joe and Anthony Russo, who directed Avengers: Infinity War and are helming the sequel, repeatedly stated that they had a long-term plan with Hawkeye as an explanation for why he wasn’t in the ad campaign for Infinity War. We would later find out that, barring a single mention of his whereabouts, the character would sit the crossover out. However, we know that he’ll be in Avengers 4 and it’s been suggested that he’ll have a big role to play to make up for his absence, with his new outfit and general appearance suggesting he’ll be going by the alias Ronin this time around.
Howard Stark Appears Somehow
That Hashtag Show recently broke this one: Iron Man’s father, Howard Stark, will be making an appearance in some fashion – specifically, the older version as portrayed by John Slattery. Stark and his wife died in what was framed as a car accident, but was actually a HYDRA assassination carried out by the brainwashed Winter Soldier. Captain America knew about this and didn’t tell Tony to protect his friend (who had since overcome his brainwashing), which fractured their friendship and the Avengers as a whole.
Slattery is said to share scenes with Robert Downey Jr., which again points to time-travel and general reality-warping shenanigans being involved. A big part of Tony’s character arc stems from his daddy issues, and Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Avengers: Infinity War all feature a story arc of Tony becoming a father figure to Peter Parker, and his death is something that weighs heavily on his mind going into Avengers 4. So what would happen if Tony and Howard somehow meet again after all these years, now that Tony’s been in his old man’s shoes?
Spider-Man Might Visit Wakanda
Recent cast listings from Project Casting revealed that Marvel had a casting call for stand-ins and extras on September 6. The requests specifically called for African-American women with shaved heads and 5’6″ white men, which would specifically match up with the profiles of the Dora Milaje and Peter Parker respectively. Since Wakanda is said to play a large part in Avengers 4, it’s more likely that Spidey will be there instead of them coming to visit New York City. (Or on the planet Titan, for that matter, but we all know that he’s not going to spend the entire movie as ashes on an alien planet.)
The Reshoots Will Complete Avengers 4
Here’s something of interest from Mark Ruffalo when he talked with The Marvelists Podcast (via The Playlist) – the movie didn’t completely finish filming its story at the end of principal photography:
“Well we’re doing reshoots starting in September. And then we’ll go back into the international tour, we’ll go on tour… Then you guys will get [Avengers 4]. Which we don’t even know what it’s gonna be yet. We’re not just doing reshoots, we’re going to finish the movie, which we really didn’t get to finish totally when we left it last year.”
Ruffalo later extrapolated on these comments in the same podcast:
“Some of [the decision making process regarding plot] is happening while we’re there. It’s pretty amazing. And we’ll shoot some stuff and a few days later come back and reshoot it cause we wanna take it in another direction. It’s a very living organism, even as we approach it being a locked picture, we’re still working on it.”
From the sound of things, reshoots will be extensive. Knowing Marvel’s track record, the reshoots do not appear to be for the purposes of a studio trying to desperately fix a troubled production, but to make the movie the best it can possibly be and to make sure that the continuity on the movie is incredibly tight.
Avengers 4 will be released on May 3, 2019.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
