Kevin Feige and Joss Whedon weren’t exactly on the same wavelength during Avengers: Age of Ultron, and their biggest tug-of-war ended up being over Captain Marvel. Whedon was all set to sneak her into the final seconds of the movie. Feige wasn’t feeling it.
Fun fact; Captain Marvel was originally supposed to appear at the very end of ‘AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON’ to hint at a new character being introduced into the MCU
The writer, Joss Whedon, wanted to include her and wrote the scene where she would appear with the rest of the… pic.twitter.com/fyCTasno2o
To Feige, dropping a brand-new hero into the frame with zero setup felt more confusing than exciting. And just like that, Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel’s first MCU moment went from “epic reveal” to “fun fact you hear years later.”
A Captain Marvel Tease Was Actually Shot for Age of Ultron
Whedon had introduced characters like Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver in Age of Ultron. Captain Marvel joining that lineup? It would have been epic for his film.
The plan was simple: when Captain America turns to the new recruits in the Avengers Compound and starts his iconic, cut-off “Avengers…” line, Carol Danvers would be standing there among the fresh faces. The only catch? She hadn’t even been cast yet. So they filmed it anyway, using a stand-in just to see how it would look.
But Feige wasn’t convinced. His worry was that audiences would wonder why this mysterious woman, who gets about ten seconds of screen time, suddenly pops up with zero context. In his view, that wasn’t the way to introduce one of Marvel’s most powerful heroes. So the footage was quietly dropped.
Instead, the movie ended with Cap and Black Widow prepping the new lineup. We saw Hulk disappear into the unknown. Thor flew off to track down the Infinity Stones. It left the MCU in an intriguing place. But it was not quite the place Whedon originally pictured.
When Carol Danvers finally arrived years later, she did it properly. In hindsight, the slower buildup worked. But that almost-cameo remains one of the more surprising “what ifs” from Marvel’s Phase Two.
Joss Whedon Later Shared That Quicksilver’s Survival Scene Was Also Filmed
Carol wasn’t the only thing Whedon fought for. He also filmed an alternate path for Quicksilver. As fans know, the speedster sacrifices himself in Sokovia. He jumps in front of a spray of bullets meant for Hawkeye. It’s a dramatic, emotional moment. But it wasn’t the only version Marvel had ready.
According to Whedon, he shot a backup where Quicksilver survives. He even joked (via Indie Wire),
The only thing that would keep you alive is if the Disney executives say, ‘Idiot, it’s a franchise and we need all these people and you’re not allowed to kill them.’
They even filmed him fully suited up in the final Avengers facility scene, standing with his sister Wanda as if nothing had happened. Another take showed him waking up dramatically, as Whedon put it, from “these 47 bullet wounds.”
But in the end, Marvel stuck with the original choice. Whedon admitted that while alternate versions existed, the intent was always to stand by the sacrifice. He said,
We did actually shoot him in the last scene, in an outfit with his sister. And we did shoot him waking up from his, ‘Ahh! I didn’t really die from these 47 bullet wounds!’ but the intent was always that we were going to earn this and then you have to stand by it.
Two characters, two alternate MCU timelines. One was cut for the clarity of the movie, the other to add emotional weight.
Do you think Captain Marvel’s cameo would’ve worked if they had kept it in the movie? Let us know in the comments.
