Strap yourselves into your spacesuits, stop vacuuming those piles of ash that used to be your family members, and (if you're Thanos) clench your buttocks. We're in the endgame now, and it's time for the second part of our sprawling look at the lesser-known behind-the-scenes happenings of the MCU. (You can find Part 1 here.)
As the keeper of the Time Stone, Doctor Strange is all about fucking around with time. (Stan Lee's original name for the character was Doctor Time-Fucker: The Fucker of Time.)
So it's fitting that, as one moviegoer noticed, the inciting incident of Doctor Strange happens on the same day that a certain weatherman spent eons dealing with some time shenanigans of his own.
We're talking, of course, about Groundhog Day -- a movie that we refuse to recap here, because this is really something you should have watched already. The events of that movie take place, of course, on February 2. Which is the same day that Doctor Strange is involved in a terrible car accident that breaks his hands and results in him seeking out the wisdom of the mystics (for-realsies mystical wisdom, not the kind that your aunt's MLM is selling on Facebook).
When the teaser trailer for Thor: Ragnarok was released in 2017, the internet was shook by the gorgeous visual effects, its '80s vibe soundtrack and color scheme, and one of best lines ever delivered not just in a Thor movie, but in the MCU period.
Thor is trapped in the Grandmaster's arena when the Hulk bursts out, intent on beating the Asgardian snot from his body. Instead of begging for mercy, however, Thor screams in excitement and explains to the stunned crowd that "We know each other! He's a friend from work!"
However, that line wasn't written by the crack team of Marvel movie commandos responsible for Ragnarok. It was the invention of a child who was visiting the set with the Make-a-Wish Foundation. During the filming of the scene, he turned to Hemsworth and suggested the line with none of the fear that a mere mortal would've shown.
Now that it's OK to heap praise on James Gunn without killing our chances of getting a job at Disney, we need to talk about the way he created the soundtracks for the first two Guardians Of The Galaxy films.
According to Gunn, he stockpiles hundreds and hundreds of what he calls "Meredith Quill songs," and as he's writing the treatment (a plot summary which is done before writing the full screenplay), he'll go through his list to "find songs that fit a moment or a place that needs a song." Just to make things more complicated, this playlist can't include any songs written after Meredith Quill's (Star-Lord's mom) death in 1988.
When the time comes to pitch his soundtrack to Marvel, Gunn borrows a page from Meredith's book and burns the studio a copy of the playlist onto a CD so that they can listen to it as they're reading. It's a complex methodology for what many would consider a relatively unimportant part of the cinematic experience, but considering how the GOTG films are consistently praised for their soundtracks (as well as the fact that Marvel has yet to refuse a single song that Gunn suggests), it's clearly effort well-spent.
For nerds, Spider-Man: Homecoming was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it was the true induction of Spider-Man into the MCU, as well as a pretty good movie. On the other, every time we watch the scene in which Ned drops that Lego Death Star, we feel a type of existential pain previously unknown to theology and philosophy.
Columbia PicturesIt's also possible that we're just aghast at seeing 500 bucks smashed to bits.
Turns out there was a great deal of real-life pain involved with the making of that scene, too. The production went through seven of those models, all because the actor who plays Ned, Jacob Batalon, kept dropping them too early and ruining the shot. And if you're wondering why this would be so painful, given that a job building a Lego set for one of the funnest movies ever made sounds like a dream come true, consider that each model comprises over 4,000 pieces and can take up to a day to build. Throw in finger strain and the ever-present danger of accidentally stepping on a Lego while barefoot, and you've got yourself the recipe for the weirdest workers comp claim that Hollywood has ever seen.
As you'd expect, Captain Marvel is stacked with references to '90s pop culture, from Blockbuster to Nirvana to phone sex lines. As it turns out, though, there's also a subtle reference to that other mainstay of the '90s, Jim Carrey.
When Carol Danvers is having her memories probed by the Skrulls, the movie goes from being a gritty alien war movie to a trippy, vivid, time-bending dreamscape. This sequence, which the movie's makers called the "Mind-frak," was modeled after a similar scene from Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, the 2004 movie which saw Jim Carrey undergo a painful, disorientating procedure in order to have the memory of starring in Me, Myself & Irene removed.
There was also meant to be a second reference to Carrey immediately after Carol gravity-slams into that Blockbuster. In the final cut, Carol, understandably freaked at her surroundings and still in alien soldier mode, blows the head off the Arnold Schwarzenegger on a True Lies standee. However, in the script, Carol was meant to explode the head on a cutout advertising The Mask, on account of his resemblance to the Skrulls (and possibly her vaguely remembering having paid money to rent Once Bitten).
When someone leaves a job on pleasant terms, its tradition for their now-former co-workers to present them with a parting gift. Maybe some flowers or a mug, or if those co-workers are a little more extravagant, a freakin' personalized car. Wait, that's not a thing?
This beaut was gifted by RDJ to Chris Evans after filming wrapped on Infinity War. And, being a custom design, it came bundled with a ton of nerdy references to Evans' most famous comic book character: The Human Torch Captain America. The steering wheel, for instance, is modeled after Cap's shield, while a plaque in the car specifies the model as a "Steve Rogers Special Edition."
Jay Leno's GarageHopefully he skipped the part about freezing it solid for 70 years.
According to the people who made the car, the leather interior was also patterned after the leather jacket that Cap wore in The First Avenger, while the exterior color is a special green khaki blend known as "Melted Army Man Green" (which was also the same color used for Hulk's ass in Thor: Ragnorok).
One of the greatest ironies the Universe has ever delivered is that, of everyone who starred in Captain Marvel, the only person who couldn't stand to be next to Goose the Cat (literally) was Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larson.
She tried, she really did, but when taking a shitload of allergy tablets didn't work, the production had to get serious about separating the two. As a result, someone had to ensure that the two were continually apart when sharing a scene. And in instances where they had to have skin-to-fur contact, that someone was around to immediately (politely) shoo the cat away and decontaminate Larson.
This goes a long way toward explaining why Goose and Nick Fury are the true partnership in the movie. Although this means Captain Marvel's allergies ca(t)nonically kinda cost Fury his eye.
Everyone knows that in this day and age, anyone releasing a creative thing has to get (in no particular order) the Twitter handle, the Facebook page, and the URL in order to be valid. So it took a lot of people by surprise when after the first trailer for Endgame dropped, they visited avengersendgame.com and were greeted with ... a redirect to the website for Deadpool.
As it turns out, the domain had been quickly snapped up by a cheeky prankster, who then not only pledged his allegiance to the cause of 'Pool by doing the most Deadpool thing possible, but was also later rewarded for his efforts by Ryan Reynolds himself.
UPDATE:
Thanos started out Infinity War as the most powerful being in the Universe, and he only got stronger from there. As a result of this, Marvel had to spend a decent amount of time figuring out the rules and finer details of his powers -- if only because, if they didn't, they'd have to spend the next three decades fielding angry emails from nerds about how the Infinity Stones' powers don't make any sense.
One of the first rules that the team decided on, for instance, was that in order to use the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos had to make a fist. On the face of it, that's an odd thing to codify. but by doing so, it meant that the heroes now had a way of conceivably holding their own against Thanos. They don't have to kill him to prevent him; they just have to stop him from closing his hand. (And maybe duct tape Star-Lord to a chair.)
There was also a great deal of thought about how Thanos uses the Stones. Did you notice that when Thanos gets his hands on a new stone, he uses it immediately afterwards? That was a deliberate move on the part of the filmmakers, who wanted a way of communicating to the audience, in clear and uncertain terms, what each stone could do. Likewise, when Thanos throws a moon at Iron Man (and everyone else, because moons aren't precision projectiles) on Titan, the Infinity Gauntlet lights up with the precise recipe of powers that such a move would require: the Power Stone (to grab the moon) and the Space Stone (to pull/throw it).
And then there's The Snap. In the original draft of that scene, the VFX team created a sequence wherein all six Infinity Stones combined their powers to blip out half of the Universe. But that proved too messy a visual. In order to keep things simple, Marvel decided to assign responsibility to the Power Stone, which makes sense if you've watched Guardians Of The Galaxy.
Marvel Studios
Marvel StudiosOf course, after watching Spider-Man turn to dust, any clever visual callbacks are lost beneath an ocean of tears.
For more from Adam Wears, check out his Twitter or his newsletter about depressing history. He'd also like you to know that his friend Marina Reimann regularly streams video games! Check out her Twitter for more details!
For more, check out Why Captain America Is The Worst Avenger - After Hours:
Also, we'd love to know more about you and your interesting lives, dear readers. If you spend your days doing cool stuff, drop us a line at iDoCoolStuff at Cracked dot com, and maybe we can share your story with the entire internet.
Follow us on Facebook. Excelsior!
Adam Wears
54 Comments