In a competition between the DC and Marvel Comic Universe, Marvel has reigned supreme
in the last decade with projects on both the big and small screen.
With X-Men and The Avengers pulling their substantial weight in big budget films and
Netflix becoming the home of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Daredevil, and with even more
projects in development, it seems the Marvel Universe has become a ceaseless machine.
With so much interest in the Marvel Universe, there has been plenty of discussion of its
characters, plots, and potential crossovers but even with die-hard fans there are some
secrets that have mostly stayed hidden.
Here are 10 Marvel Cinematic Universe Secrets You Didn’t Know About.
If you like our list, let us know and don’t forget to subscribe to the Screen Rant channel.
Antman was going to be made long before the other Marvel films.
Iron Man was released in 2008 but before there was even a script for the billionaire genius
with the great one-liners, the studio was set to make a film about another smart guy,
Scott Lang, who has the ability to change his size for the sake of crime fighting.
Edgar Wright, the man who brought us Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World
had his own script ready to go.
It was a comedic heist film.
However, there were far too many delays and Marvel studios decided to change the script
to better fit within the cohesive universe causing the original script to fall by the
wayside and for audiences to wait until 2015 to see an Ant-Man film.
There was almost a Hulk origin story film.
After Edward Norton was signed on to play Bruce Banner for 2008’s The Incredible Hulk,
the actor took it upon himself to rewrite the existing script to give the depressed
scientist more of a backstory.
Norton attempted to convince the studio that a longer more detailed account of Hulk’s
origins would be a better story and would help give layers to the character in general.
Ultimately, the studio disagreed and preferred more action scenes rather than more character
driven drama.
One story element remained from Norton’s script, Banner’s attempted suicide appeared
in The Avengers.
There was no script when they filmed Iron Man.
When Marvel studios decided to make Iron Man in 2007, they prepared with production schedule
and casting but failed to provide the cast or the crew with a script.
According to Jeff Bridges, who played Obadiah Stane, when the actors arrived to shoot the
film, they were given an outline but no dialogue or further information.
The studio had rushed production to ensure a May 2008 release but didn’t worry themselves
with such necessary materials like a script.
The dialogue was largely improvised moments before the cameras began to roll.
Bridges stated that there were a few phone calls to writers for suggestions but the actors
had to come up with most of the interactions on their own.
Comic book writers were brought into the writer's rooms to ensure quality.
Marvel fans are loyal and most of them became fans long before their favorite characters
were in films.
Since there is so much importance placed on making sure a character is true to his or
her comic version of themselves, the studio created a group of comic writers along with
their film writers in the form of a brainstorming think-tank.
Unfortunately, that group was dismissed in 2015, so time will tell whether their dismissal
will negatively affect the Universe.
The president of Marvel Studio got his job for basically being a comic book nerd.
Kevin Feige started out as an executive producer on soap operas like The Guiding Light and
films You’ve Got Mail and Volcano.
In 2000, Feige was given the job as a producer for X-Men.
His impressive film fandom along with his extensive comic book knowledge, particularly
with Marvel comics, caught the attention of the studio who gave Feige his first major
gig with the company.
Seven years later, he was named president of Marvel Studios.
Wolverine almost had a cameo in the first Spider Man movie.
Crossovers and fun cameos after the closing credits have become a fixture of Marvel films
ever nice Nick Fury showed up at the end of Iron Man.
However, this tradition could have started years earlier, if the studio was more careful
with Wolverine’s wardrobe.
In 2002, while filming Spider Man, there was discussion of Wolverine having a cameo as
a way to tie-in the universe but there was an issue with locating Hugh Jackman’s costume
and the idea was scrapped.
What their scene would have entailed remains a mystery.
There are unused scripts waiting to be made, including another attempt at Blade.
Casual fans may not have realized that Blade, the half-vampire, half-human originally played
by Wesley Snipes in the 1998 film is based on a Marvel comic.
Along with a few other major players in the Marvel Universe waiting for their own big
movie, there is a fresh script for a new Blade film to be a part of the new revamped universe.
Just as Netflix’s Daredevil revitalized Matt Murdock after 2004’s big screen attempt,
Blade would also be given another go.
Wesley Snipes has shown interest in playing the titular character again, but there have
been no serious plans made by the studio.
One of the writers for Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t actually write any of it.
If you check out the credits for 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy, you may notice the name Nicole
Perlman along with the film’s director and writer James Gunn.
While it is common for a film to have multiple writers working on a script, this is a case
of one person getting a credit for no sensible reason.
It was Perlman who first came up with the idea of making a film but the final product
has nothing to do with her original script.
Perlman inspired Gunn to write his own script for Guardians and did just that.
Perlman’s credit remains almost as an appreciation for coming up with the idea to write a screenplay
for a film based on someone else’s comic book.
The passionate kiss after the credits for Thor: The Dark World was filmed with Chris
Hemsworth’s wife standing in for Natalie Portman.
There are some actors who are so busy, scheduling reshoots or additional footage can become
a problem.
Natalie Portman being an in-demand actress made it impossible for her to return to film
a short scene for the post-credit sequence of Thor: The Dark World.
For the final moment in which Thor returns to Earth and is greeted with a kiss from Jane
Foster, the filmmakers didn’t bother the Academy Award winner.
Rather than having Portman return, they simply put her wardrobe and a wig on Hemsworth's
real-life wife Elsa Pataky who happens to be an actress and the same size as Portman.
No one seemed to noticed this behind the scenes secret.
Jon Favreau helped make the Marvel Cinematic Universe but then mocked the entire process
with his own independent film.
Actor/writer and director Jon Favreau became part of the Marvel Universe as the director
of the first two Iron Man films.
For the third film, the studio went another way and after Favreau’s departure from the
massively budgeted films, he made his own indie film called Chef.
The plot of Chef is a thinly veiled mocking of how Marvel runs their studios.
Favreau’s character in the film plays a Chef for an upscale restaurant who is berated
by his corporate boss.
The boss forces his character to make foods he believes will be received well rather than
using Favreau’s character’s natural talents.
Of course, the food critics are not fond of this creation and give terrible reviews.
This causes Favreau’s character to quit the big impressive restaurant to start his
own food truck and do what he wants to do.
This move leads to freedom and success.
Along with shedding light on what occurred behind the scenes between Marvel and the director,
there are also Marvel cameos in Chef including Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson.
There you have it.
10 Marvel Cinematic Universe Secrets You Didn’t Know About.
Are there any more hidden tales of Marvel that we may have forgotten?
Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to share this video with friends and check
out more videos like this one on the Screen Rant channel.