Doctor Doom holds court.
The closer we get to the next Avengers movie, the first of yet another duology, the more strange the decisions at Marvel Studios and the film’s directors get. People liked a character that we killed off or replaced? Bring back a different version, or have the actor play a new role. Reshoots and things hitting the cutting room floor, though now that’s virtual since so much is done digitally instead of with film, but this latest bit of news, while not too strange on its own, follows previous creative decisions that just doesn’t make a lot of creative sense. I’m a writer, not a filmmaker, but I still get the impression that I understand storytelling and planning better than the professionals.
The latest word came from Haley Atwell, who plays Peggy Carter in the MCU projects. As compiled by The Direct, Atwell already had concerns about whether or not her happily ever after with Steve Rogers was worth building a story around, and now her scenes may well be cut altogether. Except those scenes are already filmed, and apparently multiple storylines that have been filmed may also be dropped, making me wonder if they had ANY plans going into this movie. In fact, history kind of shows that they really don’t, and despite the leaked plot that looks more and more to be accurate, it might be the only plan they had in mind. Again, deleted scenes are nothing new, but when you have a whole other movie left in the editor you have to wonder how these guys got to be “professional” in the first place. Not all of this is on the shoulders of the Russo Brothers. Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios producers, and even Disney itself has to take the blame. I don’t care WHO screwed up. I’m an end product reviewer and commentator, and so far the end product isn’t looking too stable.
There are fans that would have set that Avengers: Endgame would have been the best place to stop a shared continuity the creators no longer seem to care about maintaining. I’ve seen fans saying the shared universe is dead, but if it were competently done like in comics, various TV franchises like NCIS and Law & Order, and in some cases an entire network lineup that on occasion crosses into another network (look up the St. Elsewhere snowglobe theory, ignore the end result, and see what ended up connected by it), it could totally work. Disney wanted to force viewers to watch everything so they get the money, so the allusions to other movies and shows have required homework, when in the past I didn’t need to see the Thor movie for the first The Avengers to get me to understand the whole tesseract thing. They told me what I need to know about the knockoff Cosmic Cube and relationships between various characters, then just told the story. I still haven’t seen any of the Thor movies because I was never into those comics, so the movies weren’t going to be any more interesting to me personally whether they were good or not.
Killing off Robert Downey Junior’s Tony Stark was an end to his character arc, the man who was a selfish putz in the first movie having grown in subsequent Iron Man and Avenger films, and even his Spider-Man appearances as younger Peter’s mentor. Bringing him back is a gimmick on its own, but making him Doctor Doom misunderstands what we liked. This isn’t surprising, as they refused to cast T’Challa, and yet replaced General Ross’s actor for the same reason: the last one died. Actors are more important to the Hollywood mindset than the characters, which is one of the reasons they’ve been failing. Actors used to not chase celebrity but acting, performing for audiences, entertaining them and each other, and getting to work with people they enjoy or roles that would be fun for them to make. That’s why adaptation errors lie with the writers, the director, and in some cases the casting office. Downey was actually perfect for Tony Stark, though he did get a bit more snarky (“Tony Snark”?) compared to his comic counterpart. Nobody minded because the role and writing until Iron Man 3 was considered pretty good.
He whom the internet has dubbed Captain Shirtpants.
In order to make the new movie work, a new version of Avengers: Endgame came out with changed scenes. The only one I know for sure is Loki showing up and convincing Steve and Peggy to leave their Earth because Steve staying behind messed with the sacred timeline and other stuff that happened in Loki’s streaming show you only know about if you watched that show or, like me who doesn’t have Disney+, saw the reviews. It was already a controversial decision because, while giving Steve a happy send-off, the move was seen as not fitting Captain America. He could stay here and be helpful or go there and just give up to get his happily ever after rather than the relationship he was in, which they ended. Yeah, you could say Steve dating his ex-love’s descendant was odd, but it worked. Peggy wasn’t in the comics, while Sharon was supposed to be a SHIELD agent rather than a waitress in a diner. The worst part is rewatching Endgame through the eyes of people who have disliked to hated every move the MCU has made since has caused a reassessment of the film, and the other flaws have become more prominent even in the original version.
Meanwhile, the previously linked to article mentions that Atwell is already concerned about what’s happening to her character.
Peggy Carter star Hayley Atwell revealed that some of the material she shot for Avengers: Doomsday will not make it into the movie. Atwell called the movie “so epic” and “so extraordinary” but explained that there were “different storylines,” some of which were used and “some dropped away.” However, it was all done with the hope to find “the thing that makes the most sense for those characters:”
“I think with this, though, there is such meticulous care for delighting the fans that I really feel that the studio knows exactly what it’s doing for the sake of really delighting and satisfying the expectation and going beyond it. So [‘Doomsday’] comes out in December, [and] it’s so epic, it’s so extraordinary, the level of ambition and scope that they had for it, that I knew that whatever we were trying — and we tried different things, we shot different things, there were different storylines, some picked up, some developed, some dropped away. It really is with the intention of finding the thing that makes the most sense for those characters, but also for what role they play in this part of the world.”
That’s professional courtesy, but the article also mentions other concerns she brought up. The Playlist, which their article quotes, isn’t dropping as much spin. Atwell apparently had problems with Carter’s appearances, including her Multiverse Of Madness appearance based on her What If… animated anthology appearance
And yes, she’s famous for playing Peggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and famously starred in the short-lived spin-off series, “Agent Carter.” But Atwell’s seemingly always been slightly frustrated with her Marvel role, grateful for having the opportunity to play Peggy Carter, but let down a little by the series and some of her underwhelming appearances throughout the MCU. Some thought her multiverse cameo in “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness,” where she got to play Captain Carter, the multiverse version of Captain America, also featured in the animated “What If…?” might have finally fulfilled her. Still, in a recent episode of Josh Horowitz’s podcast Happy Sad Confused [linked to in the Playlist article–SWT], Atwell admitted—perhaps because she is so protective of the character—that her ‘Madness’ appearance also frustrated her because, while the character made a triumphant live-screen debut, she was killed off almost instantly.
“I’m like, ‘That wasn’t my choice!’” Atwell told Happy Sad Confused (listen and watch below). “When she was like, ‘I could do this all day,’ and then followed by she’s immediately cut in half by a [her shield]. And the audience being like, ‘She can’t do it all day. Apparently, you can’t, so, egg on your face.’ That doesn’t really serve Peggy very well.”
“I felt like I had much more to do in the What If…? animation series,” she continued, a character that will likely appear more in season two of the series. “I mean, any actor will tell you, to be able to go into a booth in effectively your pajamas and do an animation is great fun because you’re focused on the voice as the instrument and your main performative tool.” By contrast, “it felt like a frustrating moment in ‘Strange.’”
And now her scenes may well be cut. From a different Playlist article quoted by The Direct:
On an upcoming episode of The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast to discuss her new MGM+ series “Treasure Island,” Hayley Atwell addressed Marvel’s decision to revisit Steve and Peggy’s story. As we previously reported, and spoiler alert, I guess, the recent rerelease, “Avengers: Endgame Encore,” features a new scene in which Loki (Tom Hiddleston) shows up at the couple’s door, seemingly putting their hard-earned domestic bliss in question.
Given how neatly “Endgame” wrapped up their relationship, host Mike DeAngelo wondered whether Atwell had any reservations about Marvel reopening that chapter.
“Well, it’s a sensitive conversation because I don’t know much. I don’t know what to say or be allowed to reveal,” Atwell admitted. “But I think that in one thing, I feel — it’s very rare as an actor to have a character sort of sit beside you for so many years.”
Wait, she’s Captain Carter? Not even Captain Britain?
And yet look at what has been revealed about the process. They’ve filmed without a finalized script, changed things on the fly, given actors only their scenes, and sometimes their lines only as they weren’t in the same room with the other actor (which must have made cinematography a pain). Even the actors don’t know who they’re taking to or why, so that has to affect performances. That’s not security, that’s poor planning. And it would be useless security given the leaks we’ve gotten.
That affection comes with a certain frustration. While trade stories have reported Peggy would return as Captain Carter in “Doomsday, Atwell’s comments suggest she still hasn’t had the opportunity to explore that more action-oriented version of the character in live action. She previously lamented Captain Carter’s gruesome fate in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” calling the experience “frustrating.” The animated “What If…?” series remains Peggy’s most substantial superhero showcase. Still, what she told us still sounded unfulfilled.
“I’ve said publicly that any time I’ve been asked to come back or speculation of me coming back, of wanting to in some way do something new and evolve her more,” Atwell said. “And I love the fact that in ‘What If…’ it was an animation, but we saw her doing so much more than I’d gotten to do in a practical sense in the live action.”
“And I hope that that’s something that if the fans want it specifically, that there is a calling for that to happen at some point. I’d be willing to have that conversation for sure.”
If you read both articles she’s trying to remain professional and encourage people to see it, but it doesn’t sound like the Russos don’t know what they even want to do, or didn’t when they started. And this movie is as important to them, considering some recent flops of theirs and only being here because Downey insisted on it as part of his very expensive comeback, as it is to Marvel Studios specifically and Disney in general given both of them have failed to draw in audiences due to whole other discussion topics. The short version is they don’t care about the comics or their fanbase yet somehow still believe the Brands alone will bring them in, ignorant of what fans like about the Marvel heroes. One final oddity from The Direct:
There is even a chance that multiple versions of Peggy could be seen in this movie: the version from the end of Endgame, and another who may be an acolyte of Doctor Doom (if the rumors are true). No matter how the details work out, seeing her and Steve together is sure to bring plenty of nostalgia while also expanding the possibilities of what the multiverse will offer in the MCU’s biggest Avengers movie ever.
That’s if any of those ideas survive. The question is whether or not the Secret Wars duology, inspired by the 2000s version that didn’t hit with fans nearly as much as the original namesake (what else is new?), will survive. It sounds like the same cluster that has basically ruined the concept of the multiverse, which as I’ve noted in the past can be done right. Marvel Studios and the MCU haven’t done that. And all of these extra shoots beyond the usual reshoots movies deal with helps balloon the costs of the movie, requiring more people going to theaters to make their money back. Between the price of the movie experience, the lockdowns showing the advantages of waiting for the inevitable streaming version, and the movies often not being worth the trouble to be in the loop when scene-by-scene reviews fill in the wait time for basic conversation starters, there is increasingly little reason to waste the time, put up with rude movie goers, or sit through something whose recent history hasn’t been that great. Reassessment or not, a lot of people are happy to stop the MCU at Endgame. Watching other movie continuities get wiped out, gimmicks involving characters in the wrong role, and we didn’t even have room to get into the Captain America nonsense beyond Peggy Carter, isn’t changing that opinion. So far it’s not looking good for this movie because they don’t seem to have a set plan.
