It is fairly exceptional listening to this in hindsight. It is easy for us to think about the MCU now as a well-crafted, fastidiously deliberate behemoth that has generated billions on the field workplace. But it is clear that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, in these early days, merely had concepts of the place this all may go. At first, there was no fully-formed grand plan like there’s now. That “Avengers” tease may have simply been a throwaway joke if “Captain America: The First Avengers” and “Thor” did not hit on the field workplace too.

Bendis additionally shared a few of the different attainable traces that he supplied director Jon Favreau and the parents at Marvel, together with “Put down your armor,” “Welcome to the Avengers,” and “I am right here to close you down. You are accomplished. There is no Iron Man.” Bendis, it appears, actually was simply throwing stuff on the wall to see what would stick. The author additionally had this to say concerning the expertise:

“It wasn’t regular, the place you’ve got an project and them going, ‘We’d like Nick Fury to get him to the Avengers.’ That’s not what they mentioned. They mentioned, ‘Nick Fury is exhibiting up. What ought to he say?'”

Thankfully, Bendis supplied one fairly nice possibility that helped tee up the ball for what would change into “The Avengers” in 2012. From that time on, the remainder is really cinematic historical past.