“Avengers: Endgame” Writers Explain Why Marvel Studios Passed On “Iron Man 4”

2 minute read

By Riley Jones (@moviemanjones)

Have you ever wondered why Marvel Studios decided not to make Iron Man 4? Or why Steve Rogers left it all behind to be with Peggy Carter? Well, thanks to Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, screenwriters of such film as Avengers: Infinity War, Endgame, and The Winter Soldier (just to name a few), we now have some answers.

During a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Markus and McFeely opened up about what it was like to write these now-beloved films, why they believe Marvel Studios passed on making a fourth Iron Man movie, and why it was time for Tony Stark and Rogers to pass the torch:

When Civil War came out, we’d already finished the first draft of both Infinity War and Endgame. We got the job as we were prepping Civil War. So that meant that Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel, had hired me, Chris, and [directors] Joe and Anthony Russo simply based on The Winter Soldier, to do both the Avengers movies.

Source: Screenshot via Marvel Studios

McFeely went on to explain why Marvel passed on Iron Man 4, even though Iron Man 3 pulled in more $1.2 billion worldwide:

Whether you like all of the 24 movies or not, the capital that Marvel built up allowed them to do things like make a movie starring a raccoon and a tree, right? You would’ve already had Iron Man 4 if it was any other studio. But they decided, No, we’re going to take chances on all these other things. To put a flag in the ground and say, We’re going to end something and take characters off the table, is, I think, kind of daring, but selfishly it was really great for us.

Markus then went on to explain why Captain America leaving his shield behind to be with Peggy Carter and Iron Man’s tragic passing were so important to the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU):

It legitimizes the whole thing. If you just keep going until it peters out or you lose interest, it kind of decays backwards, making [people] think less of everything that came before. To have the opportunity to very deliberately tie all those threads together and have it add up to something and have it end, that’s what stories are about. That’s how you judge whether something was great or not. If at the end of The Great Gatsby, they got into a car and drove off and then we wondered what was going to happen next? We wouldn’t have remembered that.

Source: Screenshot via Marvel Studios

Would you have liked to see Marvel make Iron Man 4 or are you happy they moved on to focus on films like Guardians of the Galaxy? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Vanity Fair

Riley Jones (@moviemanjones)

Contributor

Riley is the Managing Editor of Goliath. When he's not at the movie theatre or binging some new tv series, he likes to spend his time shooting hoops and play MTG. He doesn't like 'Breaking Bad,' loves 'The Simpsons,' hates mayonnaise, and has been repping the Toronto Raptors since '95. Follow him on IG and Twitter @moviemanjones.