Since the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans have mastered the art of patience by sitting through the entire credit sequence to see the highly talked about post-credit scene. In a tradition that began with Iron Man, Avengers: Endgame broke away from that precedent by not including a bonus scene setting up the next Marvel adventure. But that almost wasn’t the case.
Paul Bettany, who plays Vision in the MCU, recently revealed that the film almost had a post-credit scene setting up WandaVision.
“At one point I was going to be in a tag, where you opened a sort of body bag drawer and there was the Vision,” said Bettany. “Kevin kind of talked to me and said, ‘I’ve got to pull the shots.’ I was like, ‘Ugh!’ Because I really wanted that profit participation.”
Prior to learning about WandaVision, Bettany believed he only had a “10 to 15%” chance of returning after his character’s death in Avengers: Infinity War. In a meeting with Kevin Feige, Bettany went in expecting to be fired until he heard the pitch for the new series.
“So I walked in and said, ‘Kevin and Louis [D’Esposito, co-president of Marvel Studios], I love you. I totally get it. It’s been a great run and no hard feelings,” said Bettany. “And Kevin went, ‘Wait, are you quitting?’ And I went, ‘No, aren’t you firing me?’ And he went, ‘No, we were going to pitch you a TV show.'”
Directed by Matt Shakman, WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Kat Dennings, and Randall Park. New episodes are released every Friday on Disney+.
Feature image via teahub