Long before Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus helped turn Earth’s Mightiest Heroes against one another, the screenwriting duo helped carve out an origins story for Marvel’s First Avenger in 2011’s Captain America.
At the time, the cinematic juggernaut now known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe was still in an embryonic state, and during a recent interview regarding Captain America: Civil War, both McFeely and Markus spoke to Cinema Blend about the ways in which the MCU has evolved in that half-decade.
First up, McFeely zeroed in on Marvel’s confidence, and how that has grown exponentially soon after the Avengers broke box office records left, right, and center back in 2012.
When we first started, they were maybe a more nervous studio. Any movie that bombed would really destroy them, so there were a lot of hands on deck on that first Captain America movie. And as we’ve gone along I think everyone trusts each other more, so that we bring a lot more to the table with every subsequent movie. I think it’s fair to say.
As Phase Two became Three, there were some internal changeovers to factor into the mix, chief among them being the move that resulted in Marvel’s head honcho Kevin Feige reporting to Alan Horn instead of Marvel CEO, Ike Perlmutter. But at least on the ground level, that switcheroo hasn’t necessarily changed the day-to-day lives of McFeely or Markus.
Now that there’s a bit of a split between… there was a change in how the structure of the company works, that has not affected us in our daily life, but I assume it’s kind of like much easier. At no point are we doing notes or drafts that we don’t all believe in. Sometimes we would have to kind of do some things to get to the next step of the line, to move a project along – even if we were mild on the idea. But now we’re all of the same mind for sure.
Captain America: Civil War is out in theaters now and already Marvel’s blockbuster has stormed to international success. Next up on the MCU calling card is Doctor Strange, Scott Derrickson’s mystical origins tale that’s booked in for November 2016.
