There’s a scene in Avengers: Infinity War, not long after Thanos has acquired the Reality Stone, wherein Josh Brolin’s Mad Titan discovers the whereabouts of the elusive Soul Stone – much to the horror of Gamora, who is forced to accompany her estranged step-father all the way to Vormir, a far-flung planet where it’s revealed that Red Skull (!) is keeper of the Soul Stone, a concentrated ingot that’s supposedly more powerful than the last five stones combined.
Yes, Hugo Weaving’s deranged Nazi returns for Infinity War to oversee what is arguably the sequel’s most gut-wrenching moment. There’s just one problem: that’s not Hugo Weaving, as Marvel instead chose to cast The Walking Dead‘s Ross Marquand as the ghost of MCU past.
News that Avengers: Infinity War overlooked Hugo Weaving should come as no surprise, particularly when you dig through the archives to discover that the former Matrix actor was never too keen on returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the first place.
Granted, it’s not Christopher Eccleston levels of disdain, but this archived Collider interview is concrete proof that, while Hugo Weaving signed a multi-picture deal, he had no desire to reprise his role post-The First Avenger.
They might for The Avengers, but I didn’t think I’d be in Captain America 2 or 3. I don’t think Red Skull will be there. And it’s not something I would want to do again. I’m glad I did it. I did sign up for a number of pictures and I suppose, contractually, I would be obliged to, if they forced me to, but they wouldn’t want to force someone to do it, if they didn’t want to.
So, there you have it; Infinity War‘s most shocking cameo involved a slight change of plans so that Ross Marquand could fill the boots once occupied by Hugo Weaving. It’s a little disappointing, of course, given the sheer amount of gravitas that Weaving brought to the character back in 2011, but this is a fun piece of MCU-related trivia nevertheless.
Published: Apr 27, 2018 11:26 am