Despite being a key story for everything that happened in the following meetings between the Avengers, and that is important in the comics, it did not seem to convince them that it did not take place in the current era
Today the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become the leader of the great film franchises due to the enormous amount of income they generate with each installment of each stage. His characters managed to transcend with their own stories and their meetings, and although some are more popular than others, the moment in which their worlds interconnect has become one of the points that fans enjoy the most.
However, the path of each film has had its own degree of difficulty facing different obstacles from the moment in which important decisions had to be made. It is not only about writing a story, presenting it and making it, but it must go through different looks so that an agreement is reached on whether it will work or not. In the case of Captain America: The First Avenger – 79% , which would be the introduction of the hero into the MCU telling his origin story, there were several aspects that Marvel Studios advisers saw as a risk.
The main one was that it took place in the middle of World War II, something that sounds quite strange considering that it is essential to talk about the character’s origin story, his ideology, his morals and even the reason why he fights in the future, otherwise, it would be meaningless. Although it seemed that it was a concern for political issues, in reality the fear was that it would not appeal to young audiences.
All this information comes from the book recently published by Abrams Books, The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe , where the path of Captain America is recounted in order to tell his origin story. According to what is reported, the study advisers were concerned that it was somehow a period film that young people (the target audience) would not want to see. Of course, Kevin Feige fought with everything in his power to convince them by reminding them that The Raiders of the Lost Ark – 95% was proof that they were wrong.
Realizing that they would not stop thinking about the commercial potential of the film, the president of Marvel Studios devised a strategy to get attention without having to get rid of that historical context, and everything lay in the use of special weapons and the presence of motorcycle chases. Below, you can read Feige’s statement in the book by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry .
“I thought, ‘Red Skull, you can use the Tesseract to craft all these cool, advanced weapons and vehicles.’ So it’s a WWII movie, but you have these upgraded motorcycles and tanks and Hydra soldiers firing blue energy that has never been seen before. I remember getting in my car and saying, ‘This is how we can do it.”
The success of the franchise has shown that whoever is at the helm has been a great strategist for more than ten years because, despite the setbacks, his evident triumph at the global box office is still valid. In addition, this book in particular is making it clear that when Kevin Feige has something in his sights he fights to achieve it, such as the agreement with Sony Pictures to share the rights to Spider-Man.
It must be remembered that after the introduction of Steve Rogers, the stories developed in the past as Captain Marvel were re-experimented with –60% , which is contextualized in the 90s, and Black Widow – 87% that, it is true that it takes place in a modern era, but in the middle of what happened between Avengers: Infinity War – 79% and Avengers: Endgame – 95% .