Samuel L Jackson is one of the longest standing members of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Gwyneth Paltrow had no idea.
Despite starring in several of the same films as him, Paltrow didn’t realise he had been in any Marvel releases right up until she shot a scene with him in Avengers: Endgame.
Speaking to Empire during a live Q&A, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige reflected on the scene that saw almost every single character unite for the funeral of a main character (no spoilers here).
He explained that the scene was shot in October 2017 – ahead of the release of Infinity War – with many actors unaware that several other A-listers had signed up to appear in future films.
“Tom Holland [was] coming up to me, saying, ‘Is that Michelle Pfeiffer? What is happening?’” Feige said, before adding: Gwyneth Paltrow [was] asking why Sam Jackson was there, and the other actors [were] jumping in saying, ‘What are you talking about? He’s Nick Fury! You’ve been in movies with him.’ But it was really something special.’”
Paltrow, who has appeared in seven Marvel films, including the Iron Man trilogy and three Avengers films, recently admitted she didn’t know she was in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
During the Q&A, Feige also detailed a scrapped Avengers: Endgame scene that would have been extremely traumatic for kids.
While in Comic-Con, where the Studios announced its full plans for Phase Four, Feige revealed which Avenger could have single-handedly taken down Thanos if he had no back up from his army.
You can find a rundown of the 10 biggest Comic-Con announcements – including Natalie Portman’s promotion to female superhero alongside Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and the announcement of a new Blade film starring Mahershala Ali – here.
Avengers: Endgame will be out on Blu-ray on 2 September – and you can see our ranking of every character, from worst to best, here.
