Now that Captain America: The Winter Soldier has finally hit theaters worldwide, the folks from Crave Online have unveiled their spoiler-heavy chat with Marvel Studios president of the production Kevin Feige. (Again, major spoiler warning!) Asked when and how the idea came about to have S.H.I.E.L.D. meet its end in the Captain America sequel, Feige said that Chris Evans was one of the first people he pitched it to on The Avengers' final day of filming. “We thought it would be fun to change the dynamic for The Avengers, so that the safety net – if you can call it that – of a giant government organization with massive resources, of which they were just sort of the front, or the A-Team at the head of that organization… take all that away," he explained. "So when they come together in the next movie it’s just them.” When Tony Stark is suggested as the one who will assemble the superhero team once again, Feige teased, “Did you notice the very brief glimpse of Stark Tower in [Winter Soldier]? It looks different; there’s a big A on it now.”
Another major reference made in Captain America: The Winter Soldier is Doctor Stephen Strange, who is mentioned by name as one of the targets of Project Insight. When asked if it implies that the Sorcerer Supreme is active somewhere in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Feige teased: “Well, we know what it means and where we want to head with it, but we were comfortable with keeping it in there and leaving it in there because there are a few different ways to interpret it. The whole thing, what Sitwell’s saying is, this algorithm is going to predict if you’re going to become a problem for Hydra or not. So you don’t have to just be Tony Stark, actively plotting to save the world. You could be a kid whose SAT scores and whose essays have indicated that you’re going to be a problem one day. So is Stephen Strange the Sorcerer Supreme? Probably not at that point. Is he an unbelievably talented neurosurgeon who’s opinionated and kind of arrogant? Probably. That might put him on the list.”
Another big mystery is the whereabouts of archer Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, who not only had strong ties to Black Widow in The Avengers, but he is also a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. “We will discover, later, the answers to that question,” assured Kevin Feige. “But it really came down to how many players can you have on the field at this time? We really wanted to bring in Falcon, we really wanted to team [Captain America] up with Black Widow, we really wanted Fury to have more of a part than he’s ever had in any of the other movies before. We wanted, ever so briefly, to introduce Sharon Carter. And we had a fun place for Maria Hill to be involved. So we didn’t want to just have, “Hey, I’m Hawkeye! Hey, I’m Iron Man!” We want to avoid the brief cameos of the week.” He continued, “Not every character from every movie is going to be in Age of Ultron, for sure. But Joss [Whedon] is excited and, for the characters you haven’t seen since the first Avengers – like Hawkeye, like Hulk – there’s a reason for that, and that gets showcased quite prominently in Age of Ultron.”
Lastly, the Marvel producer was asked about Captain America: The Winter Soldier's mid-credits tesaer, which introduced Age of Ultron's Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Baron von Strucker, and reintroduced Loki's staff from The Avengers. Whether the cosmic weapon really is an Infinity Gem, or just speculation, Kevin Feige explained: “Well, it’s certainly pure speculation at this point. I’m not even sure if we even recognize Loki’s scepter [as an Infinity Stone], but that’s a big hint as to what will be causing them trouble in the next movie.” For the full interview, where the Marvel producer discusses Black Widow's backstory and more, head to Crave Online. What do you think?