When you look at the top-grossing movies of all time, half of the top ten are Marvel movies. Avenger’s Endgame surpassed Avatar, taking the top spot at $2.79 billion. The Marvel comic books and their characters inspire all the Marvel movies. Comic book fans are always finding Easter eggs hidden amongst the films.
On top of that, the films feature many secret moments of foreshadowing and references to other movies in the franchise. Here are some fun facts that you might not know about your favorite Marvel movies.
1. Chris Evans initially said no to the role of Captain America a total of three times. The considerable commitment wasn’t what he was looking for at the time, but Marvel persisted. They eventually agreed on a contract for 6 movies, down from the 9 the studio wanted initially. Cash Lady ranks all the superhero movies, including all Marvel films, and breaks down where in the world they are most popular.
2. Chris Pratt had to lose 60lbs within 6 months for his role as Peter Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy. Men’s Journal talks all about his transformation and his workouts.
3. Vin Diesel, who voiced Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy, recorded his infamous line, “I am Groot”, in many different languages so they could use it in every version of the film. Some of the languages include German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, and Russian.
4. Since Tom Holland had revealed so many secrets from Spiderman: Homecoming, they wouldn’t allow him to read the script for Avengers: Infinity War. Mark Ruffalo was also given a fake script on account of his accidental Instagram live stream at the Thor: Ragnarok premiere.
5. Black Panther was the first superhero movie ever nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. It also has the second-most nominations of any superhero movie in total, only surpassed by The Dark Knight.
6. Each day, it took between 3 and 5 hours to transform Dave Bautista into his character Drax for Guardians of the Galaxy.
7. The height difference between Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman was so extreme that they had to use ramps during the filming of the kissing scenes in Thor: The Dark World. For any static shots, they had platforms that she could stand on.
8. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers makes a list of everything he needs to catch up on from his 70 years being frozen. The original list featured North American references, such as Nirvana, I Love Lucy, and Disco. When the movie was released in other countries, the list was changed to be more relevant, such as featuring the 1966 World Cup Final in the UK version.
9. Jarvis, Tony Stark’s AI assistant, is uploaded into Vision’s body during Avengers: Age of Ultron. What many don’t know is what Jarvis stands for, which is Just A Rather Very Intelligent System.
10. In every film of Phase 2, someone loses a hand. From Groot losing an arm in Guardians of the Galaxy to Bucky Barnes shown losing his arm not once, but twice, in two separate movies. It was done intentionally by Kevin Feige as a tribute to Star Wars: Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back.
11. While Wakanda is a fictional, utopian country created for the smash hit Black Panther, not many people know the real-life landscape, which provided the Marvel universe with the perfect filming location. Perhaps unsurprisingly, aerial shots taken of South Africa, Zambia, and Uganda are used for most the landscape, with Mountain Rwenzori and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Southwest Uganda the perfect location in particular. But more surprising is where the iconic warrior falls scene was shot. The scene, which sees King of Wakanda T’Challa go up against would-be usurper Erik Killmonger in a fierce duel, was shot in Argentina, the Iguazu Falls to be exact.