Avengers: Endgame packs more surprise cameos than any other superhero movie to date, and Marvel Studios did just about all in their power to prevent the filmgoing public from knowing who to expect beforehand. The spoiler security measures in place for the Avengers: Infinity War sequel were so intense, in fact, that one of the film’s cast members reportedly didn’t know she was in the movie until she was sat down in the cinema.
Before Anthony and Joe Russo co-directed their first Marvel pic, the two of them worked together on NBC’s Community, which explains how so many of the show’s cast members have made cameos in the Russo Brothers’ films. The trend started with an appearance from Danny Pudi in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, followed by a cameo from Jim Rash in Civil War. More recently, both Ken Jeong and Yvette Nicole Brown featured in Endgame, which was a surprise to many viewers, not least Brown herself.
In an interview with CNN, Brown recalled shooting a scene in an elevator featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans. At the time, however, she thought that the scene was meant for last year’s Infinity War, though when she saw that she wasn’t in the movie, Brown apparently took the news pretty well.
“I just said, ‘Well, it was nice. It’s the thought that counts.’ And I forgot about it.”
It was only when she made the trip to see Endgame that she realized the scene had been saved for the Infinity War sequel.
“I’m sitting there with a group in my seat like ‘This is going to be it. Oh my God, it’s an elevator! It’s me!’ I’m just sitting there, biting the inside of my jaw. I was so freaking excited, I can’t even tell you. So frigging excited! My friends were, too.”
Adding to the excitement, Brown recalled how none of her friends had been warned in advance that she’d even shot a scene for a Marvel movie:
“I kept that secret for two years. That NDA was iron-clad. I really needed my left foot, so I never told anybody.”
Of course, Brown is now perfectly at liberty to discuss her cameo, and while the actress seemed pretty happy with how things turned out, she did admit to having one regret:
“I didn’t even come to the premiere. I didn’t know I was in it! I could’ve come!”
It seems there was a price to pay for all the secrecy surrounding Avengers: Endgame, but if you’d care to revisit the year’s most cameo-stuffed blockbuster, the film is now available on Blu-Ray and Digital.