Remember Marvel’s “One-Shot” bonus shorts? They used to be included in the home release of Marvel movies, and gave us things like post-Avengers weirdness, the best of pre-Agents of SHIELD Coulson, as well as our first look at Agent Carter. Marvel stopped doing them, but it looks like they might be returning to the idea.
In an extensive interview with Forbes, the Russo brothers (who directed the upcoming Captain America: Civil War, and will direct Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 and 2) teased that while the shorts’ days as bonus features on Marvel’s home releases are well and truly over, they’re considering bringing the idea back for Infinity War‘s marketing:
We have gone through a little bit of a transition with that content, We can’t go into too many details about this but we are thinking, very specifically, about to do new ways of what you are talking about with Avengers: Infinity War. We’re just in the beginning phases of figuring them out. Yes, DVDs are gone but there is this wonderful internet platform out there called YouTube.
They also go on to mention “elaborate” versions of trailers featuring footage especially shot for them, as well native viral content on social media platforms like Twitter or Instagram. (Can’t wait for an episode of Agents of SHIELD delivered entirely through Vine!)
While it’s nice to see that there’s at least the possibility of these shorts coming back for Infinity War… I’m going to be a bit cynical for a moment and assume that this will be how the non-movie side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is integrated into Infinity War. It’d be the easiest way to connect the TV shows without having to actually let the likes of Coulson or Jessica Jones appear in the films.
Besides, this is very much in line with what we’ve heard about the distinctly lopsided relationship between Marvel movies and Marvel’s TV and Netflix output. And the Russos have said in the past just how difficult it is to tie those two sides together.
Let’s hope that’s not the case, though, and these bonuses are more about fleshing out the story of Infinity War rather than being the tool that keeps these two disparate sections of the MCU separate.