WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame, in theaters now.
Avengers: Endgame brought back just about everyone from the previous Marvel Cinematic Universe movies for the final stand against Thanos. In fact, the film even brought back one television character in James D'Arcy's Edwin Jarvis. However, the heroes from the now-canceled Marvel Netflix series never showed up for the fight.
While speaking with the New York Times, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely explained why the decision was made to not bring Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist or The Punisher into the fold.
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"We would have to introduce these five characters — or whatever many," McFeely said. "We already are assuming people have seen a lot of the movies. Are we really going to assume they have bought a subscription to Netflix and watched those shows enough so that when they see them, they’re going to go 'yay?'"
Marvel fans have long debated the connection between Marvel's movie world and that of its television properties. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is perhaps the most connected, as evidenced by the aftermath of Captain America: Winter Soldier spilling into the show, but Marvel's Netflix series mostly just offered lip service. That being said, the Endgame team felt mainstream fans might not know enough about these characters to introduce them into a major blockbuster.
Markus also added that the entire idea of bringing in the Marvel Netflix characters "screws up the timelines," noting you would have to assume they were all snapped away. Otherwise, why wouldn't they have shown up in Infinity War?
Instead, all fans got was Agent Carter's Jarvis, and there wasn't even room for the Inhumans in the war against Thanos. And, for what it's worth, Markus added there was no way to bring in the X-Men or Fantastic Four since production on the film predated Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Don Cheadle as War Machine, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Danai Gurira as Okoye and Bradley Cooper as Rocket, with Gwyneth Paltrow Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong as Wong, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie and Josh Brolin as Thanos. The film is now in theaters.