Carrie Coon didn’t return to Avengers: Endgame over Marvel pay dispute

Coon first played villain Proxima Midnight in 2018’s ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ but didn’t return for 2019 film

The reason why Carrie Coon didn’t return to Avengers: Endgame was due to a salary dispite, her husband Tracy Letts has said.

Coon first played villain Proxima Midnight in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, in which her character was killed off. However, she was still offered the chance to return for the 2019 sequel, but she ultimately turned down the offer.

Speaking in a recent episode of The Ringer’s The Big Picture podcast, Letts said that Marvel didn’t offer Coon a higher fee for the follow-up film, which is why she said no.

“I believe [Marvel] went to her for the second one, and they asked her to be in the second one,” said Letts. “And she said, ‘Well, the first one is the most successful movie ever made. Are you going to pay me any more money?’ And they said, ‘No. We're not going to pay you any more money.’”

“She said, ‘Wow, you're not going to pay me any more money, then I don't think I'm going to do it,’” Letts continued. “And they said, ‘Well, you should feel yourself fortunate to be part of the Marvel Universe.’ So she declined.”

In 2020, Coon previously said she declined the part due to a scheduling conflict, but said she wouldn’t rule out future projects.

“No one ever dies. It's very possible I could have my own Avengers movie next," she joked. "But I wouldn't hold your breath,” she told PeopleTV's Couch Surfing.

While The White Lotus actor didn’t appear in Endgame, her voice was used uncredited in the film.

Carrie Coon played Proxima Midnight in 2018’s ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (Getty Images)

“We would've made a bigger deal out of this,” Letts said. “But it would have involved us watching the movies, and we weren't going to do that.”

The Independent has contacted Marvel and Coon for comment.

Speaking about how she won the role in 2018, Coon said: “I got a voice-over audition; it was not specified what the project was. They were being very secretive about it, but I was given some of the lines that did end up being in the film.

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"[The Russos] were excited about the possibility of me actually physicalising the character as well, and they invited me to come down to Atlanta. I was pregnant and doing a play at the time, so I flew down and was on set with them for about 12 hours.”

(Getty Images)

She added: “They were just looking for the voice of Proxima Midnight, and [they reached out] perhaps because they were interested in my voice or maybe because I've actually done motion-capture work previously. I used to do motion-capture work for video games, back in Madison, Wisconsin.”

“I was an athlete in college, and so it was very physical work that I enjoyed tremendously, and I had such a ball working on it."

Coon and Letts met in 2010 while starring in the Broadway production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? They got married three years later before welcoming their first child, Haskell, in 2018. They also welcomed a daughter in 2021, but have yet to share her name publicly.