10 Times The MCU Broke The Fourth Wall
4. Natalie Portman And Gwyneth Paltrow Weren't Invited - Avengers: Age Of Ultron
For a film that boasted arguably the most star-studded line up the MCU had thrown into a big budget feature to date, the absence of two notable characters in particular during Age of Ultron was still undoubtedly noticeable and even more so thanks to a scene clearly designed to placate those scratching their heads in the audience.
On the back of taking on starring roles in both Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, neither Gwyneth Paltrow or Natalie Portman were brought in for the second Avengers ensemble flick. Paltrow went on record to state that "nobody's asked me" when nudged on the matter around the time. And Portman seemed to be quite publicly done with the franchise altogether in the wake of Patty Jenkins' departure from Dark World as director.
In order to gloss over the no-shows in the aforementioned Avenger flick then, when asked where their love interests are at a team party, Tony Stark and Thor get competitive over how well their partners are doing in their chosen fields.
Simply put, Marvel were fully aware you knew why these two household names were absent at this point in the series and decided to make their absences canon to keep you from blasting the studio for outright ignoring them altogether.