Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely

Christopher Markus (born January 2, 1970) and Stephen McFeely (born February 24, 1970) are American screenwriters and producers. McFeely and Markus were the second and the third most successful screenwriters of all time in terms of U.S. box office receipts with a shared total gross of over $3.1 billion.[1] However, in overall, they are the highest grossing screenwriters altogether in terms of worldwide box office with the total gross of $9.3 billion.[2][3]

Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Markus and McFeely in 2019
BornMarkus:
(1970-01-02) January 2, 1970
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
McFeely:
(1970-02-24) February 24, 1970
Walnut Creek, California, U.S.
Alma materMarkus: Rutgers University
McFeely: University of Notre Dame
Both: University of California, Davis
Occupations
  • Screenwriters
  • producers
Years active2004–present
SpouseMarkus:
Claire Saunders
​
(m. 2012)​

They gained worldwide recognition for their works that include The Chronicles of Narnia film franchise and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), having written the first three Captain America films (The First Avenger, The Winter Soldier and Civil War), in addition to Thor: The Dark World, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame,[4] which is currently the second highest-grossing film of all time unadjusted for inflation. They also created ABC's Agent Carter TV series, set in the MCU.

Life and career

Christopher Markus

Markus was born on January 2, 1970,[5] in Buffalo, New York.[6] He is the son of Budapest, Hungary-born physician Dr. Gabor Markus and registered nurse Rosemary Golebiewski Markus. He has two siblings, sisters Jennifer and Elizabeth.[7] Markus earned a B.A. in creative writing from Rutgers University in 1991.[6] His father is Jewish while his mother is Catholic.[8] As of April 2012, Markus is married to Claire Saunders.[7]

Stephen McFeely

McFeely was born on February 24, 1970,[9] in Walnut Creek, California,[5] and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.[10] He earned a B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1991.[10]

Collaborators

Markus and McFeely met on the graduate program for creative writing at the University of California, Davis in 1994 and they were inspired to become novelists. "We couldn't see how we could make [book] writing our full-time day job," McFeely said in 2011, and they turned to screenwriting instead. After earning their master's degrees in 1996, they moved to Los Angeles to pursue that career, working at such jobs as receptionist at movie production companies. After acquiring an agent, they became professional screenwriters in 1998 with an eventually unproduced script about a real-life Los Angeles murder.[11] Interest generated from the purchased script led HBO Films to commission them to write a biographical drama about actor Peter Sellers.[5] For The Life and Death of Peter Sellers in 2004, they won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special.[12] Subsequent work on The Chronicles of Narnia film franchise set them up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[13]

They wrote 2022's The Gray Man starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans and future projects include The Electric State starring Millie Bobby Brown.[14]

Filmography

Film writers

Year Title Director Notes
2004 The Life and Death of Peter Sellers Stephen Hopkins
2005 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Andrew Adamson
2007 You Kill Me John Dahl
2008 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Andrew Adamson
2010 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Michael Apted
2011 Captain America: The First Avenger Joe Johnston
2013 Pain & Gain Michael Bay
Thor: The Dark World Alan Taylor
2014 Captain America: The Winter Soldier Anthony and Joe Russo Also credited as "SHIELD Interrogators"
Guardians of the Galaxy James Gunn Script polish only
2016 Captain America: Civil War Anthony and Joe Russo
2018 Avengers: Infinity War Also credited as "Secretary Ross' Aide"
(Stephen McFeely only)
2019 Avengers: Endgame Also co-producers
2022 The Gray Man Also executive producers
2024 The Electric State Filming

Television

Year Title Writers Producers Creators Notes
1999-2000 Good vs Evil Yes No No Episode "M Is for Morlock"
2015-2016 Agent Carter Yes Yes Yes

References
  1. "Box Office Mojo - People Index". Boxofficemojo.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2018. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
  2. "Stephen McFeely". Boxofficemojo.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2019. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
  3. "Christopher Markus". Boxofficemojo.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2019. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
  4. Hunt, James (August 14, 2014). "Christopher Markus interview: writing Captain America 2 and 3". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  5. Kaufman, Anthony (June 16, 2005). "Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely". Variety. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved December 20, 2018. Both 35 [as of June 16, 2005]
  6. Hann, Christopher (Spring 2016). "Writing of the Heroic Kind". Rutgers Magazine. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  7. "Obituary for Gabor Markus > Obituary". Buffalo, New York: Kolando Funeral Home. April 29, 2012. Archived from the original on April 7, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2019 – via ObitTree.com. ...son Christopher Markus, a screen writer...
  8. "St. Joe's honored alumni include Marvel Studios writer". Western New York Catholic. December 14, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  9. "The Birth of Stephen McFeely". California Birth Index. Archived from the original on April 7, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  10. Scanlon, Sean (Autumn 2011). "Getting in the game, from Peter Sellers to Captain America". Notre Dame Magazine. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  11. Clark, Andrew (June 27, 2011). "Alumni Profiles > Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely". UC Davis Magazine. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  12. 57th Emmy Awards (September 18, 2005). "Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely Accept The Emmy For Writing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special". Television Academy. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  13. Wittaker, Richard (November 1, 2018). "Austin Film Festival: 10 Things We Learned From the Writers of "Infinity War"". The Austin Chronicle. Texas. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  14. Kroll, Justin (December 18, 2020). "Universal Lands AGBO's Adaptation Of 'The Electric State' With Millie Bobby Brown Starring, The Russo Brothers Directing And Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely Writing". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation.
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