Believe It Or Not, 'Frasier' Helped Inspire 'Infinity War'

Avengers: Infinity War had a surprising influence: Frasier. Yes, the Cheers spin-off starring Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane helped inspire one of the biggest superhero blockbusters of all time. Learn how below!

Hey baby, I hear the blues are calling, tossed salads and Infinity Stones.

If you had told me a year ago that the hit sitcom Frasier helped inspire Infinity War, I'd probably have you committed to a mental asylum. But here we are, in the year 2018, with proof that the makers of Avengers: Infinity War drew upon Frasier when crafting their mega superhero sequel. In a new interview with Yahoo, Infinity War screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely revealed that when it came time to pair-up the very similar Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in Infinity War, they drew upon the relationship between brothers Frasier and Niles Crane.

As you may recall, the show Frasier, spun-off from Cheers, moved well-mannered psychiatrist Frasier Crane to Seattle. There, he reconnects with his brother Niles (played by David Hyde Pierce), who is just as stuffy and snobby as Frasier himself – perhaps more so. When it came time to put the very similar characters of Tony Stark and Doctor Strange together, Markus and McFeely drew upon the Frasier/Niles relationship.

"Frasier was influential in our decision to put Stark and Strange together," McFeely says, adding that most showrunners would have decided to make Frasier's brother a polar opposite to the character, but the Frasier creators instead went and made Niles Crane "even more like Frasier than Frasier." Markus says: "It gives Frasier the opportunity to go, 'Wow, I must be really annoying,'" then adds:

"To take Tony and Dr. Strange, who are quite similar — they both have goatees, they're both arrogant — the impulse might be, 'Well, let's keep them separate because they occupy the same space, and everyone will get their own Arrogant Goatee Man...But to put them together, one, is funny, and their powers are totally different. But also it helps Tony go, 'Wow, arrogant people are really annoying ... I'm arrogant, huh.' This is how we become better people in life."

I should add that I can't believe I'm typing all of this, and that this is so unexpected that I'm kind of at a loss. But hey, 2018 is wild, folks. I will say that I thought the banter between Stark and Strange worked really well, and that Downey Jr. and Cumberbatch – two very good actors who do tend to play the same sort of characters over and over again – had good chemistry together on screen. I don't know if it's as good as that Frasier/Niles chemistry, but hey, not much is.