In celebration of the one-year anniversary of Avengers: Endgame, screenwriters Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely and directors, Joe and Anthony Russo took to social media for two nights during ComicBook.com’s Quarantine Watch Party. Here are some of the coolest secrets and insights they shared (per THR) about the film.
Did Captain Marvel Have a Bigger Role Initially?
McFeely said the size of Captain Marvel’s role in Avengers: Endgame was always intended to be small.
“The goal for Endgame was always to highlight the original Avengers as we said goodbye. Newer characters generally took smaller roles as a result.”
This, of course, makes sense. Thanos may claim that he wiped out 50% of the population at random, but we all know he kept all the original Avengers alive so that they can jump back in (alternate) time and we can take a stroll through memory lane.
Endgame was a beautiful and poetic ending to the OG squad. Now, the MCU can move forward and focus on the newer characters.
Black Widow was the most difficult character to write
Screenwriters Markus & McFeely revealed that Black Widow was the most challenging character to write as she’s guarded and rarely shares her emotions, even with the rest of the Avengers.
She was one of my favourite parts in Avengers: Endgame. The vulnerability she displays, particularly in the scene near the beginning where she lets out a tear, wonderfully encapsulates the seriousness of Thanos’ snap and the emotional struggle the characters are going through.
As for the hardest scene to write, they said it was the one in which the time travel is explained because of the process of ensuring it made sense for the context of the film and still provided character moments. The writers even sat down with physicists to discuss the nature of time travel.
Iron Man vs. Heimdall
An earlier draft of the Endgame script saw Iron Man and Thor making their way to Asgard to collect the reality and space stones. Tony Stark would’ve worn an invisible stealth suit and at one point, even gotten into a fight with Heimdall (Idris Elba). Sounds like a total dream match, right? However, McFeely noted that while the scene was cool, it wasn’t emotional as Iron Man had no connection to Heimdall. Hence, it was nixed. In the version of Endgame we see in theatres, Iron Man goes back in time and meets his father in a genuinely heartwarming sequence.
This tells us everything we need to know about the mindset behind crafting Endgame. They wanted to make every scene, even the action set pieces, resonate emotionally.
Nebula & War Machine VS sea monster
Nebula and War Machine were originally going to arrive on Morag while it was underwater, and they would have fought a giant sea monster. Again, the nixed this scene for the same reason they dropped the idea of Iron Man vs Heimdall.
Captain America was supposed to meet Red Skull
This was something I’ve been wondering about since I caught Avengers: Endgame last year. When our heroes travel back in (alternate) time, they meet previous versions of themselves or someone in the past that they need to emotionally reconcile with. But Red Skull and Captain America do not reunite for one last exchange of words. The screenwriters revealed that it was in fact their intention to have Steve Rogers meet Red Skull on Vormir, but they just couldn’t find a way to place Captain America on Vormir in a manner that would make sense storywise.
Nebula was supposed to wield the Infinity Gauntlet
Speaking of what could’ve been, an earlier plan had Nebula wield the Infinity Gauntlet as she does in the comics. While that would’ve certainly put a smile on the faces of Marvel Comics diehards, looking at it purely from the context of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it wouldn’t have been as emotionally resonant as “I am Iron Man.”
The screenwriters said that it would’ve took away from the weight of Tony inevitably putting it on and sacrificing himself.
