The Russo Brothers and Kevin Feige considered the idea that the original Avengers, from Iron Man and Captain America to Black Widow and Thor, could all die during “Avengers: Endgame.”
Brothers Joe and Anthony Russo are never stingy with revelations about their Avengers movies! On the podcast mic Happy Sad Confusedthey revealed that it was proposed that Avengers: Endgame marks the end of six Avengers: Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye!
Obviously, the idea of continuing the MCU adventure with these characters, reunited for the first time in Avengers in 2012, was not necessarily guaranteed, as Joe Russo remembers:
“At one point, Kevin [Feige, patron de Marvel Studios, NdlR] offered us to kill all the [Avengers originaux]. We thought it was way too aggressive, that the audience wouldn’t be able to stomach it, and that picking out one or two characters sacrificing themselves over the course of the film gave moments where the action could stop and provide catharsis. emotional. Then the story could resume, until the next emotional catharsis.”
Feige’s idea never made it into a script and was part of the early discussions around Infinity War and Endgame, which took place from 2015, after the Russos were signed on to shoot both films and while filming Captain America: Civil War.
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For Kevin, when he told us about this idea very early on, he imagined an end to Toy Story 3, where [les six Avengers] jumped into the fire to save the universe.
Just that ! It is interesting to note that in the early days of 2015, it was proposed by the big boss of Marvel to remove the six characters who built this same universe. At a time when each Avenger is preparing his succession (Hawkeye with Kate Bishop, Thor with Love, Black Widow with Yelena, etc.), we see that the MCU could have had a completely different Phase 4 if this project had seen the light of day.
Without anyone to train them, the new superheroes would all have arrived like Shang-Chi or the Eternals, with no transition between old and new and no real chance for the audience to gradually prepare to say goodbye to them.
The next Marvel outing, the She-Hulk: Lawyer series, is also potentially in this spirit, since the Bruce Banner played by Mark Ruffalo will teach anger management to a whole new incarnation of Hulk. Released on Disney+ on August 18 (the show has just been postponed by one day).
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