Avengers: Endgame is full of iconic scenes, but one moment was the source of much tension between the movie’s creative team.
The fourth Avengers movie was the capstone of the MCU’s Infinity Saga, culminating with as many heroes as possible from the first three phases of movies on screen at once.
The movie marked also a reunion between the directing duo Anthony and Joe Russo and their regular screenwriting collaborators Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
How Avengers: Endgame’s Portals Scene Changed During Post-Production
The Russos, Markus, and McFeely have collaborated on four MCU movies together, including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Speaking to Empire Magazine ahead of the release of their next film, The Electric State, the group revealed that their creative process involves “debate-club skills” to get the best idea across the line.
This has led to a share of disagreements over the years, including on one of Avengers: Endgame’s most popular scenes.
Joe revealed that the famous portals scene at the end of the film (which sees all the blipped heroes return for the final fight against Thanos) was originally devised to have a camera “rotate[e] around Steve Rogers and everybody was collected behind him.”
In the final film, this moment was extended to have each of the major Marvel heroes make their unique entrance through the portals, which the Russo brothers fought for “for months in the edit room:”
“There was probably some debate regarding the most famous moment, I think, of all the Marvel films, which is the portals opening at the end of Avengers: Endgame. The original concept was that the camera rotated around Steve Rogers and everybody was collected behind him.”
“I remember fighting that one for months in the edit room. I’m not going to say who was one what side, but that was a grinder. I remember Anth and I going, ‘F*** it, we’re going to shoot it during reshoots.’ “
The Russo brothers eventually got their way and with good reason as the portals scene has become one of the most iconic in MCU history.
McFeely added that he was one of the parties against changing the scene, believing he thought “the first cut worked pretty well.” However, he admitted to being wrong in this instance due to “emotional-logic trump[ing] logic-logic:”
“Yeah, I’ll go under the bus because I wasn’t alone. I thought the first cut worked pretty well. I thought it was cool. But Joe is right because Joe has ten percent P.T. Barnum, right?”
“One of the lessons I’ve learned over the course of working with these guys and working with Marvel is emotional-logic trumps logic-logic. It’s not a cop-out. It’s what the movie wants. It’s what your audience wants.”
This sentiment ended up being correct with the scene from Avengers: Endgame earning cheers from audiences worldwide.
What Else Changed in Avengers: Endgame?
The portals scene was not the only thing that changed throughout the making of Avengers: Endgame.
Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan were responsible for changes to their final scene with Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers, in which he passes down the shield to Sam Wilson. Notably, Sam’s reluctance to carry the shield was devised by the actors.
The all-female Avengers scene in the final battle of Avengers: Endgame was also at risk of landing on the cutting room floor due to concerns of “pandering.” However, producer Trinh Tran fought for the scene to stay in, albeit toned down slightly, resulting in one of the more special scenes of the film.
Like the portals scene, it appears many of Avengers: Endgame’s moments went through a rigorous process before making it to the screen. The thorough criticism was worth the effort, however, as the film has gone on to become one of the highest-grossing movies of all time and a top-tier MCU title.
Avengers: Endgame is streaming on Disney+.
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