When it comes to the creative process, there's a method to the madness of Avengers: Endgame
co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo.
During a Reddit "ask-me-anything" session, the ace filmmakers responded to a fan who
asked why one of the flick's more famous deleted scenes, in which all of the assembled heroes
take a knee out of respect after Tony Stark's heroic act of self-sacrifice, wasn't included
in the final cut of the film.
In case you haven't gotten a chance to catch the excised scene, here's a brief explanation.
You'll recall that Stark mortally injured himself while using the Infinity Stones to
snap Thanos and his invading armies out of existence; unable to even speak, he held on
long enough for Peter Parker to tell him that the Avengers had won, and for his wife, Pepper
Potts, to reassure him that she and his daughter, Morgan, would be okay without him.
"You can rest now."
And so he did rest, taking his last breath.
The deleted scene in question would have taken place directly after this.
In it, we first see an utterly shell-shocked Captain America and Thor, in disbelief over
the loss.
Then, we cut to Hawkeye, who slowly, tentatively drops to one knee.
One by one, the rest of the heroes follow suit: first T'Challa, then Captain Marvel,
followed by Peter Quill, Nebula, Valkyrie, Ant-Man, Cap, and Doctor Strange.
As the camera pulls out to a wide shot, we see that everybody is kneeling, except, of
course, for 2014 Gamora, who has taken the opportunity to slip away without anyone noticing.
The scene is absolutely fraught with emotion, and would have fit right in with the finished
movie, an idea the Russos didn't disagree with.
According to the directors, the problem was that as the scene played out, they noticed
it was quite similar to another scene which they had planned for the flick's conclusion,
one that was just as epic, and which did make the final cut.
They explained:
"We found the Avengers kneeling scene incredibly emotional, [but] it felt incredibly similar
to the moment when all of the heroes stood on the shore at Tony's funeral, paying their
respects to him outside his home.
The two scenes, when in the film together, seemed to fight one another, and created a
repetitious ending."
That actually makes a ton of sense; the way in which the camera lingers on every character
in the deleted sequence, making sure that everyone's reaction is recorded, strikes pretty
much the exact same emotional chords as the funeral scene.
It could also be argued that the funeral scene is more impressive because it's strikingly
accomplished in a single shot, and because there are a few more relevant parties present
such as Nick Fury, Happy Hogan, and a grown-up Harley Keener.
If you'll recall, he was the kid who helped Stark out during the events of Iron Man 3.
"I would've added in the retro…"
"Retro-reflexive panels?"
"To make him stealth mode."
"You want a stealth mode?"
"Cool, right?"
"That's actually a good idea.
Maybe I'll build one."
It's easy to see how the inclusion of the "Take a Knee" scene could have diluted the
emotional impact of that dramatic one-take sequence.
It's worth asking, though, if the scene might show up in an alternate version of Endgame
down the road...a director's cut, perhaps?
It turns out that we have an answer to that question as well, thanks to the Russos' AMA.
Their answer to the question of whether or not there would ever be a director's cut of
Endgame was straightforward.
They said:
"Honestly no, we have always released the version of [each of our movies] we wanted
to.
So you would never see a director's cut of a Russo Brothers' Marvel movie, because you
have already seen it."
We would have expected no less.
The directing duo earned the trust of Marvel Studios with their first MCU effort, 2014's
Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is widely considered to be one of the best
movies the company has produced.
They were then handed the task of fielding three of the most complex crossover films
ever produced in Captain America: Civil War and the one-two punch of Avengers: Infinity
War and Endgame.
These guys obviously know what they're doing, and although they've said that their run with
Marvel has pretty much concluded, it so happens that they've also expressed interest in a
couple of properties which are now under the studio's control: the Fantastic Four and the
X-Men.
After giving Marvel the biggest movie of all time, we're going to go out on a limb and
say that they just might be down to work with these two again.
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