Avengers: Endgame served as a conclusion to the Infinity Saga, while laying the groundwork for a new generation of heroes to shine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving forward. Some casualties were probably inevitable, and we ended up losing both Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) before the credits rolled, with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) taken out of play.
It was an emotional, bittersweet finale, for sure, but it sounds like things could have been much bleaker!
In new book, The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Endgame co-director Joe Russo reveals that Kevin Feige initially floated the idea of killing-off all six of the original team members. Though he doesn't go into much detail, it sound like the Marvel Studios boss may have even considered taking the heroes out in one fell swoop.
"Kevin's initial pitch was that it was Toy Story 3 - a 'they're all gonna jump into a furnace together' concept,' reveals Joe Russo. The brothers' pushback was that there was no possible way for the story to be able to take the time to celebrate each one of them. And that, for the fans, it was an impossible scenario to walk out of the theater and process."
We're not sure how much consideration was actually given to seeing this concept all the way through, but we're glad the Russos convinced Feige to see sense! While wiping out pretty much every main character in your movie is certainly a ballsy move, we can't imagine it would have gone down very well with the MCU faithful. Plus, it would have seriously limited Marvel Studios' options for Phase 4 and beyond (no Thor: Love and Thunder, no Hawkeye, etc).
What do you guys think? Could Feige's rather grim-sounding pitch for Avengers: Endgame have worked?