Marvel Universe Secrets on the Avengers: Endgame Bonus Features

This article comes from Den of Geek UK.

With Avengers: Endgame now available on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital we thought you might like to hear some of the things that we learned from our binge of these extra features, so we put together a round-up to give you an idea of what to expect. And since this is the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we managed to fit our findings into 22 points.

There were alternate versions of Stan Lee’s Thor cameo

There’s a really sweet featurette about the late Stan Lee and his famous cameos, which includes heaps of heart-warming behind the scenes footage. Of particular note is a shot of Stan Lee coming up with an alternate line for his cameo in the first Thor film during a chat with the director, Kenneth Branagh. Instead of saying “did it work?” after trying to move Mjolnir with a pickup truck, Stan says: “I’ll need a ride home!”

The key aim of the Iron Man movie

There’s also a featurette about Iron Man, which takes us all the way back to the development of his first MCU feature. The key aim of the flick was, apparently, to make Tony Stark “just as interesting out of the costume” as he is when he’s in it.

Chris Evans was reluctant to take on Captain America

In a similarly-structured featurette about Captain America’s journey in the MCU, the team at Marvel Studios remembers that Chris Evans was reluctant to take on the role. If his first film was a hit, he’d be stuck with this wholesome hero for years. And if the movie was a stick, it could follow him around in worse ways. The actor’s reluctance to pick up the shield only made the producers want him more, though, as shying away from stardom is quite a Steve Rogers-y thing to do.

Black Widow’s sacrifice isn’t taken lightly

During a featurette about Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and her MCU experience, Natasha’s suicide-to-save-Hawkeye from Endgame’s time heist segment is described as “the single most heroic moment in the history of the Marvel Universe.”

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Evangeline Lilly wanted to make a new heroic mould

During a featurette about the female heroes of Marvel, which focuses on the inspiring moment when they all came together in Endgame’s final battle, Evangeline Lilly speaks about finding a womanly version of cinematic heroics. She’s interested in looking for the “voice, rhythms, style and movement” of a female hero instead of copying male action movie paradigms.

read more – Every Marvel Comics and MCU Easter Egg in Avengers: Endgame

Don Cheadle does lots of alt-lines

Rhodey, aka War Machine, isn’t particularly known for his gags – in fact, his attempt at telling a heroic anecdote during Age of Ultron only inspires laughs through its silliness – but Don Cheadle seems to be a dab hand in finding the funny on set. When Thor asks, “What do you think is running through my veins right now?” Cheadle serves up numerous improvised guesses for the editors to choose from: “Coco Puffs? Embarrassment? Orange soda?”

Tony has an alpaca that eats his goji berries

A random one, to be sure, but there’s a deleted scene from Endgame that shows an alpaca in Tony and Pepper’s garden. Cut to inside, where Pepper is complaining that the alpaca keeps eating goji berries before she can pick them. Tony heads outside to fetch Morgan for lunch.

Rhodey finds the fatal flaw in Cap’s life-changing moment

During the pre-time-heist planning montage, we see Rhodey asking why Cap had to put his plane in the ice back in Captain America: The First Avenger. “Bombs on board,” Cap explains. When Rhodey asks why Cap didn’t jump out of the plane and leave it to crash on its own, Steve’s face falls. Did he really ruin his life because he didn’t think of this simple solution?

Rocket could’ve taken out the Chitarui a lot quicker

Also during the planning sequence at Avengers HQ, we see Rocket Raccoon asking how long the Avengers fought the Chitauri for in 2012. The team explains that the battle lasted a few hours, and Rocket bursts out laughing. Rocket asks why they didn’t just blow up the mothership straight away, since the Chitarui are the “suckiest army in the galaxy” and very easy to defeat. An annoyed Tony Stark shaves off a patch of Rocket’s hair.

read more – Which Avengers: Endgame Deaths are Permanent?

Thor takes a wee off an Asgardian ledge

Kind of like Tyrion’s “pissing off the edge of the world” moment from Game of Thrones season 1, there’s a deleted scene of Thor relieving himself on a ledge in 2013 Asgard. Rocket walks into the scene and chides the god of thunder, presumably while an innocent passerby gets a godly golden shower at ground level.

Thor carries a Twix in his pocket

Another offcut from the Rocket and Thor time heist sequence sees Thor rummaging in his pocket for the Aether-grabbing device, only to pull out a Twix instead. Not a bad choice of choccie bar, that.

Thor doesn’t know his way around Asgard

Rocket asks Thor to point the way to Jane’s chambers, and Thor fails to remember his barings. “You used to live here,” grumbles Rocket. Thor responds with excellent comic timing: “For 1500 years, not forever!”

Tony’s dad tried to give him a job

A tiny excerpt from Tony’s leg of the time heist sees Howard Stark asking his son if he’s looking for a job. This cements the obvious connection between the two Starks, and sets up Tony for a wry quip to reject the offer: “I’m a little tied up in futures right now.”

Hawkeye took a knee

In a widely shared deleted scene, Hawkeye takes a knee after the death of Tony Stark. Everyone follows suit, one by one, until all the Avengers are kneeling in tribute to their fallen comrade. Well, every Avenger except one…

This is when Gamora snuck off

While everyone is taking a knee, there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in the background. Eagle-eyed viewers will spot Gamora wandering off at this moment, explaining why she isn’t present at Tony’s funeral or the Guardians’ final scene.

read more – Avengers: Endgame Ending Explained

Being a hero doesn’t always feel cool

“Does it look cool? It doesn’t feel cool,” quips Brie Larson, hanging from a wire in front of a blue screen. She’s clearly filming a Captain Marvel flying sequence, but isn’t feeling quite as epic in the moment as the final shot will look.

The Russo brothers definitely directed the Captain Marvel stinger

Speaking of Captain Marvel, there’s a moment in the featurette about female heroes that clearly shows Joe and Anthony Russo directing Brie Larson in the “Where’s Fury?” moment that became the post-credits scene for the Captain Marvel movie. It seems pretty clear that this moment was shot on the set of Endgame.

The female hero moment meant a lot to Paltrow

In that same featurette, Gwenyth Paltrow reveals that being a part of this female superhero team-up moment meant a lot to her. She talks at length about how much it means to represent women in positive ways on screen, and how great it is that this moment will inspire young girls around the world. As Paltrow’s passion flowed out, we teared up a bit.

Endgame is envisioned as “a surprising journey that doesn’t hold anything back”

There are a few interesting tidbits about the Russo brothers in another featurette, which charts their involvement in the MCU so far. Producer Louis D’Esposito describes the pair as “master filmmakers” as well as praising writers Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely. Their vision for this film is described as “a surprising journey that doesn’t hold anything back.”

RDJ had to do a screen test and was very nervous

There’s a moment in the Downey-focused featurette in which the iconic actor recalls doing an early screen test for the role of Iron Man. We also get to see that footage, which is cool. And Downey’s description of his nervousness, going into that screen test, is pretty relatable: he remembers thinking, “Am I gonna pass out or am I going to nail this?”

Stan Lee’s love for his cameos grew exponentially

“Each one stands out more than the last one,” says Stan Lee, looking back on his cameos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He also jokes that he prefers to think of them as supporting roles. His joy at seeing his characters come to life is palpable, and you may well tear up at this one as well.

The scene of Tony’s daughter is still missing

As ever, it’s interesting to think about what stuff isn’t on this disc. One famous deleted scene, for example, is totally absent. 13 Reasons Why star Katherine Langford filmed a scene as the grown-up version of Tony’s daughter, who Tony would’ve met after snapping his fingers in the film’s third act (just as Thanos met young Gamora after his snap in Infinity War). You won’t find this scene on this version of Endgame, but maybe we’ll see this scene in a future release or box-set? Only time will tell…

The full schedule of upcoming MCU Phase 4 Marvel movies can be found here.

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