Joe and Anthony Russo, the masterminds behind Avengers: Endgame, recently assembled with special guest Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) — along with thousands of fans from around the world — to rewatch the record-breaking movie and give us some cool behind-the-scenes factoids along the way.
One of the most epic and satisfying moments in the movie was when Steve Rodgers lifted Thor’s hammer in the midst of a fight against Thanos. And viewers weren’t the only ones excited about it. “It was early in development when we let know he was going to pick up the hammer,” the Russos remembered. “Needless to say he was psyched. The crew on these films are filled with comic book lovers, so you can guess how excited everyone was the day we filmed this.”
For Robert Downey Jr., Endgame marked his final appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe…at least for the foreseeable future. The Russos shared a touching video of Downey finishing up on his final day on set after filming the iconic “I am Iron Man” scene.
“We love this man 3000” the Russos commented, referencing what Tony Stark tells his daughter throughout the movie. Aw.
The Russos and and Downey Jr. watched the movie on Instagram Live, where the actor gave his opinion on that adorable line. “I thought that was a lovely scene and without that scene the ‘Love You 3000’ wouldn’t be as poignant,” he said. “It was something my eight-year-old says to me. … it turned out to be really significant. But all this stuff in the movie was about us being able to bring our experience through the years. After 20 plus movies, we the audience, our cast and crew, the whole planet was kind of in this resonance with each other, and it was all leading up to this finale.”
Remember Tony’s quiet, peaceful lake house? It turns out that they shot the final battle from Infinity War just a short distance away from it.
Check out this cool behind-the-scenes video of Tony Stark, Steve Rodgers, and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) filming in New York:
In another BTS video, the crew is on deck to film a scene in Asgard, but has to wait for a choir rehearsal to finish:
It would’ve been wild to have been a part of that choir knowing that the directors of the biggest movie of all time were waiting for you to wrap it up.
Thor was in a bad way in Endgame, blaming himself for not overcoming Thanos in Infinity War. Apparently, the Russos were interesting in having a scene of him peeing over the balcony in New Asgard, but it was cut. I’m sure most fans are thankful.
Here’s a video of Chris Evans in costume as “old man” Cap messing around while filming his emotional scene:
The Russo brothers’ children got to make an appearance in the movie, including Joe’s daughter Lia, Anthony’s son Julian and their nephew Augie:
Finally, the Russos shared an amazing audience reaction of the scene where all the heroes return to fight Thanos and his army:
Apparently, this reaction video was “captured on Joe’s iPhone when we snuck into the Regency Village Theater at UCLA on opening night.”
We love you 3000, Russo brothers.
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