“Avengers: Endgame” Writers & Directors Reveal Scrapped Ideas At San Diego Comic Con

Avengers: Endgame will go down as the biggest movie of a generation. The finale film to 11 years of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies placed within the Infinity Saga is almost the highest-grossing film of all time. Although Marvel fans can’t wait for studio head Kevin Feige to grace San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, Friday saw the arrival of the masterminds behind Endgame. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely sat down and answered a slew of questions from an excited audience of fans at SDCC 2019. Markus and McFeely, who also wrote the first three Captain America films, Infinity War, and Endgame gave insight into some script ideas that had to be scrapped for the final cut.

The writers admitted that they struggled with Thor’s storyline in Infinity War and Endgame. At first, they have envisioned the Asgardian battling a giant snake to acquire his new weapon Stormbreaker. The idea was fun, but didn’t really make sense. Much like Thor’s side quest in Age of Ultron (which made no sense), McFeely and Markus’ original concept felt hollow. “It was dark for a long time because we hadn’t done well enough,” McFeely stated of their initial attempts to write Thor’s storyline. His mission was “much too adventure-related, and insufficiently character-based,” Markus explained. They also teased a storyline where Thanos brings a decapitated head of Captain America from 2014 into the future to intimidate the Avengers.

The writers also opened up about Smart Hulk, a character that they were originally planning to debut in Infinity War. Smart Hulk was set to make an appearance near the end of the film, having a heroic moment just before the snap. McFeely and Markus felt as if giving Hulk such an important moment before the snap felt weak, since it would have just been overshadowed by one of the most shocking moments in MCU history. This may explain why we originally saw Hulk in the Battle of Wakanda Infinity War trailers, but he didn’t make the final cut. The writers stated that the five year leap between movies was an easy way for them to brush by explaining things, such as Bruce Banner’s metamorphosis.

Another great story that was divulged pertained to Doctor Strange. Originally, Strange was set to battle Thanos in Infinity War for much longer on Titan. The Sorcerer Supreme was filmed pushing Thanos through space and time to answer for all of his crimes. All of Thanos’ victims were placed before him, and they judged him guilty, plunging him into the realm of the Living Tribunal. The scene was cut though, after the Russo Brothers felt that it extended the battle scene too much and caused fatigue. Check out more stories from the Russo Brothers, McFeely, and Markus told at Comic-Con here.