Summary

Avengers: Endgame is widely regarded as one of the best superhero movies ever, praised for its visuals and emotional impact. The “portals” scene in the final act had multiple potential versions, but the decision to focus on the heroes returning through the portals was made for maximum audience reaction. The success of Endgame has set a high bar for Phase 4 and Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the challenge of keeping fans engaged and reaching the next Avengers movies and Secret Wars.

Avengers: Endgame stands as one of the greatest superhero movies of all-time, both in terms of critical praise and box office results. In the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War, the culmination of the Infinity Saga delivered one of the most visually stunning and emotionally charges films of the MCU to date.

Arguably, the final act of the movie, which sees Thanos and his army descend upon Avengers HQ for a final stand-off, brought about the largest gathering of heroes ever seen on screen, and thanks to the “On your left” line and what followed also delivered a huge “cheer moment” in the movie. However, it seems that the original plan for the “portals” scene was quite different to the one that ended up in the final cut. As Marvel VFX supervisor and Loki director Dan Deleeuw revealed to ComicBook.com, there were many potential ways the scene could have played out. He said:

“There was a version of the cut, the day that we had all the actors together, and it was like this long panning shot across all the actors. It was the day that everyone was there and it was like this giant, expensive in essentiality you had all the actors there, but it just didn’t play as well as we wanted.
And so it was something that I got with pre-viz and Jeff Ford, our editor, and we just said, ‘We have to go with the portals and just you picking who comes out when.’ It was just something that for I think originally it was like we knew who survived and when they were coming back, but we needed to slow it down and give the audience a chance to welcome their heroes back. And so it was so interesting in terms of like, ‘Okay, who comes from Titan first? Okay, you get the Guardians and then Star-Lord’s going to show up.’ And then just being in the theater that day, it’s like starting, okay, we got to do Spider-Man last because Spider-Man!. So it was very much crafted to be emotional, and I think it was amazing for all of us that opening weekend, how well the fans responded to it.”

Related: Marvel Fans Celebrate Five Year Anniversary of Thanos’ Infinity War Snap

Avenger: Endgame is the MCU’s Highest Peak
Marvel Studios

For many Marvel fans, Avengers: Endgame is proving to be a huge problem for the future of the franchise. Having delivered a near-perfect movie, the film stands as the high point of the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to the investment given by audiences in the years prior to its release. This posed an immediate problem for Phase 4, which had to effectively compete with the high expectation of more epic movies straight out the traps. Instead, Phase 4 was a slow, and mostly low-key restart as the Multiverse Saga got underway.

Now in Phase 5, Marvel Studios still has a tough task on its hands to keep fans on board long enough to reach the next Avengers movies and the potential franchise resetting Secret Wars. With The Marvels set to arrive this November with a projected low opening weekend, that challenge clearly begins right now.