The scars given by Avengers: Endgame will not heal for a long time to come. Not only did we lose Black Widow and Iron Man to the ultimate sacrifice, but things went downhill for the Marvel Cinematic Universe soon after. Regardless, the film is one of the finest to exist in the superhero universe and its ending is going to stay with the fans forever.
However, there was a slight chance that Avengers: Endgame would have been even more devastating than it was. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige had initially pitched to kill off all the original Avengers and not just Black Widow and Iron Man. Luckily, the Russo Brothers were right there to intervene and were able to put a stop to this just in time.
Kevin Feige Almost Killed Off All the O.G. Avengers
During their appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Russo Brothers (Anthony and Joe Russo) revealed that Kevin Feige had initially pitched to kill off the O.G. Avengers in Avengers: Endgame. Joe Russo stated,
“There were lots of rumors swirling about who was gonna die. Kevin did actually pitch, at one point, taking all the OGs off the board. We thought it was way too aggressive and that the audience wouldn’t be able to process it. And that, in fact, picking one or two characters to make sacrifices throughout the movie might give you moments throughout the film where the action could stop and you could have emotional catharsis and then continue with the narrative.”
Kevin Feige wanted all the OG Avengers to die in #Endgame
The Russos pushed back because they didn't think fans could process it and there wouldn't be enough time to celebrate all of them within the story pic.twitter.com/SxwxDipFd6
— Marvel Facts (@MarveIFacts) April 18, 2024
He sure was right about the fact that fans wouldn’t have been able to process the death of all of their favorite Avengers. Just by killing off Iron Man and Black Widow in the film, the creators shocked the fans to their core causing everyone in the theaters to tear up. Can you imagine the toll it would have taken on us as fans to see every single Avenger die one by one in just one movie?
Thankfully, the Russo Brothers knew not to mess with the fans’ emotions too much!
Iron Man Could Have Been Saved from Death’s Grip
Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark’s sacrifice in the film has got to be the most devastating scene in MCU history. From Pepper Potts saying “You can rest now.” to Peter Parker being absolutely broken to see the life go out of his mentor’s eyes, everything about the scene was absolutely gut-wrenching.
Not going to lie, even though Iron Man’s death broke all our hearts, it was a fitting end to his journey as an Avenger. However, this storyline was met with some pushback behind the scenes.
Anthony Russo told Vanity Fair that Jon Favreau, who was responsible for Downey’s Iron Man casting, didn’t want the MCU to let the superhero go.
“Part of the pressure [not to kill Tony Stark] came from Jon Favreau, who called us up after he read the script … and said to us, ‘Are you really going to kill Iron Man?’
His brother added,
“He did. Yeah. And I remember pacing on the corner of a stage on the phone with Favreau trying to talk him off a ledge. Because he’s like, ‘You can’t do this. It’s gonna devastate people, and you don’t want them, you know, walking out of the theater and into traffic.’ We did it anyways.”
Of course, Favreau has a special connection with Downey and Tony Stark and it makes sense that he wouldn’t want to see the Avenger die. In the end, Favreau’s attempts were all in vain.
You can stream Avengers: Endgame on Disney+.
