The Avengers movies are among the most popular in recent years, and yet they don’t stand on their own – they rely on the audience having knowledge of the events of 18 other movies. They’re more like comic book crossover events than films. Nothing like this had ever been attempted in Hollywood before, so Kevin Feige and his team at Marvel had their work cut out for them. Naturally, as with any $1 billion quadrilogy of experimental films, there is plenty of interesting stuff going on during their making. So, here is MCU: 10 Infinitely Interesting Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Avengers Movies.
“I love you 3,000” was coined by Robert Downey, Jr.’s kid
During the production of Avengers: Endgame, Robert Downey, Jr. told the Russo brothers that one of his kids had said, “I love you 3,000,” to him. The directors enjoyed the phrase so much that they included it in the film, in the scene where Tony Stark is putting his daughter Morgan to bed. At this point in the movie, we know that Tony and Morgan have a special father-daughter bond, but the “I love you 3,000” line really hammered it home, making his sacrifice all the more tragic. It has since gone on to become one of the most memorable quotes from the movie.
Scarlett Johansson was pregnant while filming Age of Ultron
A lot of fans were disappointed by Black Widow’s role in Avengers: Age of Ultron, since she was a love interest for the first half and a damsel in distress for the second. Plus, from a metaphorical standpoint, having the only female Avenger be the one who has to talk down the angry male Avenger sends the wrong message. As it turns out, this may have had something to do with Scarlett Johansson’s pregnancy, which necessitated three stunt doubles (who apparently looked so much like Johansson that Chris Evans would start talking to them without realizing they weren’t really her) and baby bump-removing CGI effects.
Captain America has a prosthetic chin in the shawarma scene
Filming had wrapped on The Avengers when Joss Whedon realized what the perfect post-credits scene would be — Earth’s mightiest heroes eating shawarma, as suggested by Tony Stark following his near-death experience in the Battle of New York, while the restaurant’s employees sweep up the debris. However, at this point, Chris Evans had gotten a buzzcut and grown out his beard to shoot the incredible sci-fi movie Snowpiercer. So for the filming of the post-credits scene, he had to wear a wig and a prosthetic chin. He can be seen covering his face, because the prosthetic didn’t look great, and not eating, because the prosthetic wouldn’t allow it.
Josh Brolin wore a giant foam head while playing Thanos
The scenes in Infinity War and Endgame in which the actors play against Thanos are more powerful, with more palpable onscreen chemistry than you usually see in CG-laden blockbusters, and this is because the actors were actually working with Josh Brolin. He was there on the set, doing the motion capture for the Mad Titan.
Since Thanos is a couple of feet taller than Brolin, he had to wear a giant foam head to play him. The actors could react to Brolin’s line delivery and develop an onscreen rapport with him, but had to meet the eyes of a purple foam hat.
James Spader was Joss Whedon’s only choice for Ultron
Usually when Hollywood blockbusters are being cast, the director and the casting people will draw up a shortlist of actors whom they want for certain roles. If they have a list of ten people, then it doesn’t matter if six of them are unavailable and three of them aren’t interested. But Joss Whedon only ever had one actor in mind for the role of Ultron in the second Avengers film: James Spader. Whedon explained, “Spader was my first and only choice. He’s got that hypnotic voice that can be eerily calm and compelling, but he’s also very human and humorous.”
Avengers: Endgame was heavily inspired by Star Trek
It’s no secret that Kevin Feige is a Star Trek fanboy, and he has said that Avengers: Endgame was heavily influenced by “All Good Things…,” the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation, widely regarded to be one of the greatest finale episodes ever made. It’s no wonder that Endgame feels more like a satisfying series finale than a movie. Furthermore, having the six main Avengers cast members’ autographs appear in the end credits was taken from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which used the same technique as the final film to feature the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series.
Tom Holland and Robert Downey, Jr. improvised Spider-Man’s death scene
At the end of Avengers: Infinity War, to many viewers’ surprise, Thanos actually succeeded in his plan, collecting every single Infinity Stone, snapping his fingers, and wiping out half of all life in the universe. We watch many characters turn to dust, and most of them only get one line, if any (e.g. Peter Quill’s defeated “Oh, man,” Nick Fury’s “Motherf—er,” etc.), but Spider-Man’s death scene is long and drawn-out, which some fans have attributed to his spider-sense. On the day of shooting, the Russo brothers decided to let Tom Holland and Robert Downey, Jr. roll with the scene, resulting in perhaps the film’s most powerful moment.
Ant-Man and the Wasp were originally in the first Avengers movie
Joss Whedon initially wanted to include Ant-Man and the Wasp in the first Avengers movie, but Marvel wanted to save them until later. They were giving Ant-Man his own movie and the Wasp was going to be a large part of his solo series, so they told Whedon to hold off on introducing the characters to the MCU.
It would make sense to include these two superheroes in the first big-screen outing of Earth’s mightiest heroes, since they were both a part of the original Avengers roster in the comics, but in terms of the MCU’s grander narrative, it made sense to wait.
Endgame was originally called Infinity War – Part 2
The third and fourth Avengers movies were initially called Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2, and in fact, Kevin Feige has named announcing these titles as one of his main regrets about the franchise. Even though the titles were changed, with Avengers 3 taking the Infinity War moniker and Avengers 4 remaining untitled until mere months before its release, fans still went into Infinity War anticipating a cliffhanger ending; the first part of a two-part story. If Infinity War had been framed as a standalone piece, the bombshell ending might’ve had even more impact than it did.
Thanos’ reign over the MCU came in an Avengers rewrite
While he was writing The Avengers, Joss Whedon felt that there should be a more powerful villain in charge of Loki, allowing him to conquer the Earth. He suggested Thanos to Marvel Studios’ brass and they liked the idea of a cosmic overlord permeating throughout the MCU, so they just went with it. Over the years, he would take a supporting role in Guardians of the Galaxy, reappear in the middle of Age of Ultron’s main credits, and eventually become the primary villain in Infinity War and Endgame, all thanks to an idea that Whedon had while he was rewriting the first Avengers film.
