As far as cinematic battle scenes go, the finale of Avengers: Endgame is right up there with the very best – good enough to rival The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, even.
Indeed, Endgame‘s climax is jam-packed with so many Easter eggs and subtle moments that you’d really have to watch it five or ten times to catch everything. But as the film’s writing team have revealed, the scene of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes lugging the Infinity Gauntlet across the battlefield was almost much longer, as early drafts featured many more characters carrying that all-powerful armament.
That’s according to co-writer Stephen McFeely, who weighed in on the ‘flea-flicker’ scene and why it’s so crucial to the overall story.
Now, this part of the movie is what we call the ‘flea-flicker’ which is a chance for several characters to carry the load of the Gauntlet, trying to get it towards the van, and to be assisted along the way by other characters, sort of a unifying idea to get a lot of teamwork. And in early drafts and concept art…
Allowing multiple heroes to leverage the weight of the Infinity Gauntlet – and with it, the fate of the universe – is really symbolic of Endgame‘s colossal story, in which the entire MCU comes together to fend off Thanos and his army. So it should come as no surprise that early drafts featured a slew of characters picking up the Gauntlet.
Markus: “Everybody and your mother carried the Infinity Gauntlet.”
McFeely: “And now it sort of got down to a meaningful four with various side events like this where Scarlet Witch gets to get her revenge.”
Avengers: Endgame is now available to own via digital platforms, and will soon be making its way onto Blu-ray and DVD – in North America, at least; across the pond, Marvel fans in the UK have been forced to wait until early September for Endgame‘s home video launch.
