One of the most satisfying scenes of Avengers: Endgame came as the heroes from across the Marvel universe gathered to take on Thanos and his forces for the sake of all reality. With a whole army behind him, Chris Evans’ Captain America finally got to say the character’s iconic line from the comics: “AVENGERS… Assemble.” It was a real punch-the-air moment, as fans had been waiting to hear the catchphrase for the past 11 years of the MCU. But you have to wonder, why did Marvel hold off on the line for so long? This was the fourth Avengers movie, after all.
Well, let’s run through the previous three films and examine why they weren’t the right place to drop the moment. First of all, 2012’s The Avengers united Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to foil Loki’s invasion of Earth. The movie was even called Avengers Assemble in the UK. So a quick shout of the phrase could have easily been worked in somewhere during the Battle of New York. However, it was likely felt that at this relatively early stage in the franchise, the power of the line hadn’t really been earned.
Three years later, the gang got back together for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Infamously, this sequel actually ends on a major tease of the line, with Steve Rogers saying “Avengers A-” before the credits kick in. So, why didn’t they just use the full line? Well, if you think about it, Ultron was really a film about the original six heroes disassembling and, though a new team has come together by the point of the final scene, it wouldn’t have had the same impact as if Cap had been saying it to a fully-united line-up.
Then we come to 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. At this point, the filmmakers likely knew they were going to hold off on dropping the phrase until Avengers: Endgame so decided not to use it on this occasion. In any case, it was a good call not to deploy it in Infinity War as this is another movie where its effectiveness would have been muted. Even if Cap had said it during the epic Battle of Wakanda, its impact would’ve been lessened by the team’s terrible loss at the film’s close.
