While Avengers: Endgame bedazzled viewers with its intricate storytelling and best-in-class visual effects, Marvel’s two-billion-dollar megaton was really the culmination of a superhero saga – a saga that began with Tony Stark declaring that he is, in fact, Iron Man.
So what better way to draw the curtain on a 10-year cinematic journey than to have Robert Downey Jr.’s genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist lay down on the wire to essentially save the universe. It’s a perfect conclusion to Tony Stark’s arc, given how the MCU’s poster boy began life as a selfish, flamboyant arms dealer, only to learn the value of friendship and unity through the Avengers (and his father, thanks to Endgame‘s time travel plot) and trump Thanos at the 11th hour.
And if you’re wondering how Stark was able to swipe all six Infinity Stones from the Mad Titan’s wanting hands, both Joe and Anthony Russo, along with Endgame screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, sat down to explain that crucial moment during the film’s commentary track.
Joe Russo: “…aaaaand nanotech.”
Stephen McFeely: “That’s right if it’s unclear how he got them, it’s two similar gloves talking to each other in this nanotech-y way.”
Joe Russo: “And the suit is keeping him alive here.”
The Endgame creative team continued:
McFeely: “Well, as the power’s coursing through him, he doesn’t have a lot of time.”
Joe Russo: “But when he snaps those fingers…”
Christopher Markus: “It’s too much.”
At $2.792 billion, Avengers: Endgame has officially cemented its place in the history books as the highest-grossing movie, well, ever. Critics may have called out Disney’s contrived re-release as a marketing ploy, but either way, Endgame‘s second coming was enough to unseat James Cameron’s Avatar at the tip-top of the all-time box office. But given the Mouse House now owns 20th Century Fox’s assets – and, with it, all future Avatar movies – it’s all going into Disney’s vast pocket, anyway.