As many years that fans and the cast of Avengers: Endgame have invested in the films and its superheroes, you would think winning an Oscar wouldn’t be too far-fetched, right? Well, unfortunately, superhero movies tend to get the snub pretty much every time. MTV Movie, Kid’s Choice, and People’s Choice Awards are great and all, which the Avengers films have many of, but Oscar? He’s the big one and given how incredible of an achievement Endgame was, it might just be the first time that one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ movies snags an award in one of the major categories.
At least, directors Joe and Anthony Russo certainly hope that’s the case and the brothers have once again explained why they think Robert Downey Jr. should get an Oscar for his performance as Tony Stark/Iron Man. Of course, they covered the Sony/Disney split, among other topics as well, but when the possibility of Endgame earning an Oscar was brought up during the interview, the brothers had this to say:
“We don’t make movies for awards. Yes, making this was exceedingly difficult. We made the two most expensive movies ever back-to-back. But I just want to stump for one thing, and that’s Robert Downey.”
“I don’t know if I have ever seen—in movie history—a global audience react to a performance the way they did to Robert Downey in that movie. There were people bawling in movie theaters, hyperventilating. I mean, that is a profound performance, when you can touch audiences all over the world to that degree. We’ve never seen anything like that, and if that doesn’t deserve an Oscar, I don’t know what does.”
They’d just finished a long-winded, and 100% true, spiel about how the awards show has become a showcase for independent films. It long ago stopped considering big budget audience favorites, like Endgame and while there’s nothing wrong with awarding filmmakers for creating smaller and more intimate features, it seems like the Academy Awards has become all about that and nothing else.
The Russos went on to say though that Downey Jr. should not only be considered for the award, but that he should actually win it. Ten years of blood, sweat and tears poured into developing a character, making audiences cry their eyes out when he dies. If that doesn’t scream Oscar, nothing does.
While a win seems like a longshot at this point, a nomination for RDJ may not be out of the question. But we’ll find out for sure early next year when the Academy Awards reveal who they’re choosing to honor. Let’s just hope they don’t overlook Avengers: Endgame.