The big final battle scene of Avengers: Endgame has to be the most ambitious sequence ever assembled in the MCU. Given how many characters are involved and the scope of the fight, it’s not surprising that some material was removed from the finished cut. What is surprising, though, is that one deleted moment from the battle took the form of a comedy/musical beat featuring Ant-Man and the Wasp.
/Film has run a piece that digs deep into how the big battle sequence came together, drawing from interviews with various members of the crew. One of these is editor Jeff Ford, who revealed to the site that there was originally an extra bit of comic relief in which Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) accidentally attract the attention of the Outriders.
“There was also an additional joke where Rudd and Evangeline were in the van, and they’re trying to hot-wire it, and he twists a couple of wires, and the radio comes on and it plays that Partridge Family song from Ant-Man and the Wasp that he was into. The Outriders go [imitates their heads popping up]. I always thought it was funny that the Outriders heard the Partridge Family, and they start coming at the van and he’s like ‘Aww, I’m sorry!'”
Ford went on to explain that the moment made use of The Partridge Family theme song (AKA “Come On, Get Happy”) that was previously used to memorable effect in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
“It was funny because he kinda blew it, and then of course they shrink and hide, but we had one shot where the Outrider was peeking in the window and the Partridge Family was playing, and I thought that was pretty cool. But we didn’t need the extra loop on him. So that was a lift. But very little came out of it. Also, that’s an incredibly expensive sequence. We had to shoot and make exactly what we needed, because everything in that sequence is incredibly difficult CG heavy lifting. We would have never made it if we weren’t really, really rigorous about what we wanted.”
This scene does sound like a lot of fun, as well as serving as another nice callback to the events of Ant-Man 2. The sequence also featured another fun nod to the sequel when Hope responds to Steve’s orders with “You got it, Cap,” to which Scott gives her a knowing side-eye. If you’ll recall, back in AMATW, Hope mocked Scott for calling Steve “Cap.”
The good news is that we’re definitely getting more of the superhero couple following Avengers: Endgame. Ant-Man 3 was recently announced to be on its way, with director Peyton Reed returning to complete his trilogy. Michael Douglas has confirmed his return as well and production is eyeing a January 2021 start.