On the newly available commentary track for the Avengers: Endgame digital release, the team behind the highest grossing film of all time took the opportunity to share a few thoughts on the joke that put the “ass” in “Avengers assemble.”
As most of you will likely recall, the Avengers: Infinity War sequel saw Earth’s Mightiest Heroes travel back in time to the Battle of New York, where Tony Stark jokes that Steve Rogers’ 2012 suit did no favors for his rear end. At this point, Scott Lang comes to the defense of Cap’s posterior, declaring it to be “America’s ass.” The line gets a callback later, when Steve observes the buttocks of his past self and declares, “That is America’s ass.”
The moment remains a fan favorite in a film that didn’t lack for scenes to get the audience cheering, but according to co-director Joe Russo, Cap’s line was also met with some resistance:
“And then probably the most controversial joke in the whole movie, ‘America’s ass.’ Controversial for all of us. That was hotly debated.”
Co-writer Christopher Markus then argued that the film did too good a job of setting up the punchline to let the opportunity pass them by:
“How often does a man have the opportunity to admire his own ass from that perspective? You have to take it.”
Responding to Markus, writer Stephen McFeely agreed that “you can’t not do it,” before co-director Anthony Russo stressed once more that the setup to Cap’s line was all too perfect:
“Exactly. Coincidence smiled upon him.”
In an interview earlier this year with the LA Times, McFeely discussed the real-world origins for the “America’s ass” line, explaining that actor Chris Evans “has never been comfortable with that outfit from the first Avengers movie.” Tony Stark’s dig at the costume was therefore meant as “a little way to wink at how that was then,” and once they arrived at the scene of the two Caps fighting, Steve’s backside “was just sitting there for a callback.”
In any case, it could be a long wait before we see Evans back in spandex, assuming we ever do, but if you’d care to revisit the supposed final adventure of Steve and his ass, Avengers: Endgame is available now on Digital and comes to Blu-Ray on August 13th.