Now that Avengers: Endgame has been released digitally, fans have been getting a whole lot of insight on how the world’s most succesful film came to be. And their main avenue of knowledge has been, as is always the case with home video, the commentary.
For those of you who have yet to own the movie, the voices of directors Joe and Anthony Russo, as well as co-writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus are what guide us through the production, providing fun, behind-the-scenes tidbits along the way.
And in their ramblings, we find out that one particularly popular scene was considered controversial, and nearly cut from the film. What was it, you ask? The celebration of Steve Rogers’ butt, or as it’s now referred to as, “America’s ass.” Here’s what the Russo’s and the writers had to say:
“And here we are looking at the backside of a famous scene from Avengers,” Joe Russo says.
“Speaking of backsides, there’s America’s backside,” Markus adds as Cap’s ass appears onscreen.
“A completely different perspective. And then probably the most controversial joke in the whole movie, ‘America’s ass.’ Controversial for all of us. That was hotly debated,” Joe revealed.
“Was it?,” McFeely asked.
“Yes,” Joe confirmed.
Given the popularity of the film, and of that gag by itself, it’s nearly impossible to imagine Endgame without Ant-Man’s enthusiastic response to Cap’s butt. And while the group doesn’t go into detail on who was for or against the scene, they’re all probably happy they decided to keep it in the final product.
A few months ago, near the time the movie was first released, McFeely explained that it was actually Chris Evans’ insecurities about the costume that inspired the fan-favorite scene
“It’s a little meta. Chris Evans has never been comfortable with that outfit from the first ‘Avengers’ movie. And so in the rearview mirror, it’s a little way to wink at how that was then and this is now. And then it sort of just built from there. By the time we got to the fight scene where he defeated himself, his butt is on the ground and was just sitting there for a callback.”
Since Avengers: Endgame marked Evans’ last appearance in the MCU, hopefully McFeely’s “meta” addition to the script gave the actor a boost of confidence for all his future endeavors.
