It’s one of those moments that’s destined to prove instantly iconic with fans. In the grand climax of Avengers: Endgame, Thanos boasts “I am inevitable.” In response, Tony Stark says “I am Iron Man” and snaps his fingers with the Infinity Gauntlet, wiping the Mad Titan and his forces from existence and bringing the Infinity Saga to a close.
It’s weird to think, then, that Robert Downey Jr. was initially reluctant to film the scene. The sequence was something added in during reshoots (we’ll get to why that is in a moment) and the Russos pitched it to Downey over dinner. However, the actor wasn’t keen on entering such an emotionally-devastating place again to shoot the moment. Thankfully, producer Joel Silver was on hand to convince him otherwise and the rest is Marvel history.
“It’s an interesting story. I had dinner with [Robert Downey Jr.] like two weeks before we were supposed to shoot it. And he was like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t really want to go back and get into that emotional state. It’ll take… it’s hard.’ And crazily enough, Joel Silver, the producer, was at the dinner. He’s an old buddy of Robert’s. And Joel jumps in and he’s like, ‘Robert, what are you talking about? That’s the greatest line I’ve ever heard! You gotta say this line! You have to do this!’ So thank God that Joel Silver was at dinner, because he helped us talk Robert into doing that line.”
As the Russos have explained elsewhere, the “I am Iron Man” line was not originally part of the plan, as Tony was just supposed to snap his fingers without saying anything. Fortunately, they realized that the king of quips needed to have a witty comeback for Thanos.
Here’s how the directors explained it:
Anthony Russo: Originally when he snapped, he didn’t say, ‘I am Iron Man.’ The idea came up while we were in post production. Our editor, Jeff Ford…
Joe Russo: We were sitting on our editorial, and we were reworking that sequence, and Thanos says ‘I am inevitable.’ And we were like, ‘We need a response to that. What is the response to that?’ And our editor said, ‘What about I am Iron Man?’ And we were like, ‘That’s it!’
Anthony: We must shoot that, we have to shoot that!
It’s understandable why Downey didn’t want to do the scene at first. Having already filmed the sequence, it meant he would’ve had to redo the big emotional ending for Tony Stark that also represented his own exit from the franchise, which he’s been leading for the past decade. It must have been an intensely emotional shoot, but thank Thanos he changed his mind.
Tell us, what were your favorite scenes from Avengers: Endgame? Let us know in the comments section down below.
