While Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Endgame” has plenty of big crowd-pleasing moments, some of them landed with a thud. One of course was the infamously underwhelming bit of LGBT inclusion at the start with Joe Russo which scored much criticism.
Faring better but still seen as a little bit cringe-worthy was the scene in the final battle as the female superheroes of the MCU all inexplicably end up in the same part of the battle and stop long enough for a pose.
What is supposed to be a celebration of the MCU’s female representation, and a moment reportedly in the script from day one, comes off in the final product as a bit obvious and out of place. Now, an excerpt from the new book “The Story of Marvel Studios” has come out via CBM with producer Trinh Tran revealing the end product scene was actually toned down from the original cut following early test screenings:
“When we started screen-testing it, there was a little concern for ‘Does it come off [as] pandering?’ Are we going to get people saying, ‘Oh you’re just putting that scene in there just to put the scene in there. Does it actually have a story to tell with the rest of the narrative?’ That was always a concern in the back of our heads.”
To get around the issue without cutting the scene, the filmmakers added more scenes throughout the battle where smaller groups of female superheroes band together to make the larger moment feel like more of a ‘natural fit’.
The fact that the scene is still singled out to this day in the discussion about the film suggests it certainly still stands out rather than feels organic to the movie. Even so, it does succeed at Tran’s aims of giving young girls a ‘heroic moment’ in the film.
“The Story of Marvel Studios” is available in book stores now.
