'Avengers: Endgame' Final Battle Originally Had More Reunion Scenes

There's no denying it: the big battle at the end of Avengers: Endgame is epic. Almost every single Marvel Cinematic Universe character shows up to take part in an all-out-brawl in the rubble of the Avengers HQ, with the camera swooping from one costumed hero to another.

It could've been chaotic and incoherent, but directors the Russo Brothers managed to pull it off, and achieve something highly memorable. According to the Russos, the lengthy Endgame final battle was almost even longer, due to a string of reunion scenes that ended up on the virtual cutting room floor.

Did you like the big brawl at the end of Avengers: Endgame? I'm guessing the answer is yes. Most fans of the MCU were blown-away by it, and even people who are MCU-neutral – like me! – were impressed. Is there a whole lot of fan service? There sure is! But that doesn't make the scene any less thrilling. It's the ultimate payoff for audiences who have stuck with the MCU this long – the epic culmination of all that world-building.

There's a lot going on in this scene, but the movie keeps things moving along steadily. Unlike some other Marvel fights, you can easily keep track of what's going on over the course of the big battle. Some of the geography doesn't line-up – a few characters seem to move from one location to the next too quickly – but in the end, this is the type of scene movie-goers will be talking about for a while.

But is there anything that could've improved the scene? Or a way things could've played out differently? During an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Russo Brothers admitted that the battle originally had a few more emotional moments where characters were reunited.

As the Russos tell it, there was originally a big reunion moment between Rocket and Groot, and another between Ant-Man and the Wasp, and even a few more that they don't specify. But it dawned on them that the sequence was turning into a montage of endless reunions, and they realized that future MCU movies could devote time to that sort of thing – if they so wish.

While it would've been nice to see Rocket and Groot reunite, this was the right call. The Russos admit that they were worried the battle scene could end up being "too bloated", and decided to whittle it down to its essential elements. In the end, it all worked out.