Back in 2019, the Russo brothers unleashed Avengers: Endgame on the world. One of the most highly anticipated movies ever made, Endgame followed on from the bombshell cliffhanger ending of Avengers: Infinity War and brought all the conflicts and character arcs of the entire MCU to a head in telling the story of Earth’s mightiest heroes’ last stand against Thanos. Unsurprisingly, it went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time.
There are a ton of memorable moments in Endgame, from Thor going for the head to Tony’s climactic finger-snap, and in a recent interview on the Lights Camera Barstool podcast, the Russos revealed their personal favorite scene. “Probably Cap with the hammer,” said Joe Russo, “because that’s the full circle for us. We worked with that character for a long time, and it was a great payoff for him as a character. The way [Chris] Evans played that character has such integrity... That moment turned the tide in that fight, and you know, it’s like Rocky getting up off the mat in round 12. It just inspires you.” The Russos began working on Cap’s character arc in The Winter Soldier, and ended up carrying him to the finish line with Civil War, Infinity War, and Endgame.
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The Mjolnir moment paid off a moment from four years earlier in Avengers: Age of Ultron. At a party in Avengers Tower, the team’s superheroes all take turns to try to lift Thor’s hammer to no avail. Even Tony and Rhodey working together with their armor on can’t budge it. Then, when it’s Steve’s turn, he manages to move it an inch, which worries Thor for a second. Endgame proved that Steve could lift the hammer, and decided not to hurt Thor’s feelings, as he summoned the hammer and the God of Thunder cried out, “I knew it!”
The Russos aren’t the first members of Endgame’s cast and crew to praise the scene. When Empire magazine included it on their list of “The Greatest Cinema Moments Ever” and reached out to Evans for comment, “When Cap lifts Mjolnir, our theater went absolutely berserk. Even though I knew the moment was coming, I still got emotional. In the following weeks, friends and family would send me clips from theaters around the world losing their collective sh*t at this moment.” Reaction videos to moments from Endgame enjoyed a brief renewed popularity last year when the brutal reality of COVID set in and audiences started missing the movie theater experience.
There were rumors floating around the internet recently that Marvel was in talks with Evans about his possible return to the role of Captain America, but Evans was quick to shut down these rumors. He was very explicit around Endgame’s release that it would mark his farewell to the character. Finally being able to hang up his shield and go back in time to live a happy life with Peggy was the perfect conclusion to Cap’s MCU character arc, and Marvel probably shouldn’t mess with that.
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Source: Lights Camera Barstool