These New Details About Tony Stark Will Completely Crush You
Avengers: Endgame is a dense three-hour film. There are so many easter eggs, references, and hidden nods to the comics, it's amazing it exists in narrative order. The good news for fans is that the Blu-ray and DVD come out on Tuesday, Aug. 13, so fans can finally sit down in their living rooms and find them all. But the real gems are tucked away in the commentary tracks where directors Joe and Anthony Russo sit down and point out everything viewers might have missed. These tiny details about Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame that the directors highlight are proof that every DVD should come with commentary.
Some of the details the Russos point out over the three-hour journey are merely confirmations of fan theories. For instance, viewers have speculated that one of the end credits scenes from Captain Marvel is one that should fall partway into Avengers: Endgame. The Russos agree this is correct. The scene where Danvers arrives at Avengers HQ slots into the Endgame narrative just before Nebula and Tony are saved deep in outer space. In short, Natasha fills Carol in, Carol goes out and finds Tony, and brings him home lickity-split.
Moreover, there were several different versions of that sequence. In one cut of the film, viewers see Carol first; in others, her reveal was saved until Tony and Nebula were back on Earth.
My favorite reveal is about "I love you 3,000." It's *the* line from the film. There are hashtags, memes, and a Marvel tour. Fans have made it a symbol of their devotion to the entire Infinity Saga. There is even a theory that it's a coded message. If you take the runtime of every film from the first three phases, including Far From Home, they equal 3,002 minutes. Is "I Love You 3,000" Marvel telling fans how they feel?
Actually no, that's all nonsense. In fact, the line wasn't in the film at all in the original takes.
The addition of the "I love you 3,000" line came so late in fact that it's not spoken on screen. Tony says it as he leaves because Robert Downey Jr. recorded it as a voice-over as part of reshoots.
Finally, there's a lot of discussion about Tony's death scene and the funeral that follows. Apparently, there was a lot of debate over how "dead" Tony should look, lest it be too gruesome for fans to handle. Then there's the funeral itself. Not only was it an emotionally hard day for the cast to go through, but it was a bit of a logistical nightmare because it was one of the only days they had everyone on set together at once. The Russos had the cameras practice for about a day and a half beforehand.
The point was to take viewers, in a single shot back through time from Morgan in Endgame to Fury in that very first end credit sequence. It was a total flex, but it worked. They got it done in only five or six tries.
Avengers: Endgame arrives on Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2019.
