The Avengers, led by Captain America, assembling for battle vs. Thanos and his army
The Avengers, led by Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, assembling in the battle at the Avengers Compound. Scenes from the sequence were positively received by cinematic audiences.[1]

The "Avengers assemble" scene is the sequence leading up to the climactic battle of the film Avengers: Endgame (2019) which sees the Avengers and their allies arrive on the battlefield through sling ring portals, in preparation for a clash with the film's antagonist, Thanos. It culminates with Steve Rogers / Captain America uttering the phrase, "Avengers... assemble", a catchphrase and rallying cry associated with the team in the Marvel Comics.

The scene features many cast members and characters who had appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) up to that point, including the return of characters who had been killed off in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) during an event known as the Blip. The musical piece that accompanies the scene, "Portals", was composed by Alan Silvestri.

Plot summary

After Tony Stark and Thor are knocked out of battle by Thanos, Steve Rogers watches as Thanos' army arrives. Rogers then hears static in his earpiece before hearing the voice of Sam Wilson, thought to be gone because of the Blip,[lower-alpha 1] announcing his arrival to assist. As Rogers turns to look, a magical portal opens from Wakanda, showing the arrival of additional allies to aid in the battle. Dr. Stephen Strange, Wong, and other sorcerers continue to open many additional portals from elsewhere on Earth and around the galaxy. Everyone gathers together as Thanos and his army look on, and Rogers says "Avengers... Assemble", leading everyone into battle.[2]

Background and development

The first issue of The Avengers where Captain America says Avengers Assemble, a phrase he has been known for ever since
The Avengers (1963) #16, the first issue featuring Captain America saying "Avengers Assemble" which he has been associated with since.

The phrase "Avengers Assemble" is the team's most famous catchphrase in the comics, traditionally said by Captain America, but he was not the first character to utter the line. Thor said it in Avengers (1963) #10 from 1964 and multiple additional rally cries were used by the Avengers over the next few issues, with the phrase being established as their official one in Avengers (1963) #14 from 1965. In the following issue, Giant-Man shouts the phrase, but in Avengers (1963) #16 from 1965, Captain America is featured on the cover saying the phrase, and since then he has become the one most associated with the line.[3] As a result, starting with The Avengers (2012), people familiar with the comics started wondering when Captain America would finally say the iconic line in the MCU. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said soon after the film's release that the phrase was not included because there was not a good place for it. With the 360-degree shot of the team showing they were assembled, Feige felt that had more of an impact than the line being said in the moment.[4] The phrase was teased at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) with Captain America saying "Avengers..." as the film cuts to the credits. Writer and director Joss Whedon talked about the decision, saying he did not want to include the line, while also making sure that the scene could not be altered in the future by the studio. Captain America actor Chris Evans was never filmed saying the whole phrase, although the "Avengers..." line was written into the script exactly how it was shown in the film.[5]

Creating the scene

The scene was not originally in Avengers: Endgame (2019), but was put together as a way to get Dr. Stephen Strange from the planet Titan[lower-alpha 1] to the Avengers Compound in New York.[6] In the first draft, everyone returned immediately, there was no "cavalry" moment, but co-writer Christopher Markus said that killed all momentum of the film. The conceptual part of the scene also changed, as it was originally more around Rogers, but it was changed to where the audience experienced the portals from his perspective.[7] There were several ideas for the scene according to the film's visual effects supervisor Dan DeLeeuw, including one long panning shot of all the actors on the day they were all on set which "didn't play as well as [the crew] wanted". DeLeeuw worked with the previsualization team and editor Jeffrey Ford, where they decided that they needed to use the portals, which they then began the process of the order of each character's return who had been killed off in the Blip, the climactic event of the preceding film Avengers: Infinity War (2018) in which Thanos eradicated half of all life in the universe. The team also knew that they needed to slow the returns down to "give the audience a chance to welcome their heroes back".[8] The scene was being worked on until a month before Endgame's theatrical release, with the directors the Russo brothers explaining that they had wanted the scene to start with the previously killed-off character Sam Wilson communicating with Steve Rogers by uttering "On your left" immediately before the portals open.[8][9] They said it was logical for the first portal to be from Wakanda, where Wilson was killed in Infinity War, and to have T'Challa and his Wakandan army arrive from it as a result.[9] Peter Parker / Spider-Man was chosen as the last character to return as it was designed to be emotional for audiences, following him being the last one to die in Infinity War.[8]

In October 2017, Tessa Thompson revealed that she and other actresses from the MCU films—including Brie Larson, Zoe Saldaña, Scarlett Johansson, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, and Letitia Wright—had approached Feige during the production of Infinity War and Endgame to propose an all-female team-up film.[10][11] Thompson cited the Lady Liberators comic book team as precedent for such a team-up, and said that Feige was interested in the idea.[10] Feige later said a scene featuring many of these actresses and others who played female characters throughout the MCU together had already been filmed for an upcoming film.[12] The scene, filmed on the day all the actors were on set, is featured in Endgame following the "Avengers Assemble" scene and during the film's final battle, and includes Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel (played by Larson), Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), Valkyrie (Thompson), Hope van Dyne / Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), Gamora (Saldaña), Nebula (Gillan), Okoye (Danai Gurira), Shuri (Wright), and Pepper Potts / Rescue (Gwyneth Paltrow). The scene was compared to the comic book team A-Force by commentators.[13]

Filming

The portals part of the scene was shot a couple of times, with the first version being much quicker. The characters were just back and the music was "at a 10 early" according to co-writer Stephen McFeely. The Russo brothers decided to reshoot everyone's return in order to give them their "hero shots".[7] There was never a take filmed of Evans screaming the "Avengers assemble" line, although he initially felt that should have been the case. He said it felt like a nice juxtaposition in the end where the line was spoken lower and then had everyone yelling around him. The Russo brothers liked the softer delivery, which was done on the first take, telling Evans "That’s it, don’t even do the screaming one."[14] On the Endgame commentary track, the Russos told the film's writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely that it was their idea for Evans to deliver the line that way, acknowledging that the idea was not without its downside. Joe Russo said the brothers thought it would be more interesting, but with Captain America catching Thor's hammer, Mjolnir minutes before creating a lot of energy in the theaters, they thought a lot of people may not have even heard the line the first weekend of the film's release.[15]

Visual effects

Weta Digital worked on the portals, with visual effects supervisor Matt Aitken said that the simulation team had to find a "recipe that would recognizably" make sure the portals were recognized as Doctor Strange's, but they had to be optimized because so many of them were featured in the money shots of the returning characters. They would have been prohibitive to generate and render, so Weta used the original technique of creating them from previous MCU films. Another challenge was creating all the worlds that the portals were opening from as they were all computer-generated imagery. It was necessary because the environments had to be filmed with the same camera as the destroyed Avengers Compound on the other side of the portal in order for it to "lock together and parallax".[16] For the characters returning from Titan there were four separate plates used. Drax and Mantis were together, Strange's return was filmed separately due to him floating, so Benedict Cumberbatch filmed his part on a green screen. Tom Holland and Chris Pratt were both unavailable on the day, so they were both brought back at a later date with Pratt picked up with a separate motion control green screen element.[7]

One of the last VFX additions to the film was a quick cameo of Howard the Duck. The character was not meant to appear in the finished film, but during an examination of the portals part of the scene, Joe Russo or Feige had suggested to VFX producer Jen Underdahl for his inclusion three weeks prior to the completion of visual effects. There was a gap when the Ravagers were coming out of Contraxia where he could be added and Underdahl contacted Weta to do so. They used older models of Howard the Duck from various MCU projects as reference, and Howard ended up appearing for approximately 17 or 18 frames in the film. Additionally, a rig and feather groom was also used in order to put Howard into the VFX team's pipeline and animation.[7][17]

Music

A song titled "Portals" was written for the scene by Endgame's composer, Alan Silvestri. Silvestri was told early on that the scene would be a key moment in the film. It took a while to get a sense of what was going on in the scene, with Silvestri saying that there was an initial temptation to "become too segmented" by having every character do something special as they returned. Ultimately, it was decided to make it more of an overview of the characters and that a new theme was needed because nothing else would fit. Silvestri describes "Portals" as a piece where parts repeat multiple times, but with keys changing and getting "bigger and more grand". The original Avengers theme had to ramp up after Captain America utters "Avengers... assemble" which leads to the Avengers and their allies charging into battle.[18] The song was not always a unifying piece because the idea of the music changing while each character arrives was tossed around by the creative team "similar to the entrance themes used by professional wrestlers". Silvestri said the idea was not to just mash together various themes of characters or places like Wakanda, but instead, it would have been about making a "bigger sonic deal out of every single portal opening". Due to Rogers being down and out as everyone returned, the theme had to be almost celebratory according to Silvestri. "Portals" transitioning into the Avengers theme after Rogers says "Assemble" was one of the things that changed the most in development, but in the end, Silvestri felt it was fitting as everyone was charging, saying it just felt like "pure Avengers".[19]

A video for the track "Portals", composed for the scene was released on June 13, 2019.[20]

Reception

The sequence has been well received, with fans in the theaters cheering,[21][22] and the scene being considered one of the best in Endgame as well as the MCU.[23][24]

In other media

The "Avengers Assemble" scene was recreated by Disney Live Entertainment for the World of Color – One attraction at Disney California Adventure, which debuted on January 27, 2023, and featured archive footage from Endgame alongside strobe lighting and pyrotechnics, as well as the Avengers musical themes.[25][26]

Notes

  1. 1 2 As depicted in Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

References

  1. ↑ Polo, Susana (April 7, 2020). "These Avengers: Endgame Audience Reactions Will Sustain Us in Theater-Less Times". Polygon. Archived from the original on April 10, 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  2. ↑ Russo, Anthony; Russo, Joe (directors) (April 26, 2019). Avengers: Endgame (motion picture).
  3. ↑ Cronin, Brian (April 27, 2019). "When Did Captain America First Yell 'Avengers Assemble!' in the Comics?". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
  4. ↑ Woerner, Meredith (May 7, 2012). "Why the Avengers Don't Say Their Most Famous Catchphrase in The Avengers". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  5. ↑ Eisenberg, Eric (May 5, 2015). "The Final Line of Avengers: Age of Ultron Explained by Joss Whedon". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on May 7, 2015. Retrieved October 24, 2023 – via Empire.
  6. ↑ Barnhardt, Adam (August 9, 2019). "Breaking Down the Portal Scene with Avengers: Endgame VFX Boss Dan DeLeeuw". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2020. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Pearson, Ben (April 21, 2023). "Avengers: Endgame Final Battle Oral History: How the Biggest Scene in Comic Book Movie History Came Together". /Film. Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 Davis, Brandon (October 16, 2023). "Avengers: Endgame Portals Scene Was Originally Completely Different (Exclusive)". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on October 16, 2023. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  9. 1 2 Bacon, Thomas (November 9, 2022). "Why Black Panther Was Really The First Hero To Return In Endgame". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  10. 1 2 Arvedon, Jon (October 31, 2017). "Johansson, Thompson, Saldana & More Pitched Marvel An All-Female Movie". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on October 17, 2019. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
  11. ↑ "Letita Wright is campaigning for an all-female Marvel movie". Harper's Bazaar. November 1, 2019. Archived from the original on November 16, 2019. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  12. ↑ Buchanan, Kyle (February 16, 2018). "Kevin Feige on the Future of Marvel's Women (Including Danai, Tessa, Brie, and Michelle)". Vulture. Archived from the original on October 17, 2019. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
  13. ↑ Zachary, Brandon (April 26, 2019). "Avengers: Endgame Unofficially Introduces Another Marvel Comics Team". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  14. ↑ Dumaraog, Ana (June 21, 2022). "Why Chris Evans Didn't Shout Pivotal MCU Line in Avengers: Endgame". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on June 21, 2022. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
  15. ↑ Burlingame, Russ (August 14, 2019). "Avengers: Endgame Director Reveals Story Behind "Avengers Assemble" Line". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on October 10, 2022. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
  16. ↑ Holmes, Adam (May 15, 2019). "The Unexpected Challenge That Came With Creating The Portals For Avengers: Endgame". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on May 16, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  17. ↑ Acuna, Kirsten (January 9, 2020). "How Howard the Duck Ended Up in a Nearly Blink-and-You'll-Miss-It Moment in Avengers: Endgame". Insider. Archived from the original on July 22, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  18. ↑ Vo, Alex (May 9, 2019). "How Alan Silvestri Created the Perfect Music for Endgame's Avengers Assemble Moment". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on May 15, 2019. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  19. ↑ Mancuso, Vinny (November 11, 2019). "Avengers: Endgame Composer Alan Silvestri on How Music Changed That "Assemble" Moment". Collider. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  20. ↑ Davis, Brandon (June 13, 2019). "Official Avengers: Endgame Music Video for Portals Released". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  21. ↑ Dumaraog, Ana (April 9, 2020). "Crowd Reaction to Avengers: Endgame's Portals Scene Is Awesome". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on April 14, 2020. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  22. ↑ Pierson, Dashel (December 21, 2022). "12 MCU Moments That Got the Biggest Cheers in Theaters". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  23. ↑ Sharma, Prabal (May 13, 2022). "10 Best Marvel Scenes from the Cinematic Universe that We Love to Rewatch". Vogue India. Archived from the original on May 13, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  24. ↑ Karp, Rebekah (October 31, 2022). "MCU: Every Avengers Assemble Moment, Ranked". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on November 1, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  25. ↑ Miller, Leon (February 2, 2023). "Disneyland Resort Brings Avengers: Endgame's Climactic Portal Moment to Life". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  26. ↑ Bonomolo, Cameron (January 26, 2023). "World of Color – ONE Review: Disney's Newest Must-See Show". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
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