Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige Explains the Moment He Realized the Avengers Assembling Was an Iconic Moment

Over a decade and 21 films have led up to what can only be described as the biggest moment in comic book movies ever with Avengers: Endgame opening in theaters later this week. But while there will no doubt be plenty of memorable and even iconic moments in the rapidly-upcoming conclusion to the Infinity Saga, there is one moment that fans go back to as perhaps the most iconic of the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe: the first assembling of the team in Marvel's The Avengers. Now, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is opening up about when he knew that moment was as significant as we all know now it to be.

As part of Rotten Tomatoes' 21 Most Memorable Moments, a feature the review aggregate is doing to celebrate their 21st birthday this year, Feige explains some of the process behind that first-ever team up moment as well as when it hit him that director Joss Whedon had pulled off one of the great moments in superhero cinema and it turns out, it wasn't right away.

"That shot, the shot of all the Avengers assembling for the first time, was so much spectacle, so many visual effects," Feige said. "It was filmed in an open air warehouse in New Mexico, not in New York. There was nothing but green screen behind them. Hulk wasn't in the shot. Iron Man wasn't in the shot because they were CG and put in later, but it looked pretty cool and Joss had a great vision for it."

But it wasn't until a bit later, once the scene was connected to its music, that the "pretty cool" looks and Whedon's "vision" fully came together.

"Cut to many months later, the visual effects are coming together," Feige continued. "It's starting to look cool, Iron Man's now landing, Hulk's there. But the moment when I realized that this could be an iconic moment not just for the MCU, but for these kinds of films, was on the mix stage. You get the experience of watching the final playback on the mix stage with Silvestri's amazing score building to that moment and I got chills. And I realized Joss had pulled it off."

That moment has given many fans of the MCU chills over the years and it's that fan response -- particularly when the film first hit theaters -- that Feige said was truly astounding and special.

"We had high expectations for what the movie could be and the way the audience responded and the box office numbers behind it exceeded even our wildest expectations," he said. "It was astounding to watch and astounding to see them put it together and the response to it and the continued response was one of those sort of pinch yourself 'I can't believe this is actually happening' moment. Every day at Marvel Studios there's something amazing and special that happens. It was particularly special."

It will be interesting to see if there are any moments in Endgame that can top it, but one thing is certain. The box office response will absolutely do so. Endgame has already sold more than $120 million in presale tickets across retailers and theater companies, poising the film to break not only Infinity War's opening weekend record, but potentially making it the first ever film to make $300 million in its domestic debut.

Avengers: Endgame opens in theaters April 26th.

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