Avengers: Endgame Directors Explain How Five Year Time Jump Affected All the Characters

Avengers: Endgame is the biggest movie of all-time and for good reason. Those behind the film ended up taking a few chances on their fair share of storytelling risks and more times than not, it all paid off. One of those risks came just moments into the first act when suddenly, the entire timeline lept forward a whole five years.

The time allowed an ill Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) to not only get better but start a family with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). That time allowed Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) to turn into the vigilante Ronin and traverse the world hunting down the bosses to crim syndicates at various points around the globe. The filmmakers behind the film — Joe and Anthony Russo, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely — laid down a commentary track for the home media release of Avengers: Endgame in which they explained how the time jump impacted the characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"Let's talk about Tony in this film, and Tony's arc in this movie," Joe Russo started the conversation off with. "What is most compelling for all of us as storytellers, I think, is making character travel the greatest distance. And so if you look at where Tony started in the Marvel Universe as an egotistical, self-involved character, by the end of this film, he is selfless. And this movie I think is a large part of his journey and it will complicate and bring to the forefront the essential conflict of who he is as a hero."

McFeely was sure to point out the character's choice to go on a path of selflessness and starting a family.

"And it tests him dramatically," the writer said. "He certainly has been taking nibbles at being a more selfless character all along the way. I mean, certainly in Avengers, he was gonna die by sending a nuke into space. By the time he gets to Civil War, he's certainly trying to take things out of his own hands."

"But by the time he gets here, has a family to lose, the sacrifice becomes pretty dramatic."

Avengers: Endgame is now available digitally ahead of a home media release on August 13th.

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in spring 2021, Loki in spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If? In summer 2021, Hawkeye in fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021.