Avengers: Endgame is a movie about a lot of themes. One of the biggest ones that bubble to the surface time and again is the question of personal sacrifice. So, obviously, as the time comes to bring everyone back for the final battle, the question of how to deliver a satisfying payoff for all the individual sacrifices that led to the mass resurrection. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely shared writing duties on Avengers: Endgame. The duo talked about that impressive moment when all of the dead Avengers come back to the battlefield in the third act. In the Endgame artbook, the writers grappled with bringing all those heroes right there where Hulk performed the snap. But, after some careful consideration, they thought it better to leave the audience waiting for it a little while longer. The result is one of the most satisfying moments in the entire film.
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“[We] asked ourselves often, ‘What does it mean to bring everybody back?’” Screenwriter Stephen McFeely says, “‘What is the best way to do that?’ We certainly tried a version where everyone came back, and you knew it immediately, and there they were. Maybe they all came back to wherever you wish them to come back to, and then Thanos attacked them all at once, but doing that prevented us from a really heroic reveal.”
“It made the fight feel like an afterthought because they had accomplished their goal,” Screenwriter Christopher Markus adds. “Even if those people are brought back when Hulk snaps his fingers, you still have that lingering feeling that all is not resolved yet.”
That feeling of unresolved tension plays into a lot of the choices in Endgame. After Hulk snaps, there’s the feeling that everything worked, but there isn’t direct confirmation until Sam Wilson comes through on Captain America’s communicator. The Russo Brothers talked about those decisions with Business Insider. All of the Avengers were at a different point in their loss after Thanos’ death five years prior. “They were past the immediate grieving period,” Anthony Russo said.
“They accepted it and made choices about how they were going to proceed with their future, and that changes people,” Joe Russo chimed in. “Clearly, Banner has changed dramatically.” As the story goes, Captain America was outwardly looking on the bright side like whales surviving in the Hudson River while, on the inside, he was really searching for a solution.
When the solution came, it was one that got people jumping out of their seats. Looks like that was the right call.
