Avengers: Endgame Cut an Awesome Moment Between Iron Man and Shuri

It’s no surprise that Avengers: Endgame is full of incredible moments. The massive Marvel Cinematic Universe film had the immense task of pulling together all the of the narrative threads from over a decade’s worth of films and stories to bring to a close the chapter begun with Iron Man. That means an epic battle, fascinating character evolutions, and incredible team ups are all part and parcel of the blockbuster film. Yet, for all of those moments there’s one moment that never made it to screen, one that would have seen a team up of sorts between two of the MCU’s brightest minds: Iron Man and Shuri.

In Avengers: Endgame – The Art of the Movie, concept illustrator Jackson Sze breaks down an interaction that he envisioned between Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Shuri (Leticia Wright) that would have brought the two brilliant scientists together in appreciation of each other’s intellect and skills.

“Because they’re both brilliant scientists, I thought that Tony Star would appreciate the tech that Shuri can bring and be impressed by her technology,” Sze said. “I was hoping to get that moment of the scientists meeting and appreciating each other’s tech.”

Sadly, that moment didn’t make it to screen, but we get a taste of what it could have looked like in the concept art for the moment, which you can check out below.

It turns out that the lack of an Iron Man/Shuri team up is one that Marvel Studios producer Trinh Tran revealed during the Avengers Endgame Vudu Viewing Party back in August that it’s that team up that she regrets not getting the chance to see. When asked which interactions she would’ve liked to see out of the ones that didn’t happen, Tran made it clear that it was Tony and Shuri.

“I would’ve loved to see Tony and Shuri get together because I think they could’ve created something brilliant,” Tran said.

While fans won’t get to see Shuri and Tony team up in a traditional sense going forward given Tony’s sacrifice in Endgame — though given how comics has seen the use of an A.I. based on Tony, anything could be possible — we haven’t seen the last of Shuri. Fans will see her and her brilliance again in Black Panther 2 and, hopefully, more stories to come beyond that as the MCU continues to unfold.