Ant-Man Joke Was Cut From Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame became available for home-viewing this week, which means fans have gotten the chance to listen to the film’s commentary, which features the directors and writers. Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Stephen McFeely, and Christopher Markus all shared behind-the-scenes facts and stories during the film’s three-hour run. During that time, they discussed some moments that didn’t make it into the movie. One scene involved a callback to an Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) joke from Captain America: Civil War.

The joke is discussed when Hawkeye comes back from time travel after Anthony tries to confuse McFeely with a scene that never happened.

“I thought he was gonna talk the orange slice joke that we cut out at the end of it [the Hawkeye return from time travel scene],” Joe says.

“Oh my god I forgot about that,” Anthony replies.

“Where Rudd is holding an orange slice and says ‘Anybody want an orange slice?,’” Joe adds.

While Ant-Man may not have gotten in his joke, McFeely and Markus do acknowledge that the character’s films were the inspiration behind the time travel in Avengers: Endgame.

“This is, you know, sort of mirrors us sitting in a room trying to figure out how the hell to get out of the corner we wrote ourselves in at the end of Infinity War and entertaining the idea of a time machine, and then feeling that was the stupidest idea you could possibly have, but then realizing that the Ant-Man franchise, which we hadn’t dealt with yet, had legitimacy, if you believe the science, the seeds of a time machine in it, which was a breakthrough,” Markus explained.

Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Brie Larson (Captain Marvel), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie), and Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon).

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.