As a conclusion to more than a decade of previous films, it’s safe to say that Avengers: Endgame had quite a lot of ground to cover in its massive three-hour runtime. Even then, it sounds like there are some elements that were ultimately left on the cutting room floor of the Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster. In a new interview with /Film, Endgame editor Jeff Ford highlighted one of those moments, which would have been a longer fight scene between T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Ebony Maw (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor).
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“We didn’t really shuffle it around a lot. I remember we did have a much more elaborate sequence with [Thanos’s henchman, Ebony] Maw,” Ford explained. “His battle with Panther was longer. I remember we took it down because when they come through the portals, they kind of introduce all these characters into the story that haven’t been in the movie yet…Panther and Maw felt like, that’s not the story that we’re tracking, so maybe we reduce that stuff.”
Given how massive that final battle was – bringing nearly every costumed hero in the MCU together to take on Thanos and his army – it’s arguably easy to see why this sequence was shortened. But nevertheless, the world of Black Panther and Wakanda definitely had an impact on Endgame — and especially on its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War.
“Listen, a year ahead of time, we had no idea ‘Wakanda Forever’ was going to be amazing,” co-writer Stephen McFeely said during Infinity War‘s commentary track. “We tested this movie a few times, and when we got to this scene, most of the audiences, say in January and early February, went, ‘Oh this is an interesting place, I’ve never been here before.’ After mid-February, once Black Panther had come out, this scene gets a huge cheer. It just rewards you investing in these characters. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but boy, I was really pleased.”
“It was a big conversation early on. I said, ‘We’re going to set a lot of the third act in Wakanda because if you’re going to go anywhere in the world to protect a McGuffin from an evil alien, it’s going to be Wakanda,’” co-director Joe Russo added.
Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall of 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, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022.
