Avengers: Endgame Has Subtle Callback To Hawkeye And Black Panther Moment In Civil War

Avengers: Endgame’s large third act battle scene has just about everything that Marvel fans could have wanted in a clash that size. Every member of the ensemble gets to have their moment in the sun and Hawkeye even gets a little bit of respect for his role in saving the world this time. The archer was missing in action for the entirety of Avengers: Infinity War, but he comes up clutch during the Stark Gauntlet relay during this colossal battle in the sequel.

Hawkeye is running as fast as possible from the outriders while keeping the Infinity Stones away from Thanos’ forces. He comes to a bit of a dead-end and looks up to see the King of Wakanda with an outstretched palm. Black Panther then calmly tells him, “Clint, give it to me.” Audiences were pumped for this moment because they get to see T’Challa in action again, but also it calls back to a funny moment in Captain America: Civil War.

The filmmakers couldn’t resist making a nod toward that initial interaction at this point in Avengers: Endgame. They talked about the decision to include it during the commentary track for the film. Joe Russo begins, “If you remember, in Civil War, Clint introduces himself.” This comment is played for laughs during the initial encounter because of the gap in powers between a lot of the heroes facing off.

Stephen McFeely jumps right in with a chuckle, “Right. This is very subtle, but yes.” “T’Challa says, ‘I don’t care.’ And now, he says ‘Clint, give it to me,’” Joe Russo continues. So there is a measure of respect between the two characters now. Both men have grown a lot in the time since their first meeting. Hawkeye has been fighting crime as a vigilante. T’Challa has completely changed his stance on outsiders and working together with forces outside of Wakanda.

Black Panther is so beloved now that one of Avengers: Endgame’s most epic moments occurs when a portal opens behind Captain America and the newly revived T’Challa arrives along with his army.

The Russo Brothers recently revealed why he was placed so prominently in a Ask Me Anything thread on Reddit, explaining that there was a deliberate reason why T’Challa was the first person we see walking out of the portal.

“We spent a lot of time in the edit room playing around with the sequencing of the portals,” Joe Russo wrote. “We probably didn’t lock that section of the movie until about a month before the film was in theaters. We always wanted Sam to be the first one to communicate with Cap via his comm and Sam was last in Wakanda, so logically the first portal that would open would the Wakandan portal. And the first person that would logically walk through a portal from Wakanda would be the king himself, bringing his army once again to the defense of Cap and the world.”

Phase 4 has many twists and turns ahead, but Black Panther and Hawkeye will both figure prominently going forward as a new era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe begins.