Avengers: Endgame - When and How the Milano Got Shrunk Revealed

With a runtime stretching longer than three hours, there was a lot to pack in for Avengers: Endgame, and the filmmakers still had to cut out a lot of scenes from the film. Some of these scenes further explain some details that might have gotten lost throughout the story, even if they don't do much to serve the movie's narrative.

One such scene explains how Earth's Mightiest Heroes managed to shrink the Milano, the Guardians of the Galaxy's ship that they take back in time. But in doing so, they might have opened up a whole new can of worms regarding the ending of Avengers: Endgame.

During the film's commentary track, co-director Joe Russo wonders allowed about the filmmaker's own reasoning for shrinking the spaceship. "Clearly they had shrunk the ship prior to departure for traveling purposes, right?" Russo asks.

Co-writer Stephen McFeely uses the simplest explanation, even though it's one that is hampered by the severe limit of their resources.

"They're giving out Pym Particles," McFeely responded.

Added Russo, "It's a little easier to travel with a small ship."

While this explanation is fine at face value, there's also a major question of the limits of the Pym Particles. Ant-Man states that they only have enough to get to their destination and back, which is why Captain America and Iron Man had to make a major detour after suffering their setback.

Hawkeye and Black Widow use the Milano to travel to Vormir, and then we see Clint Barton travel back alone after Natasha Romanoff's sacrifice to secure the Soul Stone. We don't see Hawkeye shrink the ship again, nor do we see him give it back to Rocket. And yet at the end of the film, we see the Guardians of the Galaxy back on the ship with their new teammate Thor.

Of course, we should just assume that the Avengers took care of business between scenes, that Hawkeye managed to pull himself together long enough to shrink the Milano again, that Ant-Man and the other brains accounted for the need to shrink, embiggen, and shrink the ship again, and that the Guardians got another supply of Pym Particles to get their ride back to normal.

These questions definitely do not ruin our enjoyment of Avengers: Endgame, but they are certainly worth asking...

Avengers: Endgame is now available on Digital HD, and will be available on Blu-Ray and DVD on August 13th.