Avengers: Endgame Writers Defend America's Ass Joke

Avengers: Endgame was a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie that has plenty of milestone moments, but virtually no one would've imagined that hearing Chris Evan's celebration of Captain America's butt would be one of the most popular. Indeed, the "America's Ass" joke from Endgame's Time Heist subplot got one of the biggest laughs of the whole film, but that doesn't everyone was a fan.

During a the Avengers: Endgame commentary track for the digital release, director's Joe and Anthony Russo and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely revealed that the "America's Ass" line was one of the most controversial jokes in Endgame:

"...And then probably the most controversial joke in the whole movie, 'America's ass.' Controversial for all of us. That was hotly debated," Joe Russo revealed.

"Was it?," McFeely asked.

"Yes," Joe confirmed.

Well, the discussion didin't stop there, as Markus and McFeely took it upon themsevles to defend the choice to keep the line in the film:

"How often does a man have the opportunity to admire his own ass from that perspective?" Markus asked. "You have to take it."

"You can't not do it," McFeely added.

Anthony Russo chimed in to back up the writers, stating, "Exactly. Coincidence smiled upon him."

If you were one of the three people who didn't see Avengers: Endgame: During the "Time Heist" a group of Avengers travel back to 2012 and the Battle of New York that was the climatic act of the first Avengers movie. The plan was to wait until the battle's aftermath and steal the Space Stone (Tesseract) and Mind Stone (Loki's staff) while they were in transit to secure facilities. In Captain America's case, Iron Man mocks Steve's choice in costume back in 2012, saying it did nothing to flatter his butt. That prompted Ant-Man to proclaim that, as far as he's concerned "That's America's Ass!" Soon after Cap is confronted the 2012 version of himself and they fight it out. Elder Cap wins, but looking at his unconcscious past self, he takes a minute to acknowledge and admire "America's Ass."

As McFeely revealed, the scene was put in to be a meta commentary on real behind-the-scenes history of the MCU:

"It's a little meta," McFeely told the Los Angeles Times. "Chris Evans has never been comfortable with that outfit from the first Avengers movie. And so in the rearview, it's a little way to wink at how that was then, and this is now. And then it sort of just built from there. By the time we got to the fight scene where he defeated himself, his butt is on the ground and he was just sitting there for a callback."

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.