SDCC 2019: Russo Brothers answer questions posed by Avengers, from who is leader, the smartest and has the best a**
While speaking in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, the directors, brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, took questions from some of their biggest stars including Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., and others. ‘Avengers: Endgame’, the penultimate movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) Phase 3, has become arguably the most popular franchise movie of all time.
‘Endgame’ brought the epic story of the Infinity Saga, spanning over 20 movies, to a final conclusion. It follows the Avengers and their allies as they attempt to defeat the intergalactic tyrant Thanos.
The movie stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye and Josh Brolin as Thanos, along with Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Benedict Wong, Jon Favreau, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
The Russo brothers have been a major creative force behind the success of the MCU. The duo served as directors for both ‘Endgame’ and its prequel ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, as well as ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and ‘Captain America: Civil War’.
Mark Ruffalo wanted to know who’s the smartest Avenger
‘Avengers: Endgame’ featured a brand new Hulk, one who combined the intelligence of Dr. Bruce Banner with the raw power of the Green Goliath. The Hulk actor asked the directors whether the new Professor Hulk is now both the strongest and the smartest Avenger. The Russos responded that Tony solved time-travel, not Bruce and the title “The Smartest Avenger” actually belongs to Wakanda’s young genius Shuri.
Chris Evans wanted to know where Steve Rogers went after getting his dance with Peggy Carter
The last few scenes of ‘Avengers: Endgame’ revealed that after delivering the Infinity Stones to their rightful places in the timeline, Steve Rogers went back to live his life out with the love of his life, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), finally getting to share a dance with her after promising to do so in the very first 'Captain America' movie.
Evans wanted to know what Steve did right after and the directors responded saying he probably went to the restroom or tried to make a baby with Peggy before saying there’s a lot of things he could do in the alternate universe, including rescuing his pal Bucky, bringing down the villainous organization HYDRA, saving himself from ice and figuring out a way to share his duties with the Steve from the past.
Evans also asked which was the most stressful and most relaxing movies the brothers worked on for the MCU, to which they responded with ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ respectively.
Chris Hemsworth wanted to know who’s the boss
The Thor actor asked who the best leader for the Guardians of the Galaxy would be, Thor or Peter Quill. At the end of ‘Avengers: Endgame’, Thor departs for the stars with the Guardians and has a discussion with Quill about the exact same topic. Joe Russo joked that Hemsworth’s question was more of a statement since the Thor actor clearly already knows who is in charge.
Paul Rudd wanted to know which Chris has the best a**
The ‘Ant-man’ actor asked the directors which Chris (between Evans, Helmsworth and Pratt) has the best America’s A**, a reference to a scene in ‘Endgame’. The Russo brothers refused to weigh in on that particular question. Rudd also said he wanted to know who the Best Paul in the MCU is, him or Vision actor Paul Bettany.
Robert Downey Jr. wanted to know the difference between the two “I am Iron Man” scenes
In the 2008 ‘Iron Man’ movie, Tony declares his secret identity to the world at a press conference with the words “I am Iron Man”. Poetically, those were also his last words before using the Infinity Stones to reverse Thanos’ Snap and dying as a consequence.
The ‘Iron Man’ actor asked the Russo brothers what the single most important difference was between the two scenes, to which the directors responded by saying that it was Tony’s transformation from being an ego-centric person to someone ready to sacrifice himself for the whole world that made all the difference.