Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for Avengers: Endgame!
Tony Stark’s closing moments in Avengers: Endgame gave his character a fitting sendoff. However, it didn’t originally play out the same way. Co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo recently spoke to CinemaBlend about Stark’s final battle with Thanos. And initially, Stark wasn’t going to say revisit his famous quote from the end of Iron Man in 2008.
“Originally when he snapped, he didn’t say, ‘I am Iron Man.’ The idea came up while we were in post production,” said Anthony Russo.
Joe Russo then explained a perfect suggestion that came from editor Jeff Ford.
“We were sitting on our editorial, and we were reworking that sequence, and Thanos says, ‘I am inevitable.’ And we were like, ‘We need a response to that. What is the response to that?’ And (Jeff) said, ‘What about I am Iron Man?’ And we were like, ‘That’s it!’” To which Anthony agreed, “We must shoot that, we have to shoot that!”
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However, Robert Downey Jr. wasn’t entirely on board with the idea at first.
“It’s an interesting story,” explained Joe Russo. “I had dinner with [Robert] like two weeks before we were supposed to shoot it. And he was like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t really want to go back and get into that emotional state. It’ll take…it’s hard.’ And crazily enough, Joel Silver, the producer, was at the dinner. He’s an old buddy of Robert’s. And Joel jumps in and he’s like, ‘Robert, what are you talking about? That’s the greatest line I’ve ever heard! You gotta say this line! You have to do this!’ So thank God that Joel Silver was at dinner, because he helped us talk Robert into doing that line.”
Downey has been very hands-on with Stark’s character development over the years. So it’s no surprise that the Russos consulted with him on this and other things, including his character’s inevitable fate. Eventually, it all worked out and it closed Tony Stark’s legacy in the best way possible.
Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now. What do you think about Tony’s iconic line in Endgame? Let us know in the comments below!
