Kevin Feige talks the Endgame scene that was too gruesome for the final cut

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Back when AVENGERS: ENDGAME directors Joe and Anthony Russo were promoting their Marvel swan song at this year's San Diego Comic-Con event, the duo revealed to Entertainment Weekly that an early concept for the film involved Thanos tossing the decapitated head of past-Captain America at the feet of the First Avenger's defeated teammates. In time, the Russos had given up on the idea, even if they both wanted it to remain a part of the film for quite some time.

“We clung to that story line for so long just for that moment of Thanos walking through a portal and dropping Captain America’s severed head,” director Anthony Russo told EW at the time.

“We had most of the script working except for the third act, because Anthony and I were clinging to this concept that we wanted Thanos to walk up to the Avengers and throw Captain America’s head on the ground,” Joe Russo added. “We couldn’t give up on it, and finally we said, ‘All right, what if we don’t do that, can we find another way into the third act?’ And that’s when it turned into what it is now.”

Damn, Russos, you cold as ice! I honestly can't imagine that this moment would have gone over well with audiences, especially with parents whose kids were there to see Cap lay a star-spangled beatdown on the Mad Titan. I mean, I probably would have applauded them for having the stones to go through with it, but my gut tells me that this would have been a very bad idea.

Recently while speaking with Empire, Marvel Studio head Kevin Feige revealed more about the ghastly Cap scene that never was.

“One of the ideas was, when they finish the time heist, they returned to a world [in 2023] that Thanos had already conquered, that involved all of that, the throne made of bones and skulls and had him tossing, like a bowling ball, Captain America’s severed skull head, still in the cowl, to Captain America,” Feige said. “And it was pretty cool, but the logic to get there defeated us.”

“Thanos is not just a purple guy with a big chin who sits in chairs and smirks, which is basically all he had been up until ‘Infinity War,'” Feige continued. “So much of the time we spent in a conference room in Pinewood in Atlanta that someday I want to have a plaque: ‘It was here that nine people almost lost their minds developing and writing “Infinity War” and “Endgame.”‘ I would keep opening the book and saying, ‘but we need to do this. We need something like this. Thanos can do this.'”

Feige added, “Some of that led to things you saw in ‘Infinity War’ in Nowhere where he turns Drax into a pile of cubes. Or turns Nebula into that spiraling ribbon. Or has bubbles come out of Star-Lord’s gun. His casual, sadistic use of the stones was something that we kept wanting to do.”

Boy oh boy, just when you thought portions of AVENGERS: ENDGAME couldn't get any darker, right?

At the end of the day, I'm glad that Feige and the brothers Russo decided to take a different approach to framing Thanos as one not to be taken lightly. After all, the Infinity Stones are capable of granting those who wield them powers untold, so to arrive at a beheading strikes me as, I don't know, bland? Oh sure, there's definitely some shock value to such a move, but I feel as if Thanos is more creative than that. For me, the Mad Titan is a villain who enjoys toying with his prey, partly out of hubris, but also because he's a sadist through and through. To have him revert to an act as barbaric as a beheading feels uninspired, does it not?

What do you all think? Should the Russos have found a way to make it all work, or does the final result of the finished film feel like the right move? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.