Avengers: Endgame is full of moments that made the audience cheer with delight during its lengthy run and one of the moments, at least during my packed screenings on opening night, is the female heroes scene that springs all of the Marvel ladies into action against Thanos. I would only find out later that some moviegoers called the “girl power” scene out during the final battle for being too pandering to fans and it turns out the studio had concerns about this too.
Executive producer Trinh Tran revealed the concerns in the new MCU behind-the-scenes book, “The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.” Tran reveals that the moment came about because of a viral Twitter photo of the female Marvel stars such as Scarlett Johansson, Brie Larson, Tessa Thompson, and Zoe Saldana, among others, “spurred collective talk” at the studio of bringing the ladies of the MCU together. During this time, many of the actresses began discussing the possibility of an all-female MCU movie with Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige. While nothing of that scope could be done so quickly, it did lead to the final battle scene being expanded upon to bring their characters together. After testing the scene, Tran admits that there were concerns by the studio that it could be too pandering and if it fits into the greater narrative of the film:
“[In earlier cuts] when we started screen-testing it, there was a little concern for ‘Does it come off [as] pandering?’ Are we going to get people saying, ‘Oh you’re just putting that scene in there just to put the scene in there. Does it actually have a story to tell with the rest of the narrative?’ That was always a concern in the back of our heads.'”
Despite their feelings about the scene, Tran and her Marvel team were determined to keep the moment in the film. In order to make the moment less pandering, it was decided to shoot new scenes of the female heroes in the battle ahead of the big group shot. The thought was that by showing the female heroes individually first, the big team-up moment would feel more organic and not forced into the greater climax of the film. Whether or not this really worked, is a matter of opinion. I certainly don’t mind the moment and it’s honestly pretty common to see men in these movies, or movies like it, get this kind of cool money shot so why can’t the ladies? The fact that there was so much concern surrounding this scene shows how sad it is that a moment like it isn’t seen nearly enough.
What are YOUR thoughts on the female team-up scene today?