Avengers: Endgame writers open up about ending those characters’ stories

Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely discuss how and why they chose to close the book on several key characters in Avengers: Endgame. Major spoilers lie ahead.

It’s the dawn of a new day in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and, while it’s been brewing for a while, it really began in earnest with Avengers: Endgame. The film was the conclusion of the “Infinity Saga” and the end for a few veteran MCU characters. As one would expect, these story decisions were not made lightly. And writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely made sure of that.

While speaking with the The New York Times, the Endgame writers talked about concluding the journeys of Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. For Black Widow, her sacrifice on Vormir seemed like a fitting and heroic end to her story. Having found a family in the Avengers, Natasha would do “whatever it takes” to get them back, as McFeely points out:

"“Her journey, in our minds, had come to an end if she could get the Avengers back. She comes from such an abusive, terrible, mind-control background, so when she gets to Vormir and she has a chance to get the family back, that’s a thing she would trade for.”"

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The other major death that occurred was, of course, that of Tony Stark, who was mortally wounded after using the Infinity Stones to snap Thanos and his army out of existence. It may have seemed like a tough decision to kill off Iron Man but, according to McFeely, it was always the plan.:

"“Everyone knew this was going to be the end of Tony Stark…the watchword was, end this chapter, and he started the chapter.”"

And when asked if there were every any alternatives to ending his story, Markus added a plain “no” because Tony did end up getting what he always wanted:

"“No. Because we had the opportunity to give him the perfect retirement life, within the movie…that’s the life he’s been striving for. Are he and Pepper going to get together? Yes. They got married, they had a kid, it was great. It’s a good death. It doesn’t feel like a tragedy. It feels like a heroic, finished life.”"

And finally, Steve Rogers returned to the 1940s to make a life with Peggy Carter, but he did come back to the present as an old man to hand off his shield to Sam Wilson. Just as they did with Stark’s story, the duo always knew Cap would reunite with Peggy. McFeely mentioned that they struggled because his ending could be viewed simply as fan service. But they ultimately agreed that Rogers deserved that moment:

"“From the very first outline, we knew he was going to get his dance. On a separate subject, I started to lose my barometer on what was just fan service and what was good for the character…but I’ll tell you, it’s satisfying. He’s postponed a life in order to fulfill his duty. That’s why I didn’t think we were ever going to kill him. Because that’s not the arc. The arc is, I finally get to put my shield down because I’ve earned that.”"

Markus and McFeely seemed to have put a lot of thought into these arcs and, for the most part, these developments have been well received. It will be tough for fans to see these characters move on, and the MCU won’t be the same without them. Still, they leave a lasting mark on this franchise that won’t be forgotten.