Logan influenced Avengers: Endgame’s death scenes

Marvel Studios hoped to follow in Logan’s footsteps when crafting the character deaths in Avengers: Endgame.

Death has always been tricky territory in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with many arguing that deaths don’t usually have the lasting, emotional impact that they should. This perception has somewhat changed after the release of Avengers: Endgame. Marvel Studios was aware of their track record with death going into Endgame and looked to another superhero movie for inspiration.

Empire Magazine recently spoke with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, who isn’t immune to the critiques of the MCU’s handling of death. He and his team knew fans wanted real stakes in Endgame, and they set out to deliver just that:

"“There was some sense that deaths don’t matter in our movies – Nick Fury gets shot and died in Winter Soldier and comes back in the third act, which was awesome, but is not a death. And people were clamouring for, not death necessarily, but stakes and real emotion. And I remember thinking, ‘be careful what you wish for,’ as we started getting closer to this. But we never questioned it. All of the angst and all of the effort went into sticking the landing, to making it worthwhile.”"

Feige wanted the deaths to leave a lasting impression so, while crafting them, he and his collaborators looked to another Marvel film for guidance, Logan:

"“We saw Logan like the audience did, in a theater having nothing to do with the making of that film and went, ‘oh my god, what an amazing ending for Hugh as this character.”"

Logan turned out to be an ideal template, as it’s a superhero film that also features the demise of a beloved character that had been played by a single actor for years:

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"“And there are only a handful of examples where an actor so associated with a character can go out perfectly. And Logan is the only one that jumps to mind right now, there are not that many of them. And that’s what we desperately wanted to give Robert, and that was what our focus was on.”"

Killing off any character can be challenging, but the emotional baggage the public has with characters like Iron Man and Black Widow makes it that much harder. James Mangold had a difficult task when writing and directing Logan. But ultimately, he succeeded in creating a send-off for Wolverine that still resonates with viewers.

Marvel Studios was also able to give relatively fitting ends to both Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff. Given the response to their deaths, the studio may change its approach to the subject in future projects.

Seeing fan-favorite characters get the axe, but it makes for compelling and dynamic storytelling, if done effectively. Even though the MCU isn’t going to start killing its major players left and right, there are sure to be more lasting deaths moving forward.