How The ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Writers Decided Which Characters Would Die

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.

Millions have flocked to theaters to see Avengers: Endgame over the past couple of weeks, which means that millions of people are still recovering from some pretty serious deaths. Even though the deceased heroes from Avengers: Infinity War were resurrected in Endgame, that didn’t ease the pain from Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff’s heroic deaths.

It had been long suspected that a main Avenger or two would make the ultimate sacrifice in the movie, with many theorizing either Tony or Steve Rogers would be the one to go. Natasha’s death was much more of a surprise than Tony’s, and plenty of fans were hoping there was some way to reverse it. Now the film’s screenwriters — Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely — are admitting how they chose which members of the bunch were going to meet their end, as detailed in an interview with Variety.

According to the writers, they knew how Endgame was going to finish before they began writing Infinity War.

“What we were trying to do was lead with what’s best for the characters. We felt that that meant that some characters might come to an end because they make an ultimate sacrifice and that’s the end of the journey for them,” McFeely noted.

“These people started out in a certain place that had problems that needed fixing and arched over to a point of completion. So, it really is the rightful and fitting end for them. I think if we kept Tony alive or if we killed Cap, it would have rung false,” Markus continued.

‘Avengers: Endgame’ Writers Explain How They Chose Who Would Live and Who Would Die https://t.co/UvBf4Utxo1

— Variety (@Variety) May 11, 2019

Markus’ comments regarding killing off Captain America make complete sense since doing so would be a disservice to the character’s story arc. Cap has always been known as a “man out of time,” and despite being the eldest of the bunch, he hasn’t had the chance to fully live his life. Killing off Steve Rogers without giving him some sense of normalcy would have been an insult, and since Tony had come full circle, his death was, in a way, much more satisfying.

Natasha will also be getting her own solo film, which currently has no release date. The movie is rumored to be an origin story, focusing on her time in Russia and how she became a spy. This bodes well for the character, as fans will now remember her in her last role as she’s alive and well, and not with blood seeping from her body at the bottom of a cliff on Vormir.