Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Endgame.

We have yet to reach the endgame of picking over Avengers: Endgame, so as directors Joe and Anthony Russo do the post-release rounds and dig into the nitty gritty, CinemaBlend asked how they came to Tony Stark’s memorable final line, “I am Iron Man” in response to Thanos saying, “I am inevitable.” While they tried out a few different responses, it wasn’t until a suggestion from their editor Jeff Ford came up in post-production that they landed on the line:

Anthony Russo: Originally when he snapped, he didn’t say, ‘I am Iron Man.’ The idea came up while we were in post production. Our editor, Jeff Ford…

 

Joe Russo: We were sitting on our editorial, and we were reworking that sequence, and Thanos says ‘I am inevitable.’ And we were like, ‘We need a response to that. What is the response to that?’ And our editor said, ‘What about I am Iron Man?’ And we were like, ‘That’s it!’

 

Anthony: We must shoot that, we have to shoot that!

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Image via Marvel Studios

However, Robert Downey Jr. was a little reluctant to go back for a reshoot, and it took some convincing from pal and legendary producer Joel Silver to make it happen:

“It’s an interesting story. I had dinner with [Robert Downey Jr.] like two weeks before we were supposed to shoot it. And he was like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t really want to go back and get into that emotional state. It’ll take… it’s hard.’ And crazily enough, Joel Silver, the producer, was at the dinner. He’s an old buddy of Robert’s. And Joel jumps in and he’s like, ‘Robert, what are you talking about? That’s the greatest line I’ve ever heard! You gotta say this line! You have to do this!’ So thank God that Joel Silver was at dinner, because he helped us talk Robert into doing that line.”

So that’s how you got a great closing line out of Tony Stark (minus his hologram farewell afterwards).

For more on Avengers: Endgame, click on the links below.

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