“Avengers: Endgame” director Anthony Russo describes “closure”

Two weeks ago, we had the opportunity to watch some footage of “Avengers: Endgame” on the Walt Disney Studios lot with some special guests: Anthony and Joe Russo, the writers and directors of the movie.

They were actually on the lot finishing up the film in the secret, guarded editing room on the lot, but took some time to mingle with the select press invited to screen footage of the film that evening.

We weren’t told that we couldn’t approach them during the reception after the screening, so many of us (including me) took the opportunity to ask pointed, non-spoiler questions. So I approached a very kind Anthony Russo and asked a simple question: “what is closure” to you?

Below is his answer in full. Perhaps it may give some hints on what we can expect when “Avengers: Endgame” hits theaters in a few days.

“That’s an interesting question. And I can answer it in two ways.

Closure by definition is where things that begin come to their conclusion, or end. And for Joe and I, we have brought many of our stories to a close by reflecting on where they began. For our Marvel stories, we started with ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier’ where we got to tell our own stories using the Marvel characters and worlds (political divides for Civil War, for example).

So in on way, we are closing our own narratives that we’ve been weaving into the MCU. But most importantly, our look at closure when it comes to ‘Avengers: Endgame’ means that we have the privilege of bookending something that spans a generation.

Closure for this movie means that we had to take some existing narratives that our fellow MCU filmmakers who came before us and really end it. It is the end, so we needed to find the best way to close not only our narrative, but the narratives that each of these characters have been carrying for such a long time, and that audiences have grown to love in their own ways.

I think through the collaboration between all these directors, teams, and just the energy and anticipation from the fans has allowed us to bring this phase of MCU to a rightful and satisfying end.”