Avengers: Endgame Directors Confirm Movie Edit Is Locked

Screen Rant

By Cooper Hood

Published Mar 8, 2019

Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo confirm that they've finished editing their cut of the next MCU adventure and Phase 3 finale.

Directors Anthony and Joe Russo have officially completed their cut of Avengers: Endgame, nearly two months before the film will hit theaters. Marvel Studios has been building the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the last 10 years to lead to this point, and the Russos have played a strong part in shaping it. They truly brought Thanos (Josh Brolin) to life in Avengers: Infinity War and showed why he was a villain worth waiting for. He wiped out half of all life across the universe with the snap of his fingers, leaving only a few heroes left who can try to stop him.

With so much built-in excitement for Endgame, Marvel has barely scratched the surface of the film in the marketing. The limited amount of footage shown has helped this cause, but the often-discussed three-hour runtime has also guaranteed there is still a lot we've yet to see. The Russo brothers have said that Disney and Marvel are prepared to release Endgame at whatever runtime is necessary, even if the extended length can limit showtimes and possibly decrease the film's immediate box office potential.

Whatever runtime was needed for Endgame has now been agreed upon, as the Russo brothers took to social media to confirm they've finished editing the Phase 3 capper. It is the latest example of Marvel Studios' well-oiled machine at work, as this comes the day Captain Marvel hits theaters. To celebrate the accomplishment, the Russos shared a photo of their sundae bar that is being used by them and their crew.

Even though the edit is now complete on Avengers: Endgame, the Russos and other departments still have some work left to do. For instance, the VFX teams will still spend the remainder of their time completing and perfecting the thousands of VFX shots Endgame has to offer. But, the story being locked guarantees that no more work will be done on scenes that won't make it into the film, allowing them to focus completely on delivering the best looking movie possible, while other departments will worry about locking in the sound.

It is currently not known when Avengers: Endgame needs to be 100 percent done so Marvel Studios can begin showing it to critics, but the crews should have at least till the end of March or early April. Marvel is surely going to be very protective of the film to try and prevent any spoilers from making their way online, and one of the best ways to do that will be holding back press screenings. This is what they did with Infinity War to keep Thanos' snap and other key moments from leaking, and with Endgame expected to shake up the MCU once again, it will be quite surprising if Marvel doesn't follow this same approach.

Either way, this is just the latest step for the Russo brothers towards their possible exit from the MCU as a whole. Avengers: Endgame is their fourth film in the shared universe, and they believe it is their best work yet. Hopefully this now locked cut can make good on their tease, and will receive similarly great reactions that the test screenings got.