Anna Daniels
During the April 27 event, Avengers: Endgame co-writer Stephen McFeely answered the burning question of the five-year time skip in not just one, but two Twitter posts. When asked if the five-year figure ever changed over the course of the writing process, McFeely replied: “No. Five seemed reasonable — means you can keep your actors looking similar.” Later, he extrapolated by tweeting, “The five year jump allowed us to explore how the Avengers processed grief differently.” By way of illustration, the scribe attached a link to the famous Kubler-Ross model, a.k.a the ‘five stages of grief’ (via Psych Central): denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
Perhaps not coincidentally, many of Endgame’s post-time skip Avengers certainly seem to fit to the bill, when you think about it. The chunky, boozy, video gaming Thor was certainly deep in denial, while Hawkeye’s sword-wielding Ronin persona was… pretty angry, wasn’t he? Steve Rogers’ struggle to accept the situation could be interpreted as bargaining, and the “sandwich” scene showed even the usually hard-edged Black Widow breaking down and showing signs of depression. Meanwhile, Bruce Banner managed to accept a peaceful coexistence with Hulk and proceed to live his absolute best life. Who said superhero movies were detached from the real world?
Written by: Looper
