WARNING: For anyone who’s even later to the Avengers: Infinity War game than Leslie Jones, spoilers will be found below.
Given how Avengers: Infinity War hasn’t wavered from headlines since its late April release, it might be hard to believe further revelations are at hand. Well, directors Joe and Anthony Russo (who dropped several exclusive tidbits to UPROXX) still had more to tell fans during commentary portions of the film’s upcoming DVD and Blu-Ray release. And as it turns out, the Russos and screenwriters Chris Markus and Steve McFeely all bet big on whether Black Panther (which came out in February and would eventually became one of the top ten grossing films of all time) would be a success, and that gamble paid off.
Via Hollywood Reporter, the Russos admit to being caught off guard by one moment, which turned out to be awesome, during production. This occurred when the Black Panther actors on set (who were still shooting their film elsewhere in Atlanta) began improvising the Wakanda war chants during the film’s climactic showdown against Thanos:
Joe Russo: “We did not know — because we had not seen Black Panther because they were still making Black Panther … And they just started doing it.”
Anthony Russo: “Oh, my God, yeah.”
Joe: “And after watching Winston doing it in the opening of the sequence, it led to the responding war cry that T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) leads. A year ahead of time, we had no idea ‘Wakanda forever!’ was going to be amazing.”
The Russos called the on-set effect of the improvisation “incredibly cool,” and they decided to keep the moment in the film. Test audiences after Black Panther‘s release loved the chant and the setting, and as Steve McFeely added, the crowd’s response to Wakanda as the Infinity War third-act setting came as a relief and a “reward.” After all, Black Panther director Ryan Coogler was still in early stages of production when the Infinity War team also chose to bet on Wakanda’s appeal, according to DVD commentary from McFeely:
“We certainly talked about it a lot. Marvel knew it would be two months from having a third act in Wakanda, is that the smartest thing? But if you’re going to take [an Infinity] stone out, you need the best scientists, and if you’re going to protect yourself, you need the most secure country in the world.
“It ended up we looked pretty smart, because people loved that movie and it was delightful to go back, but it wasn’t a slam dunk that that would be the case.”
Infinity War will be available on DVD on August 14 and the film arrived on various streaming services as of July 31.
(Via Hollywood Reporter & The Wrap)