WARNING: Spoilers below. Do not read if you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame.
Avengers: Endgame is breaking all kinds of box office records right now, but there’s one milestone the film accomplished that no one seems to be talking about: the record for how many times one superhero flick can make us cry.
With all of the sentimental callback, empowering team-ups, and shocking character deaths, Endgame must’ve been a boon for the tissue industry and it wasn’t just the fans reaching for their Kleenex. Plenty of the movie’s cast has admitted to bawling like babies upon reading the final script and learning their fates. Chris Evans revealed he cried three times while shooting — and no, it wasn’t when his tush earned the title of “America’s ass.”
The actor who brought Captain America to life on the big screen had one of the most surprisingly-emotional arcs of the film with his character returning the Infinity Stones to their rightful place in time following the defeat of Thanos, and then choosing to remain in the past to spend his life with love Peggy Carter. The movie ends with an aged Cap returning to the present and gifting his best friend, Sam Wilson, the Captain America shield, essentially passing the torch to a new generation of superheroes.
Wilson is understandably shocked by the gesture, but the actor who plays him, Anthony Mackie, was even more stunned to learn his character’s fate, and that’s partly because of who delivered the news. Mackie told IMDb that he hadn’t seen the script for Endgame before shooting began and it was only when Evans let slip how the film ends that he realized what was in store for his character.
“We were at his house and he goes, ‘You excited?’ And I go, ‘What are you talking about?’ and he goes, ‘You don’t know?’ He jumps up, runs out of the room and comes back in with the script,” Mackie said.
After reading through the character’s storyline, Mackie had the appropriate reaction.
“We cried. We drank. We laughed,” he said of the evening. “I am very happy I got that moment with Chris, for him to not only pass me the shield, but to tell me it was happening.”
The two men have been friends since they shared the screen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Mackie’s character, Sam Wilson, has been Cap’s able sidekick for every film since, so it’s only right that he picks up the mantle of his bud, both on-screen and off.
You can watch Mackie’s entire interview below, but maybe, you should grab some tissue first.