So, how good is the billion dollar Avengers finale?
Fake scripts and celebrity cameos: 22 facts about $1bn Avengers: Endgame
They are film phenomenons which attract a galaxy of A-List names and smash money-making records. Addicts of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU to fans) are counting the hours until tomorrow’s release of the 22nd film within the superhero series – Avengers: Endgame.
Pre-sales suggest its box office receipts will obliterate all previous records set by giant franchises such as Star Wars, Harry Potter and James Bond.
Whether you’re an expert on all things Marvel, or you don’t know your Ant Man from your Captain America, swot up with 22 unusual facts about the most lucrative films in the history of cinema.
1 It is the most successful film franchise of all time making more than £13.7billion to date.
Avengers Infinity War made £158million, but Endgame is on track to break all records, with 1.65 million seats already sold. That’s 2.5% of the UK population pre-booking to see the blockbuster. It has made £17million already in pre-sale box office takings – five times the number of tickets Avengers Infinity War sold over the same period in 2018.
2 It dwarfs the other big franchises. Star Wars has made £7.1billion, nine Harry Potter films made £6.5billion, Lord of the Rings £4.4billion and James Bond £3.8billion.
3 Endgame has been cloaked in Hollywood high-level secrecy with some of the cast not even knowing how it concludes.
Directors the Russo brothers wrote up fake scripts giving them to Mark Ruffalo, who plays The Hulk, thanks to his reputation for leaking spoilers, as well as Tom Holland, who plays Spider-Man.
4 Creator Stan Lee, who died last year at the age of 95, has appeared in a cameo role in every one of the Avengers-related films. He is also expected to appear in Avengers Endgame.
5 There are nods to the past and plenty of celebrity cameos, too. Original 70s TV Hulk Lou Ferrigno appeared as Stan Lee’s security in the 2003 Hulk film and then as a bodyguard in the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk. Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla boss, plays himself in Iron Man 2 and late comedian Joan Rivers appears as herself in Iron Man 3. Bridesmaids star Chris O’Dowd pops up in Thor: The Dark World. And David Hasselhoff (left) appears as The Hoff in Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
6 Marvel is superstitious. The original release date was May 3, 2019, but it was changed to the last full week of April – the week Infinity War was released – because of the preceding movie’s success.
7 Endgame will be the longest Marvel movie ever, coming in at three hours and two minutes long. It exactly equals An Unexpected Journey from the Hobbit trilogy.
8 You might think it’s all action and fantasy, but there are plenty of romances in the films, too. Not always easy ones however – petite 5ft 2in Natalie Portman had to use a ramp for kissing scenes with 6ft 2in Thor actor Chris Hemsworth.
9 Off-screen romances have played a part, too. Marisa Tomei who starred as Aunt May in Spider-Man, once dated Iron Man Robert Downey Jnr. They remained friends and he recommended her for the role.
10 Hurricane Irma caused problems for the film’s producers. On September 11, 2017, production had to be shut down temporarily.
11 The Avengers team could have looked very different. Liam Hemsworth auditioned for the role of Thor that went to brother Chris. As did Tarzan star Alexander Skarsgård. And
Chris Evans originally turned down the role of Captain America.
12 Different countries can see different films. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers keeps a list of things he needs to catch up with. American audiences saw him citing Nirvana and Star Wars, while for Russian audiences, he needed a refresher on the dissolution of the Soviet Union. And for us Brits? Sean Connery and the 1966 World Cup.
13 The music has made an impact, too. The soundtrack to Guardians of the Galaxy became the second soundtrack to sell more than a million copies – the other being Frozen.
14 Marvel has its own in-universe media. Marvel intermittently uploads videos to YouTube from fictional news show WHIH Newsfront, set in the MCU. They star the reporter in the first Iron Man film – Leslie Bibb as Christine Everhart.
15 Robert Downey Jnr thanked the entire cast and crew by buying them personalised chairs with the name and logo stitched into the fabric as well as an engraved plate saying, "Heartfelt thanx from the bottom of my arc reactor".
16 Scarlett Johansson is finally being paid the same as her co-stars, earning $15million (£12million) for the upcoming Black Widow movie – the same as Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth got for their Captain America: Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok films. The two heroes also got $15million each for Infinity War and Endgame. Johansson has appeared in six movies, including the first Avengers, but she got a “low seven-figure salary” compared to Robert Downey Jnr’s $50million.
17 It’s trailer became the first in YouTube history to reach over a million likes in less than four hours – and an incredible 289 million views in the first 24 hours.
18 The Russo brothers directed the film with the use of IMAX/Arri 2D cameras. It’s the first time a Hollywood film was entirely shot with IMAX digital cameras.
19 Endgame will be the first film ever to include both the Hulk and Ant-Man. Rumours have it that Endgame will turn Ant-Man into one of its most significant superheroes.
20 Get your hankies ready, Chris Evans and the rest of the cast have repeatedly warned fans Endgame is a tear-jerker, as Evans admitted he cried six times watching it.
21 Endgame isn’t actually the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There have been 22 films over 11 years so far and this is believed to be the end of the story for the main heroes.
22 Other films are in the pipeline however, with Spider-Man: Far From Home later this year and Black Widow’s standalone movie. The Eternals has also been confirmed with Angelina Jolie rumoured to star in it.