The ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Directors Insist They Weren’t Lying About The Film’s Title Last Year

Not long after Avengers: Infinity War snapped its way into theaters across the globe last year, Uproxx‘s Mike Ryan asked directors Joe and Anthony Russo if the sequel’s title had been spoken aloud in the film. The former said “no” and that seemingly settled the matter — at least, until the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Endgame revealed the title, which had in fact been uttered by Doctor Strange shortly before his dusting. In a new interview with /Film, the Russos have explained their apparent deception.

Anthony joked that “no one ever said Avengers: Endgame” in Infinity War, which is true. All jokes aside, however, Joe insisted that the previous interview “was a year before the movie gets released, and we are constantly changing things and these are iterative and creative processes”:

There are a million reasons why that may or may not be a title for the movie. And until we sit in a room and we watch a trailer with the title on it, then we all look at each other and say, we running with this title. That’s usually when the title sticks to a movie. So when people are asking us questions a year before release… And look, they have the right and that’s their job but we also have the right and it’s our job to protect the creative integrity of our choices. And you don’t want to be trapped into, and pressured into choices in the same way that a writer wants to feel like they’re getting accurate answers out of us — There are no accurate answers a year out!

In other words, it sounds like any and all information the Russos and their ilk are allowed to give about a tentpole film as big as Avengers: Endgame should be treated with a grain of salt… especially if it’s “a year out” from said film’s release date. Then again, they could have said something else instead of the word “no.”