Avengers: Endgame's A-Force Scene Was Reshot To Be Less Pandering
The infamous A-Force shot from Avengers: Endgame was reshot due to concerns that it would be seen as pandering. Even now, more than two years after its release, Avengers: Endgame still looms large over the MCU. The effects of what remains the franchise's biggest movie ever are still being felt through projects like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Eternals, and they will likely continue to inform the MCU's Phase 4 and beyond. Avengers: Endgame acted as the end of the line for heroes like Steve Rogers and Iron Man while setting up numerous threads for the MCU's future.
Avengers: Endgame features plenty of memorable moments, but not every single one went over well with audiences. One of the more controversial scenes is the final fight's A-Force moment, which begins when Captain Marvel prepares to cross the battlefield with the Infinity Gauntlet. To help pave the way, every female hero present comes to her aid in a moment meant to inspire girl power and pay tribute to all these strong women. However, some fans coming out of Avengers: Endgame saw the moment as pandering; a fake feminist gesture featuring a bunch of women who haven't even gotten the chance to interact on screen.
Interestingly, the creatives behind Avengers: Endgame actually tried to prevent the A-Force scene from being deemed as pandering. In the new book The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (via CBR), producer Trinh Tran recapped the way Endgame's A-Force moment came about. After several female stars of the MCU met at a reception, they posed for a photo and began discussing a movie centered on the women of the franchise. That led to the creation of A-Force, which seemed like a good idea until test audiences began to offer their thoughts:
"In earlier cuts, Tran admits, ‘When we started screen-testing it, there was a little concern for ‘Does it come off [as]pandering?’ Are we going to get people saying, ‘Oh you’re just putting that scene in there just to put the scene in there. Does it actually have a story to tell with the rest of the narrative?’ That was always a concern in the back of our heads.'"
This led to reshoots with additional scenes featuring the characters in smaller groups, thus trying to make their eventual union more natural. Ironically, those efforts proved to be ineffectual, since audiences still criticized Avengers: Endgame's A-Force. The idea of the female heroes teaming up isn't a bad one, but as the MCU has never prioritized bringing them together, the scene in the final film rang hollow. To be fair, there are also plenty of fans who do enjoy the climactic moment, but to say Avengers: Endgame managed to avoid accusations of pandering completely would be a lie.
Going forward, the MCU has a few female team-ups in the works that can perhaps work towards actually building a better A-Force. The Marvels will see Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau, and Ms. Marvel all join forces, while Thor: Love and Thunder has the potential to partner Valkyrie with Jane Foster after she becomes the Mighty Thor. There are still rumblings that an A-Force movie could be possible someday, and if that's the case, it just needs to learn from the (perhaps well-intentioned) mistakes of Avengers: Endgame.
Source: The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (via CBR)