Villain Thanos (Josh Brolin) repeated the same funny mistake Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) committed in The Avengers in 2012 seven years later in Avengers: Endgame. Joss Whedon’s first MCU film brought together all the founding heroes for an epic showdown against Loki (Tom Hiddlestone) and his Chitauri army. Much of its fun stemmed from seeing the then-budding universe finally take shape after five solo movies. It was both a box office and critical hit, and most importantly, it solidified Kevin Feige’s plans of adapting the comics’ interconnected storytelling format to the big screen.

Several years and a string of movies later including two more Avengers movies (Age of Ultron and Infinity War), the original six heroes band together, this time to fight the franchise’s biggest villain thus far — Thanos. Endgame was the culmination of everything the MCU has been building for more than a decade. It capitalized on nostalgia by having the surviving heroes of the Decimation travel back to some of the most memorable moments of the franchise’s history, including from The Avengers. But aside from revisiting the Battle of New York, there’s also particular element in the 2012 flick that was mimicked in the Joe and Anthony Russo-directed blockbuster.

During the climactic battle of Endgame, almost each prominent hero in the MCU had their chance against Thanos. Aside from the main three — Iron Man, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Captain America (Chris Evans), the Mad Titan also fought Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) individually. Wanda held her ground against the villain, but with his years of experience in combat, she was eventually cast aside. As everyone scrambled for the secondary Infinity Gauntlet completed with the Infinity Stones, Carol burst into the scene just in time to stop Thanos from snapping his fingers and totally eliminating the universe. A ferocious battle ensued between the two. At one point, Captain Marvel locked both of the villain’s hands, forcing him to head butt her, to no avail. Seeing Carol unaffected by this move was both gratifying and funny. The whole bit also looks very familiar.

Assembling the founding Avengers members was quite difficult. Case in point was the first meeting between Iron Man and Thor (Chris Hemsworth), which resulted in a brawl in The Avengers. Both heroes didn’t know much about each other — only that they both wanted custody of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) after the God of Mischief wreaked havoc on Earth. Arguing who gets to go take the Asgardian Prince, they battled it out — at one point, Thor had Tony’s hands locked, leaving the latter with no choice but to use his head against the God of Thunder, which didn’t really do much. Fortunately, before things further escalated, Captain America arrived to stop the Avengers from potentially killing each other.

Much has been said about Tony and Thanos being two different sides of the same coin, while Captain Marvel and Thor were both dubbed the strongest MCU hero at various points in time (before Feige currently settled on Wanda). It’s most likely coincidental considering that it’s such a tiny bit from The Avengers that just made its way to Avengers: Endgame. However, it’s still an interesting detail.

More: Marvel Planned Tony Stark’s Parents’ Death Back In Iron Man 1

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