The most rewarding aspects of the MCU movies have very little to do with the action. Sure, the action set pieces are fun to watch in context of what’s going on in the movie itself, but they wouldn’t be nearly as fun to watch without the character growth. These characters are constantly growing and changing. Just look at the way Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, and even Hawkeye have all turned into different people over the course of the movies, and it’s clear that the studio is all about forward momentum.

But one can’t ignore the tremendous growth of the core two: Cap and Tony. These guys have changed the most and their character arcs have helped to shape most of the MCU films up to this point, with Civil War marking a real turning point for this world as a whole. And the way things ended in Avengers: Endgame? Perfection. Looking back at the past 22 films, it’s crazy to think at the different places these guys started, with their character arcs sending them each in opposite directions.

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Speaking with Sirius XM, Anthony Russo discussed their inverted character arcs and why they felt Tony needed to die and Cap deserved to live.

“Cap’s a guy who’s already tried to sacrifice his life. We know that about Cap, that he’s willing to do that. So we thought the most satisfying ending for him to be would be to finally get his greatest loss back and that missed opportunity with Peggy. Tony Stark is a very opposite arc that we were getting with him, where he started from a self-centered, arrogant place, so the greatest ending for his narrative for him would be to reach a moment of self-sacrifice. And he a had a lot to lose in that moment, but he was willing to give it up.”

There’s amazing poetry to the way things have turned out. For years, everyone has been predicting Cap’s death, but we didn’t even stop to think that perhaps his true growth was in finding a reason to live, not simply finding another way to sacrifice himself.

What do you think of how it all turned out? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Sirus XM