Avengers: Endgame may feature the most star-studded cast in cinema history. The film boasts 18 Oscar winners and nominees in its roster, with the Russo Brothers pulling off an astonishing feat of organization getting them all together to shoot key scenes. But it turns out that the scene they found most difficult to capture didn’t involve some glitzy screen idol. Instead, it was someone much closer to home.
According to Anthony Russo, the hardest cameo to schedule involved three members of his and Joe’s extended family, with the director explaining:
“The hardest one was a scene in the movie where it’s the scene in the diner where we introduced Smart Hulk the first time. So, he’s sitting there with Ant-Man, Black Widow and Captain America, and there’s these three kids that walk in who are fans of Hulk. They want a picture with him. And those three kids are, one is my son Julian. One is my brother’s daughter, Lia. One is my sister’s son, Augie.”
According to his interview with Cleveland.com, the scene was so difficult because it involved working out a date in which their school schedules didn’t clash. Getting these three into the pic wasn’t the only involvement of the Russos in the movie, though. Famously, Joe Russo played a heartbroken character in the group therapy scene, while his daughter Ava showed up as Hawkeye’s daughter, who we see learning archery just before she gets dusted.
The diner scene in Avengers: Endgame is also interesting because it was added after the Infinity War shoot to introduce the new ‘smart’ Hulk. The original plan was to unveil this amalgam of Banner and Hulk at the end of the aforementioned film, but the Russos realized that the emotional power of IW‘s ending would be undercut by introducing smart Hulk afterwards.
Personally, the diner scene is one of my favorite moments in the movie, neatly showing how things have dramatically changed during the five year time skip. Plus, knowing that these kids are the Russos’ gives this gigantic corporate blockbuster a pleasant family touch, which is always nice to see.