After Katherine Langford was announced as part of the Avengers: Endgame cast, speculation abounded as to who she might be playing. Fan theories pegged her as everyone from Clint’s (Jeremy Renner) daughter to Kate Bishop to Scott‘s (Paul Rudd) daughter. The one daughter most people didn’t guess was Tony’s (Robert Downey Jr.), and that’s exactly who Langford was meant to be: a future version of Morgan Stark.
Only the 13 Reasons Why star didn’t appear in the final cut all, leaving many viewers perplexed and wondering what had happened. Confusion was exactly what the film’s directors were trying to avoid, though, the Russo Brothers explained on a recent episode of MTV’s Happy Sad Confused podcast.
Joe and Anthony Russo described the scene she filmed, which was a metaphorical moment between a dying Tony and his aged-up daughter meant to parallel the Avengers: Infinity War sequence between Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his young daughter Gamora after he used the Infinity Gauntlet.
“There was an idea that Tony was going to go into the metaphysical way station that Thanos goes in when he snapped his fingers, and there was going to be a future version of his daughter in that way station,” Joe Russo explained. “We showed it to a test audience and it was really confusing for them.” Considering that there was no previous moments with an older Morgan, unlike the time spent with Gamora, it makes sense that this wouldn’t have been immediately clear to viewers.
“We didn’t feel an emotional association with the adult version of his daughter,” Anthony Russo added. “It wasn’t ringing to us. It wasn’t resonating to us on an emotional level, [which] is why we moved away from it.”
“His future daughter forgave him and gave him peace to go,” Joe finished. “The idea felt resonate, but it just was too many ideas in an overcomplicated movie.”
Considering that Pepper gave her blessing in the finished film with the bittersweet and now iconic line “You can rest now,” adding an extra sequence with a different Morgan might have been a little redundant. But it’s no wonder Tony’s death scene was such a challenge for the creative team of Avengers: Engame, precisely because Downey Jr. has been such a driving force for the franchise.
Do you feel the producers made the right call in leaving Katherine Langford’s scene on the cutting room floor, or do you think it would have added to the pathos of Tony’s death? Let us know in the comments below, and check back with That Hashtag Show for all the latest news on your favorite films.
