We love them 3,000: as awards season creeps in, Disney has submitted the Avengers: Endgame cast for Oscar consideration.
The closing chapter of the Infinity Saga, Endgame capped off more than a decade of storytelling that enraptured a generation of moviegoers.
Superheroes have been popping up at the Oscars since The Dark Knight in 2008, from Logan to Black Panther. Could Endgame be the first superhero film to win Best Picture?
Disney has put forward a massive ‘For Your Consideration’ page, with a range of cast and crew being tipped for awards glory.
Disney has listed Robert Downey Jr (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man) and Don Cheadle (James Rhodes/War Machine) for Best Supporting Actor consideration.
For Best Supporting Actress, Disney have pushed Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Karen Gillan (Nebula) and Brie Larson (Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel).
Nobody is being put forward for a leading actor/actress nomination, which makes sense given Endgame is a collaborative effort, with no single hero particularly standing above the rest.
Robert Downey Jr’s final performance as the genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist drew praise from fans and critics alike, with some suggesting early on an Academy Award nomination could be on the way.
However, while appearing on the The Howard Stern Show earlier in October, the Iron Man actor excused himself from Oscar campaigning. Luckily, Disney is taking initiative and doing it for him.
Endgame’s chances of Academy Awards success are completely up in the air. Downey Jr, realistically, is the only cast member likely to earn a nomination (and even then, it would be more of a legacy nod to 10 years of playing the character).
Similarly, if the film manages to bag a Best Picture nod, it would likely be to acknowledge the film’s cultural impact and the feat of storytelling, more than the credibility of the product itself (however, it’s still absolutely magnificent and deserves a nomination).
If the film is going to win any Oscar, it should be for Alan Silvestri’s majestic, rousing score. Stunning from start to finish, one only needs listen to Portals to understand why it deserves to win.
We still have a while to wait before we see who gets a nod. The nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards will be announced on January 13 next year, with the 2020 Oscars set to air on February 9.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.