One of the biggest cameo appearances in Avengers: Endgame was the return of Robert Redford, reprising his Captain America: The Winter Soldier role as S.H.I.E.L.D. Secretary Alexander Pierce. According to directors Joe and Anthony Russo and co-writer Christopher Markus, Redford's brief appearance was originally planned by the actor to be his final acting role before retiring.
On the commentary track for Endgame, the Russo Brothers and Markus revealed that Redford had informed them his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe would mark his final performance.
"And this is, as declared by the man himself on set, Robert Redford's last movie role," Markus observed as Pierce appeared on screen in an attempt to obtain the Tesseract from Tony Stark and Thor, following the Battle of New York.
Anthony Russo also noted that the film contains both Redford and Stan Lee's final performances. However, months after Endgame's release, it was reported Redford would emerge from retirement to appear as a fictionalized version of himself, elected President of the United States in the alternate timeline of HBO's upcoming Watchmen television series.
"Seven years of really incredible moments on these movies, this is certainly up there, directing Robert Redford's last day," Joe Russo remarked before admitting Redford could change his mind. With Redford due to appear as himself on Watchmen, it appears the veteran actor has done just that.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Don Cheadle as War Machine, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Danai Gurira as Okoye and Bradley Cooper as Rocket, with Gwyneth Paltrow Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong as Wong, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie and Josh Brolin as Thanos. The film is now available on Digital HD and arrives on Blu-ray and 4K UHD on Aug. 13.
(via ComicBook.com)