As disclosed in the commentary, the Tokyo sequence in “Avengers: Endgame” was filmed over two nights in Atlanta. McFeely remembered the Russos using Ridley Scott’s “Black Rain” as a baseline for the look they wanted to create. “It was the sort of neon look of ‘Black Rain,'” acknowledged Joe Russo. “Of course, the water drops falling from the sky.” The Tokyo segment in “Endgame” looks completely removed from what fans had previously seen in the MCU, which made sense to both directors considering how far Hawkeye has fallen. Chiming in, Anthony Russo explained, “By pushing things stylistically here, we had a perfect excuse for doing that ’cause Hawkeye had gone to such a dark and fringe place compared to everybody else.”
It’s certainly not surprising the Russos would want to emulate Scott’s previous work, slipping what amounts to a gangster movie inside of a massive tentpole. In “Black Rain,” Scott himself was possibly too concerned with emulating the futuristic world of Los Angeles from “Blade Runner.” The 1989 film stars Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia as two New York City cops charged with escorting a killer back to Osaka where they accidentally hand him over to a group of criminals cleverly disguised as police. It’s a perfectly fine if largely predictable procedural that cares more about the startling visuals on display than any real character development. Douglas is swallowed up by the scenery, along with the giant aviator sunglasses that manage to hide half of his face.
Where “Black Rain” was a case of style over substance (although it’s still worth a watch), the Russos managed to pay an unlikely tribute to one of Scott’s under-seen films before getting the OG Avengers back together to go save the world one last time.
Despite being one of Ridley Scott’s lesser-known films, Black Rain was a major inspiration for Hawkeye’s trip to Japan in Avengers: Endgame. Read More