Avengers: Endgame Lebowski Line Was More Than Just A Passing Joke On Set

If you've seen Avengers: Endgame, you probably got a chuckle from a quick Lebowski line that was thrown in while the heroes were planning their strategy in defeating Thanos. However, that little line actually had a hilarious origin and was more than just a joke on the set.

In Endgame, the five-year jump revealed that Thor really let himself go. The God of Thunder had turned into the Lord of Fortnite and was spending most of his days drinking beer and eating pizza. In addition to that, Thor seemed to favor grandma cardigans, a look that was not lost to Tony Stark.

At one point, Tony called Thor "Lebowski", a neat reference to the 1998 film The Big Lebowski where a character only known as The Dude had a similar appearance. Not surprisingly, Endgame co-director Joe Russo told Men's Health that Robert Downey Jr. had ad-libbed the line while filming and it became the unofficial code name for Chonky Thor.

"We would refer to him at times, as the character, as Lebowski, internally, as a joke," Russo revealed.

Interestingly, Downey's improv has its own awesome Marvel Cinematic Universe connection. After all, Jeff Bridges, who played The Dude in The Big Lebowski, is actually part of the MCU. In fact, he played Obadiah Stane, the first villain that Tony Stark went up against in 2008's Iron Man.

It might be some cool coincidence but Russo believes that Downey knew what he was doing when he dropped that line.

"It's really funny, and I'm sure that Downey was thinking of that when he threw that out there," Russo said. "Downey was very clever to drop that as an improv on camera."

We're certainly loving Thor's Lebowski phase but hopefully, things will change for the God of Thunder in the future MCU flicks.

Avengers: Endgame is currently screening in theaters worldwide.

Related: Chris Evans Defends Thanos' Actions In Avengers: Endgame, Says He's Not An 'Evil Guy'