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Avengers: Endgame was a special film for many reasons. It marked the end of an era, it resolved a cliffhanger that devastated fans worldwide just a year earlier, and it provided a satisfying curtain call for the superhero that started it all: Iron Man aka Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). The action and the humor have always been part of Stark’s appeal, but it was a scene involving the phrase that really hit fans in the feels, asking about a deeper “I love you 3000” meaning.
“I love you 3000” was uttered by Stark’s daughter, Morgan (Lexi Rabe), early in the film, and while it may have just seemed like a cute phrase, it actually carries a deeper meaning between parent and child. At least, that’s what fans thought.
Fan Theories
Avengers: Endgame is one of the most analyzed and obsessed-over films of all time, so it only makes sense that fans would delve into the meaning of every line of dialogue. Especially one that carried such an emotional punch! It’s worth noting that the phrase “I love you 3000” comes back around at the end of the film, when a grieving Morgan watches a hologram of her late father.
Some fans theorized that “I love you 3000” was a clever riff on the common phrase “I love you tons,” since 3000 pounds is 1000 more than 2000 that comprise a ton. It requires a little too much math, but it wasn’t that far-fetched. Other fans insisted that the phrase was an Easter Egg meant to reference the runtime of the entire Infinity Saga.
If you add up the runtime of every MCU release from Iron Man (2008) to Avengers: Endgame, you end up with a total of 49 hours and 59 minutes. How many minutes does that equate to? 2,999. Less likely than the cute “tons” pun, but still worth considering, given how many Easter Eggs and obscure references are tucked into these films.
Confirmed Meaning
It turns out that none of these theories were true! The truth was much simpler, and much sweeter. Robert Downey, Jr. attended a viewing party of Avengers: Endgame held by Comicbook.com, and during the Q&A portion, the actor revealed that he was responsible for changing the phrase that was in the original script.
The original phrase was “I love you tons,” but Downey, Jr. requested it be changed to reflect the way that his real children expressed their love when they were young.
“It was something that I think Exton, my now-8-year-old, used to say to me,” the actor revealed. “It’s before they can quantify love they just think of the biggest number they know, and it’s usually like 2,000 or 3,000, whatever, and it turned out to be really significant. But all the stuff in this movie was about us really starting to bring our own experience into these characters.”
Downey, Jr.’s instinct proved dead-on, as the specificity of the phrase “I love you 3000” resulted in the bond between parent and child hitting that much harder by the end of the film. The actor’s ability to bring a groundedness and personability to blockbuster storylines is what made him such an inspired casting choice in the first place, and why he will always be revered by fans of the MCU.
One could say that fans love him 3000.
