dontkillspike | We're Live With the Stars of 'Angel' at New York Comic Con! (vid int)

How that Avengers shawarma scene was actually inspired by heartbreaking Angel death

October 05, 2019 at 03:59 PM EDT

Remember that hilarious Avengers post-credits scene where all the superheroes are sitting in silence eating shawarma after the Battle of New York? It turns out that was actually inspired by an earlier Joss Whedon project.

When the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off series Angel stopped by EW’s video suite at New York Comic Con on Saturday for the show’s 20th anniversary reunion, Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker revealed that beloved character Fred’s death had an unexpected and far-reaching influence.

“That was intense,” Denisof says of filming Acker’s heartbreaking death scene. “I remember Joss particularly wanted to direct that. He gave us an amazing atmosphere. He more or less cleared the set to just him, the camera operator, and you and me.”

And that’s when Acker revealed some surprising intel on how Angel ended up inspiring the first Avengers movie. “I just remember that at the end of the day we all went for a drink and were sitting in a bar and none of us spoke to each other,” she says. “Apparently the shawarma scene at the end of Avengers was inspired by us just sitting there not talking.”

“Just shells, completely,” Denisof adds with a laugh.

Check out our full interview with the cast above to hear hilarious and heartwarming stories about all the stars’ first days on set of Angel and more.

We're live with the cast of 'Angel' at #NYCC! https://t.co/T9ttHWsNs6
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) October 5, 2019

How that Avengers shawarma scene was actually inspired by heartbreaking Angel death https://t.co/Umb5cTaB3G
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) October 5, 2019