The final moment in the original script for “The Avengers” had Downey’s Tony Stark waking up and asking “What’s next?,” but Downey thought there should be more to it to give the audience a sense of closure. He asked for more and Whedon obliged, turning one line into three pages of potential lines. A joke about getting some shawarma before getting back to work, inspired by both Whedon’s apparent longtime love of shawarma and a particularly rough day of shooting “Angel,” the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” spin-off series. Actor Alexis Denisof told EW that after filming the season 5 episode “A Hole in the World,” the cast and crew all went out for drinks and sat around in exhausted silence, which directly led to the Avengers having their own moment of delicious downtime. 

Ironically, the scene was filmed after the film first premiered but before it went into wide release when the cast playing the Avengers probably felt just as tired and worn out as their superhero counterparts. Some had even already started new projects, like Chris Evans, who had to hide his “Snowpiercer” beard beneath an awkward prosthetic that he kept partially covered with his hand. Along with Thor’s Chris Hemsworth actually eating on-camera, there’s a level of authenticity that makes them all feel more lovable.