“Avengers: Endgame” has surpassed all other films to become the highest-grossing film of all time in Philippine history. The finale of the Avengers universe marks the end of an era for Marvel, and certainly an emotional one for millions of fans worldwide.
Overview of Thanos’s retirement planet. Photo from Marvel Cinematic Universe Fandom
The film picked up where its predecessor “Avengers: Infinity War” left off. Previously, Thanos as played by Josh Brolin is seen walking out of a small hut to view an emerald rice paddy terrain. The same landscape is seen in “Avengers: Endgame”, where aerial and ground shots feature Thanos making his way to what seems to be the same hut.
The location of the scene is none other than the infamous Banaue rice terraces in the Cordilleras Mountain Range of Luzon! Otherwise also known as “The Eighth Wonder of the World”.
Photo from Adobe Stock
From the base of the mountains to the peak, the Banaue rice terraces resemble rugged steps leading to the heavens. A breathtaking glance from above would see layers upon layers of paddy crops, moulded to fit the contours of the mountain’s steep sides and dotted with nipa huts. These nipa huts are known as bahay kubo in Tagalog, akin to the little hut in the film Thanos was residing in!
The Banaue rice terraces, along with many other rice terraces in the region are key to Philippines’ tourism. But they’re also key to Philippine’s past as well. The complex of stone and mud walls built from hand 2000 years ago represent a testimony of agricultural and engineering knowledge far beyond their times.
One mix-up most tourists are apt to make is mistaking the Banaue rice terraces for a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a title the terraces do not hold due to the presence of modern structures in the area. It certainly doesn’t help that the Banaue rice terraces appear on the twenty-peso banknote either.
Thanos’s scarecrow armour in Avengers: Endgame. Photo from CNE
“Avengers: Endgame” may be the crème de la crème when it comes to Banaue’s film portfolio, but the terraces also boast a vast history of appearances in other cinematic ventures. Among them Australian romance “The Year of Living Dangerously”, and even multiple award-winning British film “Metro Manila”.
These appearances signify a shift in Banaue’s role in the Philippine economy–from what was once yam, to rice, and now tourism. Now with its cameo in both the Avengers films, things are likely to only look up for the Banaue rice terraces.
Fun Fact:
It is said that if all the terraces were put end to end, it would be as long as half the circumference of the earth!
Text by Ng Shen Lee
