James Cameron gives Avengers: Endgame a very Avatar shoutout on breaking his box office record

News of Marvel’s biggest box-office accomplishment of all came just hours before the studio captured bigger headlines with its whiplash rollout of major new movies and TV shows at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday. So the fact that Avengers: Endgame overtook James Cameron’s Avatar as the biggest box-office success in movie history didn’t exactly enjoy much time in the spotlight before Marvel was already rolling out tons of new projects to talk about.

One person who made sure to give the history-making feat its due was none other than Cameron himself. The Avatar director and all-around sci-fi icon started the week off on Twitter with a cool shoutout congratulating Marvel Studios on its record-breaking achievement, even finding a way to bring Tony Stark into the world of Pandora in the process:

If it’s been a minute or two since you brushed up on your Na'vi-reading skills, the tweet interprets “oel ngati kameie” right there in the same line. It means “I see you,” a phrase that, in the Avatar universe, carries all the goodwill Earth’s Mightiest Heroes could ever hope for — especially after all they’ve been through. It's not the first time Cameron has given Marvel a nod for Endgame's success; he tweeted a similar gesture back in May — when the Russo brothers' three-hour epic sank Titanic's box office total.

It didn't take the Russos long to tweet right back, expressing their gratitude to the Terminator and Aliens director for showing more than one generation of aspiring movie makers just how far imagination could take them:

Avengers: Endgame lapped Avatar, the previous all-time box-office record holder, on July 20, after totaling $2.7902 billion in global ticket sales, versus Avatar’s $2.7897 billion, according to Variety. The milestone moment ended weeks of speculation over whether the end of Marvel’s Infinity saga could eclipse the record, especially after Marvel’s “Bring Back” re-release event, which packed in bonus content after the end credits, didn’t immediately jump-start a second box-office surge.

Whichever franchise holds the record, the future looks bright for both Cameron and Marvel. With ten (count ‘em, TEN) Phase 4 projects in the works at Marvel, and four Avatar sequels in development from Cameron, the congratulatory back-and-forth between two of history’s biggest movie makers may just be getting started.