Posted by Avengers: Endgame is everything that I wanted it to be and then some. This movie is truly a fitting conclusion to the past 11 years and 22 films that populate the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And before I go into detail and explain everything that I liked about the movie, I must first say: if you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame yet, please go see it.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
The movie is a massive subversion of expectations. Early on in the film, the remaining Avengers are able to track Thanos down and quickly kill him, thus annihilating my expectations for what the final fight with Thanos was going to be. At first I was a little upset, because I had no idea what the movie was going to do for the rest of its nearly three hour runtime. Shortly before Thanos’ death, it is revealed that Thanos destroyed the infinity stones after accomplishing his goal, which again subverts expectations of what the final showdown would be. After Thanos’ death, there is a five year time skip where we see what the different Avengers and survivors of Thanos’ snap have been doing to move on. Again, I had no idea where the movie was going.
And then there’s the time heist. After Scott Lang is released from the Quantum Realm by a lucky rat, he finds the Avengers to figure out what happened while he was gone. Scott reveals that while he was in the Quantum Realm for five years, to him it was only a few hours. This causes the Avengers the start considering the idea of time travel, and the concept is actually handled pretty well. At first, the idea of time travel is seen as ridiculous by all parties, especially Tony Stark, who is now living happily with a wife and daughter. Tony refuses to help at first, because while he would like to undo everything that Thanos did, he feels that it’s impossible and he has been able to move on, as seen in his happy family. Eventually, Tony messes around with the proposition proposed by Scott, Captain America, and Black Widow and discovers that it is possible to use the Quantum Realm to travel through time. Meanwhile, the other Avengers approach Bruce Banner, who is now permanently in his Hulk form with Banner’s personality, to get his help with navigating the Quantum Realm. However, Professor Hulk and the other Avengers only fail in their attempts to send Scott back in time, until Tony Stark shows up to help. And once it is shown that time travel via the Quantum Realm is possible, the concept is taken very seriously. In my opinion, the concept of time travel presented by Endgame is perfectly summed up by one of Professor Hulk’s quotes: “We’re talking about time travel here. Either, all of it is a joke or none of it is.”
Endgame does a great job of handling the concept of time travel, most because it’s unlike time travel in any other movie. In fact, Endgame mocks the kind of time travel present in movies like Back to the Future while explaining what this time travel is like. The Avengers intend to use the Quantum Realm to travel back in time, collect the six infinity stones, and undo Thanos’ snap. As for the time travel, the Avengers can go back in time to collect the infinity stones, and it won’t change the past. Instead, the removal of the infinity stones will cause alternate universes to branch off and be created. This same idea applies to any major change that the Avengers would cause. I really like this concept of time travel, because it seems more plausible than the kind present in Back to the Future, and its a different kind of time travel than the stereotypical one. Plus, this concept of time travel opens up the possibility of seeing alternate universe in the MCU.
Once the actual time heist is underway, it’s full of hilarious and bittersweet moments. For example, when Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, and Captain America travel to New York in 2012 during the battle against the Chitauri, Captain America is tasked with finding Loki’s staff. Cap is eventually successful, but he ends up fighting the 2012 version of himself. Once Cap defeats himself, he comments on how his butt looks in that suit after Tony first brought it up earlier, and it is hilarious. Endgame is full of these lighthearted, funny moments, even if some of them are anything but. When Thor is first seen after the time skip, he’s a fat recluse that spends his days drinking. It’s presented in a humorous way, even though it’s clear that in order to cope with his own failures against Thanos, Thor took to self-destructive coping.
The time heist also includes one of the most somber moments of the film: Natasha’s sacrifice on Vormir so that Clint and the other Avengers can get the soul stone. It’s a sad moment in the film, and all of the Avengers react to her sacrifice with the expected tears and anger. It’s definitely one of the most bitter moments in the film, but it gets even more depressing later on.
But before I get to the climax, I need to talk about three particularly bittersweet moments that give Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America some closure. While trying to get the reality stone, Thor has an opportunity to talk with his mother again and receive closure concerning her imminent death. During this section of the time heist, Thor is also able to reobtain Mjolnir, which will come into play during the climax. While in New York in 2012, Tony and Scott make a mistake that ends up allowing Loki to escape with the space stone, so Tony and Cap decide to travel back to the 1970s in order to steal the tesseract and collect more Pym Particles, because the Avengers need these particles to navigate the Quantum Realm and they had just enough for everyone to have a full round trip. While in the 70s, Tony is able to speak with his father and realize just how much his father loved him. Cap, however, does not receive much closure when he briefly sees Peggy Carter, but his closure comes later on. All three of these moments are incredibly important to the characters involved, because in the case of Thor, it allows him to truly move on from his mother’s death. Cap’s moment also foreshadows later events in the movie, and Tony’s allows him to give his father a proper good-bye.
The climax of the film was absolutely amazing. While Nebula and War Machine were stealing the power stone, the Thanos of that timeline learned of their presence through his Nebula of that time and the fact that both Nebulas shared the same network. Thanos is able to learn of the Avenger’s plan, so he captures the good Nebula and sends his evil Nebula in her place so she can bring Thanos and his army to the earth. It works, and what results is the single greatest and most breathtaking fight of the entire MCU. Yes the battle with the Outriders in Infinity War was impressive, but When Thanos’ army of Outriders and Chitauri face down the Avengers, it’s one of the most beautiful and cinematic shots of the entire movie. However, before that awe-inspiring sequence, we witness Thor, who is dual-wielding Mjolnir and Stormbreaker, Captain America, and Iron Man face off against Thanos. This fight is fantastic, especially when Cap uses Mjolnir and his shield to fight Thanos. And after this fight, it all breaks loose. Before Thanos arrived, Hulk was able to wield the infinity stones and snap his fingers to try and bring everyone back to life, and it works. While Captain America faces down Thanos’ army alone, Doctor Strange’s portals begin to appear and a massive army of all the heroes begins to pour out. The resulting battle between the two armies is truly an epic conclusion that puts Infinity War to shame, and it is everything that I wanted it to be and then some.
The battle ends as Iron Man and Thanos fight for the stones one final time. Thanos appears successful at first, but as he snaps his fingers, nothing happens. Iron Man then reveals than he has the stones and snaps his fingers, completely disintegrating Thanos’ army at the cost of his own life. The aftermath of Endgame is painfully sad. We watch Tony Stark’s funeral, and it hurts. While I personally never cried during my two watchings of the movie, I know that some of my friends did. And to make everything even sadder, when Cap goes off to return all of the infinity stones to their original times, he doesn’t return. Instead, Cap goes off to live in an alternate timeline with Peggy Carter before returning to his own timeline as an old man where he gives Sam Wilson (Falcon) a shield, thereby passing the mantle of Captain America onto Sam. Again, it’s a bittersweet moment, but it finally provides Cap and the audience with closure. Overall, Avengers: Endgame is a bittersweet moment filled with humorous moments as well as painfully sad ones.
SPOILERS END
I loved (almost) everything about Avengers: Endgame. This movie goes above and beyond what a superhero movie should be. I firmly believe that this movie will become the highest grossing movie of all time, and it deserves to be. This movie is the epic conclusion that the MCU deserved. I feel that I cannot praise this movie enough, nor does my review do it justice. Avengers: Endgame is easily a 10/10 movie.
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