Avengers: Endgame
The Inevitable ReviewIt’s been a year since the Infinity War dealt Earth’s Mightiest Heroes it’s first huge loss. In Avengers: Endgame, the Avengers assemble once again with the goal of reversing Thanos’ snap and bring back everyone they lost.
What It’s About
— SPOILER ALERT —
The film opens with Iron Man and Nebula floating in deep space, seemingly about to die, until Captain Marvel rescues them and brings them back to Earth. They reunite with the remaining Avengers and together they find Thanos and try to retake and use the Infinity Gauntlet to reverse the Decimation. It is then revealed that the stones have been destroyed, and an enraged Thor kills Thanos.
Fast forward to five years later, Antman escapes the quantum realm to find out that half the population vanished. He finds the remaining Avengers and they concoct a plan to go back in time to undo the tragedy. What follows is an awesome “time heist” throughout MCU history as the heroes try to collect all the infinity stones and reverse their biggest defeat ever.
What’s Good
As always, the MCU manages to inject humor even in a film whose premise should be extremely heavy and dark. And they do it so organically, that it never feels forced. Funny moments, such as the Hulk doing the dab, Thor threatening a Fortnite player, to Starlord singing like an idiot, all add up to a fun moviegoing experience.
I like the MCU’s treatment of time travel. Unlike other time travel movies, such as Back to the Future and The Terminator, it’s explained that changing the past does not change the present. When you change something in the past, another timeline is born that exists parallel to the original timeline. That new timeline’s future is the one that is affected by the changes in the past.
Unlike Infinity War, which had maybe the largest cast of characters sharing screen time, Endgame is able to focus on individual character arcs because there were only a few Avengers left this time around. It was truly a fitting tribute to all six of the OG MCU Avengers, as we see each one of them shine in their own moments throughout the film.
And lastly, the final battle was beyond awesome. From Marvel’s Trinity teaming up against Thanos, Iron Man’s MK 85, dual-wielding Thor, Cap picking up Mjolnir, all the fallen Avengers joining the fight, Rescue, Peter’s moments with Tony, Captain Marvel making a grand entrance, all-female Avengers teaming up, Scarlet Witch unleashing on Thanos, all the way to Iron Man’s ultimate sacrifice… the entire sequence had me gasping, squealing, screaming, and clapping all throughout. This, in my opinion, may be the best battle sequence in all of superhero-filmdom.
Other Moments that gave me goosebumps:
- “Suit of armor around the world…”
- Smart Hulk
- Fat and drunk Thor
- Steve and Tony shaking hands
- Loki
- “Hail Hydra”
- “I can do this all day”
- “On your left”
- “Avengers… Assemble!”
- A-Force
- “I am Iron Man”
What’s Not So Good
There’s hardly anything I didn’t like about the movie. If there’s one thing that’s a bit hard for me to accept is why Tony had to take the gauntlet himself and make that sacrifice. He, and everyone already knew that only someone as strong as Hulk could handle that, and Captain Marvel could have just as easily done that herself. And knowing that Tony could just as easily command the new gauntlet to fly off Thanos’ fist and onto someone more powerful (like Captain Marvel, or Thor, or Hulk) the way he had his armor in Iron Man 3 form around Pepper. But then again, he has been trying to be a martyr ever since pushing that nuke into the portal in the first Avengers film.
It still breaks my heart that three of the OG Avengers are now gone (with Natasha and Tony gone, and Steve really old), but I’m still hoping we see more of Hulk, Thor, and Hawkeye in future installments.
Verdict
It’s been seven years since Fury’s “idea to bring together a group of remarkable people to fight the battles that we never could” came to life, and eleven long years since the first Iron Man film. Avengers: Endgame is a fitting conclusion to all the 21 stories that came before it, and it delivers in every way imaginable. It’s amazing how Kevin Feige, and the rest of Marvel Studios, put together such an amazing experience for us fans. It truly is the best time for us Marvel fans.