Let’s talk about Avengers: Endgame.
WARNING — ALL THE SPOILERS AHEAD. SERIOUSLY, IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE YET, TURN BACK NOW!!!
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
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1) The focus on the original six Avengers: I loved that we go to spend so much time with Steve, Tony, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, and Thor. It was fitting that they were the focus since this was their mission and the finale for some of the characters.
2) The Easter eggs: I love Easter eggs, and there were so many callbacks and nods to previous MCU films. Probably my favorite was the Cap elevator scene, which mirrored the one in Winter Soldier, only with Steve pretending to be Hydra Cap. Ha!
I also loved hearing Sam say “On your left” when all the heroes start arriving for the final battle. And Tony saying “I am Iron Man” at the end. And the funeral wreath with Tony’s first arc reactor and proof that he has a heart.
3) The cameos: This goes hand-in-hand with the Easter eggs. It was wonderful that so many actors came back to do cameos in the various time travel scenes — Robert Redford, Rene Russo, John Slattery, Frank Grillo, Tilda Swinton, etc.
If you count all the cameos, Endgame probably has the greatest overall cast of any movie ever.
4) Seeing previous MCU scenes from different angles: I loved the time travel scenes, and it was great seeing various classic MCU scenes from different angles, like the Battle of New York — and then getting to go even deeper into the scenes and get more information, like what the Avengers did after they defeated Loki in New York.
5) Cap finally (!) wielding Mjolnir: Just like Thor, we all knew Steve was worthy. Several people in my theater cheered when this happened. This was one of my favorite moments in the whole movie. I also loved Steve getting back up to face Thanos and his army seemingly all by himself.
WHAT I LIKED:
1) Loki disappearing with the Tesseract: I like the idea that a version of Loki is out there in a timeline somewhere still making mischief.
2) Old Man Steve: I was so happy that they didn’t kill off Steve, and I loved that he got to have a life with Peggy (in some world/timeline). I hope that Chris Evans will come back and do an Old Man Steve cameo in the Falcon/Winter Soldier series.
3) Nebula and Scott: I feel like Scott and especially Nebula were the quiet MVPs of Endgame. Paul Rudd was great an injecting some humor into the movie, and “time heist” is my new favorite catchphrase. And Nebula was just a badass from start to finish, especially when she kills her younger self (!).
4) Gamora: I thought it was really clever how the writers brought Gamora back from the dead, but didn’t make her have her emotional connection to the other Guardians. You have to believe that Guardians 3 will be “The Search for Gamora”.
5) The game of keep-away with the gauntlet: Having Black Panther take the gauntlet from Clint and then give it to Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, etc. was a great way to showcase the future of the MCU. Nice passing of the torch, so to speak.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:
1) Professor Hulk: I was really meh about Professor Hulk. I would have liked to have seen Banner/Hulk reach an understanding without necessarily merging into one person. And no Hulk rematch with Thanos was very disappointing. I didn’t think Professor Hulk really had much to do in the final battle, which was also disappointing.
2) Killing off Natasha: I can see why the writers did this. Natasha finally got to wipe the red out of her ledger and redeem herself by helping Clint the way that he helped her years ago. But killing off another woman to get the Soul Stone seemed a little unnecessary.
Plus, IMO, Natasha was a much more interesting character than, say, Banner, who I feel like they only kept around to be the “science guy” since they killed off Tony. With Tony and Steve gone, they should have made Natasha the leader of the Avengers. A missed opportunity.
3) Making Sam the new Cap: I would have preferred that Bucky be the new Cap. Bucky dealing with his past as Winter Soldier while trying to be the new Cap would have been more interesting than Sam being Cap, IMO. Although you have to think that Sam being Cap will be the focus of the Falcon/Winter Soldier TV series.
4) No Cap/Bucky resolution: So much of Winter Soldier and Civil War was about the Cap/Bucky relationship, but I feel like they never got to sit down for 5 minutes and hash things out in either Infinity War or Endgame. I would have loved a scene with Cap/Bucky at the very end. Another missed opportunity. This is one of my biggest disappointments in the whole MCU.
5) Thanos: I still think Thanos is a weak villain. He wants to wipe out half the universe because … reasons? He likes balance? And who would want to save only half of everything in existence? His plan/logic/motivations still make no sense to me. Whatever, dude.
WHAT MADE MY HEAD HURT:
1) The time travel: I think time travel is always tricky to do. For the most part, the writers did a good job explaining it … but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes.
Even if Cap put all the stones back, I think you would still have a bunch of alternate timelines, just because the Avengers went back and changed things to get the stones in the first place.
Also, I was disappointed that they didn’t go back and undo the snap around the time that it happened. By bringing everyone back 5 years later, you’ve basically given everyone PTSD (at the very least), both the people who lived through the snap and the people who lost five years of time. There are just so many logistical questions with that — rebuilding, people finding their families, etc. — that I wish the writers hadn’t gone that route.
OVERALL:
Endgame is not perfect. No movie can be perfect to everyone. But Endgame is just about as close as you can get, considering all the characters, Easter eggs, cameos, etc. It’s a fitting send-off for some of our heroes and a truly impressive film-making accomplishment. A big kudos to the Russo brothers and everyone involved.
WHAT THE MCU MEANS TO ME:
I’ve always loved superheroes, but the MCU really reignited my interest in superheroes, comics, etc., especially Winter Soldier and the rest of the Cap trilogy. Those will probably always be my favorite MCU movies, and I feel like I’ve grown up with the original Avengers characters, even though I wasn’t a kid when the movies came out.
I kind of feel like the movies won’t be as good for me going forward just because I love Cap, etc. so much. I hope that’s not the case, but we’ll see. I also hope that Marvel doesn’t do one space/sci-fi movie after another. To me, some of the best MCU movies are the ones here on earth that are a little more grounded in reality (Winter Soldier) or with slightly smaller stakes (Ant-Man).
But I’m looking forward to the future and to hopefully enjoying MCU films for many more years to come.
What did you guys think about Endgame?
