Avengers: Endgame [2019]
"Some people move on. Not us."
First up, I'll have to begin this review with a preface. Spoiler alert! I'm not going to put things under a break this time around because... well, it's a bit silly to just have the post be mostly just a poster? Also, a bit of an apology for how long it took for me to finish writing this review.
Also, #DontSpoilTheEndgame. Don't be a dick.
This, by the way, is the first part of my Avengers: Endgame review. The original draft was so long that I really needed to split it into at least two parts. One to talk about the movie, and a second one to specifically talk about the characters, and maybe a third one to talk about all of the plot-holes and whatnot. And honestly, for such a monolithic endeavour that the movie itself is, it definitely felt right to do so. This review is going to review the bulk of the movie itself, about the feelings given to me as a conclusion to a decade's worth of amazing stories and characters given to us by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as the conclusion to both Infinity War, the stories started all the way back from the first Iron Man movie, as well as, honestly, perhaps the biggest chapter of the world's most successful movie franchise.
And, yeah, sure, there's going to be sequels. Black Panther, Spider-Man, Guardians, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange... they'll all receive sequel movies and whatnot. There's still a crap-ton of television shows to follow. But as far as this first batch of MCU stories go, it's finished, and oh man, this movie is definitely an amazing swan song.
I still remember going to the cinema in 2012, seven years ago, and thinking how much Marvel managed to take a bunch of characters I am only barely familiar with (always more of a DC fan than a Marvel fan) and make me really care about them. Take that feeling, take that awe as you enter the theater excited about how the plot of The Avengers is going to culminate a bunch of storylines set up with the Tesseract and Loki and all that jazz, and multiply it by a gajillion, because Infinity War's cliffhanger is amazingly well-done. Sure, our heroes are going to save the world, sure, the dusted characters are 100% going to come back... but at what cost? Who else will die in Avengers: Endgame?
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This movie delivers a full, solid ending to this chapter of the MCU, killing off several of its biggest names, and gives us a respectable catharsis to the stories of these characters that we've lived with all throughout these past decade, bidding one final farewell in perhaps these characters' best showings throughout the entire MCU. And it's these movies with their big-name actors and their huge budgetary costs that honestly solves one of the biggest problems that the comic book format has had over the past couple of decades -- the fact that these actors have so defined these characters suddenly forces the writers for these movies to really try and do their best, to give the characters a lot more justified story time instead of just reverting back to the same old comic-book status quo that both Marvel and DC have lapsed onto. So yeah, good show.
MAIN MOVIE DISCUSSION -- THE FIRST ACT
"I'm going to go kill Thanos."
So, last warning for spoilers, because I will spoil shit from now on. This segment will be the bulk of my review about the movie as a whole, about how I feel about the plot and discuss the specific scenes, and how the story's broken up. We'll then move into discussing the actual death and legacy of the characters that died, a brief talk about juggling 30+ characters, and finally I'll have a brief segment talking about each and every one of the characters I would consider part of this movie's main cast.
So, last warning for spoilers, because I will spoil shit from now on. This segment will be the bulk of my review about the movie as a whole, about how I feel about the plot and discuss the specific scenes, and how the story's broken up. We'll then move into discussing the actual death and legacy of the characters that died, a brief talk about juggling 30+ characters, and finally I'll have a brief segment talking about each and every one of the characters I would consider part of this movie's main cast.
So yeah, the first 15-20 minutes of this movie is... it's a rollercoaster of emotions. The very first scene is a heartbreaking scene of Hawkeye during the Snap, losing his family, and I did love the fact that we weren't initially sure if this was before or after the Snap. The scene was shot pretty beautifully, too, with the Snap happening quite literally out of nowhere in the midst of the conversation, and while the audience is able to see the last remnants of Clint's family flying off into the wind, poor Clint's confusion at what's happening, of his family disappearing right out of his peripheral vision... it's heartbreaking.
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And the following scene is... it's a genuinely heartbreaking scene as a clearly traumatized and slightly addled Tony begins to spew vitriol at Steve. As Pepper and Rhodey try to calm Tony down, he begins to just pour out a whole ton of anger and resentment at Steve. For questioning his "Prevengers" plan of putting a suit of armour at every country, for Steve for "not standing together", for their loss... it's clear that Tony's not in the right mind, but the scene's still pretty damn heartbreaking nonetheless. Tony's allowed to rest while Carol, god bless her single-mindedness, just decides to go up and kill Thanos. A bit of a talk about teamwork later, and all of the available Avengers head off to do just that.
And, of course, Thanos has taken up farming and all that, a neat homage to the actual comic arc that the whole Infinity War/Endgame stuff is based on... and then in the midst of salting his soup, Captain Marvel, War Machine and the Hulkbuster burst in and attack Thanos, restraining him, allowing Thor to slice off his arm. It's surprisingly brutal, and instead of a action scene against a weakened Thanos, it's... it's almost pathetic, really, that Thanos isn't even able to fight. We et the revelation that he's used the Infinity Stones to destroy the Infinity Stones itself, to prevent temptation... and also to prevent his Snap and his perceived "cosmic balance" to be undone.
And then as son as Nebula confirms that, no, Thanos won't lie about this sort of thing, THOR GOES FOR THE HEAD. It's a sudden death punctuated by a dry, in-universe humourless remark as Thor just walks out, with an amazing delivery from Chris Hemsworth -- Thor feels nothing but hollowness in killing Thanos without a fight and without being able to avenge his fallen friends.
And then we get the ominous smash to black screen... and a "Five Years Later" time-skip, something that genuinely took me by surprise.
Apparently, the movie isn't happening in the aftermath of Infinity War, but rather after it, anime timeskip style, and... I must say, other than a few specific quibbles, it's amazingly executed. It allows for some semblance of normalcy as humanity tries to "move on", and also not have to deal or show the chaos that must've happened from Thanos's Snap all over Earth and the galaxy. It also allows some character development to happen off-screen, which is... interesting! We get to see slower scenes of how humanity as a whole have tried to move on -- Captain America's handling a support group, Black Widow's the leader of the Avengers and is busying herself in work trying to defend Earth, and I do really love the acting in this scene. Natasha very obviously really trying to throw herself into work, and Steve admitting that all of this "Captain America is always strong" thing really is a strong front and he hasn't moved on, not fully.
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And we get to see one man right after the time-skip, and that man is Tony Stark living in a cabin next to a lake... and he's got the most adorable daughter in the world, little Morgan Stark. I do love just how well-developed Tony has been over the five years, being immensely polite and nice to Steve in stark contrast to the scene in the cold open, and Tony is genuinely healthy and happy, and unwilling to risk his own family -- particularly his daughter -- at the chance of returning everyone that's been gone for five years.
But the idea's planted in Tony's head, and after looking at an old picture of Peter Parker, he ends up off-handedly experimenting ends up solving the time travel equation. I do really love the conversation he has with his daughter -- between the "shit" and the "I love you three thousand" lines, the movie really manages to show just why Tony is so unwilling to risk his own happiness. In the end, as he's very much willing to look back and just move on forwards with his family despite all the guilt, it's a conversation with Pepper, who tells Tony that she's never been able to stop Tony from doing what he wants to do, and even if he put it away... he'll never "be able to rest". Some really amazing scene between these two, honestly, and after how much Pepper's been in the background since Iron Man 3, it's nice to have her front and center again.
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And then we get a character recruitment montage! I kinda wished we had some dialogue to explain why Okoye and especially Captain Marvel doesn't show up, but eh. War Machine, Nebula and Rocket show up and land in the compound in a hilarious scene involving tacos and poor, poor Scott Lang. We get to Japan and see that Hawkeye's became basically the international version of the Punisher, killing people with a badass looking new costume, and we get a cool action scene before Natasha shows up and quietly asks him to come along.
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And I am so glad that out of everything in this movie, Drunk Fat Thor isn't something that I was spoiled on. Admittedly, it's a spoiler that I'm sure not a lot of people will believe.
MAIN MOVIE DISCUSSION -- THE SECOND ACT
"I know, I know."
Anyway, with this new Avengers team and the core cast of the movie gathered, we begin talking about the details of the Time Heist, a bit of an experimentation with Clint going into the past, and a whole ton of hilarious discussion and dialogue, more pathetic Thor, and a whole lot of talk about where to go in the MCU's history to pluck all six Infinity Stones out of time. And some discussion about time jokes, and I am so glad we had that hilarious baby Thanos joke.
Anyway, with this new Avengers team and the core cast of the movie gathered, we begin talking about the details of the Time Heist, a bit of an experimentation with Clint going into the past, and a whole ton of hilarious discussion and dialogue, more pathetic Thor, and a whole lot of talk about where to go in the MCU's history to pluck all six Infinity Stones out of time. And some discussion about time jokes, and I am so glad we had that hilarious baby Thanos joke.
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While in the movie these all sort of happen simultaneously, I'll talk about them one by one. We'll start with the Thor: Dark World one first, because it's a lot simpler. Rocket ends up slapping Thor as he hyperventilates and just freaks the fuck out, and ends up basically doing the whole mission by himself. I do like that Rocket's paired up with Thor; their interaction in Infinity War was pretty well-written. Of course, while he's running around in a panic, Thor ends up coming in front of Frigga, his mother -- who would have died that day. Frigga quickly figures out that this is a Thor from some point in the future, and Thor just breaks the fuck down. And it's genuinely emotional, and I do love that we ended up getting this amazingly emotional scene from Thor and his mother. As Thor puts it, despite his murder of Thanos in 2018, he was just "some idiot with an axe", because half of the survivors of Ragnarok was still dead, Loki was still dead, and the Snap happened anyway. Frigga tells Thor that, yes, that makes him a failure... and being a failure is something that every single person, every single hero, will have to go through.
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While everything went relatively well in 2013-era Asgard, things don't go so well in 2012 and 2014. War Machine and Nebula lampoon just how stupid Guardians of the Galaxy's opening credits scene is when it's just Star-Lord dancing around like an idiot since the time-travelers can't actually hear the music. They steal the power stone no problem... but 2023-era Nebula's cybernetic implants end up... synchronizing with 2014-era Nebula? It's a bit of a contrived coincidence, to be honest, but this alerts 2014-era Thanos to what the shit's going on, the biggest "OH CRAP" the movie has to deliver, and the 2014-era villain ensemble of Thanos, Nebula, Gamora and Ebony Maw end up capturing 2023-era Nebula, and replacing her with the 2014-era Nebula.
And I'm not sure if our heroes knew what Vormir entailed for the team that went there, but apparently the team that got sent is just perfect -- Clint and Natasha, two best buddies. And after the specter of the Red Skull tells them about the whole soul-for-a-soul exchange, the two of them began to basically... try to fight each other for the right to sacrifice themselves, making it not a fight for survival, but a fight to ensure the other's survival. It's black comedy, tragedy and genuinely heartwarming all in the same breath, with some genuinely hard tension, and at the end of this scene... Black Widow ends up being the one to sacrifice herself.
Again, I have a lot to talk about this scene, but it was beautifully done, as is the shot of Hawkeye waking up in that pool without Natasha and with the stone, and unlike Thanos, whose "regret" is just a slightly more somber "aw shucks", Clint's pain is shown and felt in an amazingly well-done way.
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And then, in perhaps the biggest fanwank plot that I am SO FUCKING GLAD this movie puts in is Captain America fighting Captain America. With 2012-era Captain America thinking that 2023-era Steve is a disguised Loki. It's amazing. It's completely unnecessary to the plot, but god damn if it isn't one of the most awesome scenes and fights in the MCU. The fact that 2023!Steve makes a tired joke at the "I can do this all day" line is amazing, the "America's ass" joke is hilarious, and the action scene's just well done.
Bruce and the Ancient One manage to discuss about branching timelines and Bruce's stated plan to return the stones to their original places in the timestream, and when the Ancient One realizes that Dr. Strange handed over the Time Stone willingly to Thanos, she ends up putting her trust in the Avengers. Neat. Meanwhile, speaking of trust, Tony and Scott own up their mistakes to Steve, and their limited supply of Pym particles mean that they've only got one jump each. Tony asks Steve to trust him, sends Scott and Loki's scepter back to 2023, and then zip back to the 1970's...
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Tony's scene starts off with a lot of hilarious awkwardness, because not a lot of things can faze the great Tony Stark so much... and seeing how he's just basically babbling and struggling to improvise while talking to Howard, and we find out that Howard Stark at this point is going home to see his wife give birth to Tony, and Tony gets to see just how fucking terrified Howard is of parenting, and how much the two of them are similar... Tony ends up finally being able to actually meet the father who he has had so much complex emotions for, and that hug at the end of their scene, of Tony going "thank you for what you've done" before quickly flubbing about it being a thank you for the country... amazingly done.
Captain America's scene was a lot simpler. He continues with his little heist, fooling Pym and stealing the doodad, and ducks into the office of... Director Margaret Carter. And as the music swells up while Steve realizes where he is, he ends up looking at Peggy Carter, alive and well, through a window, separated only with window blinds, and this is where I cried. Not at the end, no. This is where I cried, because while Steve Rogers have never been my favourite character, this lost chance, this lost time where he should've originally belonged, the fact that unlike Scott or Tony or Clint he isn't even fighting for his family... it's just heartbreaking.
MAIN MOVIE DISCUSSION -- THE THIRD ACT
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"AVENGERS! Assemble."
All of our heroes return to the exact same time in 2023, and they all realize they are down one member... Black Widow. I really love just how downcast Clint looks throughout this whole scene, and how it is Bruce and Steve -- Natasha's closest friends other than Clint -- that are the ones that look the most worried. We cut to a somber, quiet scene of them basically gathering for a wake for Natasha, with all of the remaining members of the original Avengers (man, we're going to see some SJW's complaining that this scene is filled with men, huh) mourning Natasha's loss. Thor and Hawkeye have... an interesting conversation here. We'll talk about that more when we discuss Thor's character.
A montage and a 'boom' joke later, and Tony's constructed his own Infinity Gauntlet. Because, uh... I guess Peter Dinklage's too busy in Westeros? The argument on who should do the snap to undo the deaths -- but not the events, a pretty important distinction -- takes place, with drunk Thor being the first to volunteer himself. At first it seems to be another dick-waving contest, but Thor's earnest desperation to want to make amends is amazingly delivered by Hemsworth. It ends up to be Hulk thanks to gamma ray technobabble... and Hulk snaps the gauntlet, at the cost of fucking up that right arm something fierce.
We get confirmation that this works, with Hawkeye's wife calling him...
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And our heroes are split apart, as we enter the final act of Endgame, which is just full-on action scene. Hawkeye goes on a one-man run, holding onto the Gauntlet as he has to race against Thanos's alien minions (Outriders?) in cramped space -- a pretty badass scene. The wounded Hulk, Rocket and War Machine are all trapped in the flooding ruins of the basement, with Hulk forced to hold up the rubble, and poor Rhodey is back to being crippled thanks to the destruction of the War Machine armour. Ant-Man rushes there, but we really didn't see a whole ton of it until later on.
Clint manages to survive, but is confronted by 2014!Nebula. While all of this is going on, 2023!Nebula manages to appeal to the inner goodness inside 2014!Gamora, telling her of Thanos's betrayal, and how the two of them became sisters in... in Gamora's future/Nebula's past. It's weird. Gamora and present-Nebula try to talk down past-Nebula, but past-Nebula's so single-minded with obtaining validation and purpose from her father that she's willing to turn on Gamora... and gets shot to death by present-Nebula.
And then... the three leading men of the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- Captain America, Iron Man and Thor -- walk up towards Thanos, who's just sitting in the rubble waiting for them. Sure, the moment's ruined because it's not quite the same Thanos we know and love from Infinity War, but it's still pretty damn badass. They get a cool pre-ass kicking one-liner of holding the line, and Thor finally transforms into true warrior form, dual-wielding Mjolnir and Stormbreaker while summoning his armour and braiding his Lebowski hair into a Viking braid.
Thanos talks about how his new plan is to end the world and remake it, to prevent the survivors from having the memory of what they lost, and... and admittedly it's a far more boring motivation than the more complex and nuanced Infinity War Thanos. But we get an action scene and HOO BOY IT IS BADASS. Thor dual-wielding his massive weapons, Steve just charging in with his shield, Tony unleashing wacky little gadgets and funnels from his Iron Man suit... we even get some badass combo moves like Thor funneling his lightning through Iron Man's armour, or using Stormbreaker to lob Mjolnir at Thanos.
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But it's not enough, and one by one, Iron Man and Thor fall and is incapacitated. Even Captain America's shield is shattered under the blows of Thanos's blade. And it is such a beautiful, cinematic long shot as Steve Rogers stands back up on his feet, looking at the looming Thanos and the assembled army that has descended behind him. A massive alien warship, the four Children of Thanos from the previous movie, a massive army of snarling beasts, Chitauri Leviathans... and Steve Rogers is just one man. And what does Steve Rogers do? Tighten the broken shield on his arm.
Easily the most flat-out badass scene in this movie, only matched by what happens next.
The Falcon's voice suddenly sounds in Steve's ear, and then a Dr. Strange portal begins to open, and the fallen from Infinity War return. And it's just amazing. From Black Panther, Okoye and Shuri, followed by the Falcon and Dr. Strange, we get more and more and more and more portals open and all of the fallen return. Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Groot, Drax, Mantis... and a whole bunch of other characters. Wasp! Wong! Valkyrie on a goddamn pegasus! Miek and Korg! Pepper Potts outfitted in her own Iron Man suit! And a whole lot of random extras, from Wakanda's armies, to the assembled armies of the sorcerers of Earth, to the Asgardians, to random ships...
"You wanted more?" Wong asks incredulously. We kind of do, Wong, but what we got is genuinely impressive.
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It's an amazing, quiet, delivery from Chris Evans as the music builds up and the visuals just pan over the fuck-ton of awesome characters we've grown to love over the years charge into battle against Thanos and his army.
And it's just non-stop action scene as we get a full-on war, and, sure, a lot of the more minor characters don't really get to do much, but it's just amazing to look at this scene and just get sucked into just how awesome everything is, y'know? Highlights include the emotional hug that Tony gives Peter -- no quips, no nothing, just an emotional hug. We get the hilarious bit of "football" as Hawkeye, and later Black Panther, and later on Spider-Man, go around with the Infinity Gauntlet and prevent Thanos's forces from taking it. We get Iron Man and Rescue teaming up together with their armours. We get Spider-Man finally activating Insta-Kill. We get Thor and Steve joking about who gets to use which axe. We get Giant-Man one-shotting fucking Cull Obsidian with a single stomp, Dr. Strange's whole deal with the giant tsunami-tornado... we've got Gamora kneeing Star-Lord in the balls...
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Not even the bombardment lasts long, though, as fucking Captain Marvel zooms in, one-shots Thanos's warship, and assisting Spider-Man in trying to get the Infinity Gauntlet to Scott's stupid time van, and we get a neat scene with all of the ladies in the battlefield assembling together. But Thanos attacks, and the Quantum Tunnel is destroyed, knocking away a lot of the heroes. Captain America, and then Thor, and then Captain Marvel all try to take down Thanos, and despite Carol's over-poweredness, Thanos manages to use the power stone to knock her out.
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Turns out that in the struggle, Tony's swiped the stones from Thanos's glove, and as they are locked onto position in Tony's glove, he proclaims "I am... Iron Man."
And it's Tony that snaps the infinity stones, this being the one in however many thousand scenarios that they win. Thanos's army is wiped out, and the Mad Titan himself finally is turned into dust.
But he's not the only casualty of the fight, because... well, it's pretty telegraphed that at least one of the MCU's leading men will die. It's not Steve, but rather Tony... and the scene is even more heartbreaking than the "I don't feel so good" scene from Infinity War. First it's Rhodey who shows up next to the burnt body of Tony, unable to properly speak from his injuries. Then a panicking, desperate Peter Parker... and finally Pepper shows up (Tony manages a "Pep", the only word he says before he passes), putting up a brave face long enough to tell Tony that "we'll be fine. You can rest now." before the original Marvel hero finally fades away.
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After that... we get a bit of a fun happy camper scene with Thor joining the Guardians of the Galaxy (or, as he puts it, the Asgardians of the Galaxy). That's all right.
And then Hulk and the Captain America support squad is about to "fix time" by putting the Infinity Stones and Mjolnir back where they came from, and it's... it's interesting. We see so little of what goes on in this part because it seems like we're setting up for something like, oh, a montage of Steve meeting everyone across history or something, fixing all of the continuity problems that time travel has caused (we'll talk about that in a separate post), but, of course, turns out it's not just Black Widow and Iron Man that we lose. It's Captain America too, in a fashion... he simply just... didn't return back to the present day, choosing to finally have that dance with Peggy, grow into an old man, and pass on the shield to Falcon, the new Captain America.
And it's on that sweet, sweet note that the movie ends, as we return back to whenever Captain America decided to stay, having a sweet, slow dance with Peggy as the credits roll.
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And it goes without saying that the action scenes are nothing but spectacular, particularly the final 20+ minute war at the end. It goes without saying that the music and the scene cuts are well done, and it's simply fascinating how the movie doesn't feel like a three-hour affair. Hell, if it wasn't for my bladder, it wouldn't -- I went out of this movie going "man, they really could've added more scenes for the Hulk, and for Nebula, and for Thanos..." before stopping myself and realizing that the damn movie's long enough already.
This movie's great. The central theme is what you leave behind, about the legacy you leave behind when you're gone. With multiple characters dying, and multiple characters getting to see just the sheer amount of history in their past... it's definitely one that really explores with that concept. From Iron Man off-handedly muttering that they need "new blood" like Captain Marvel, to Thor's conversation with Frigga, to Thor passing on the mantle of king of Asgard to Valkyrie, to Tony meeting Peter again, to Tony's final message, to Captain America passing the shield to Falcon... so much of this movie is about legacy and sacrifices, and I do love that beneath all of the smashy-smash and bashy-bash, this movie really does its best to be traditionally heroic and tell a theme of legacy. Not just in terms of the in-universe characters, but also for the MCU as a whole. As a movie series that has -- without any trace of exaggeration -- shaped an entire generation, all of the more meta "we'll be fine without you" and "every journey comes to an end" lines seem to be a sendoff to the actors that played these iconic characters as much as they are to the characters themselves.
This movie's great. The central theme is what you leave behind, about the legacy you leave behind when you're gone. With multiple characters dying, and multiple characters getting to see just the sheer amount of history in their past... it's definitely one that really explores with that concept. From Iron Man off-handedly muttering that they need "new blood" like Captain Marvel, to Thor's conversation with Frigga, to Thor passing on the mantle of king of Asgard to Valkyrie, to Tony meeting Peter again, to Tony's final message, to Captain America passing the shield to Falcon... so much of this movie is about legacy and sacrifices, and I do love that beneath all of the smashy-smash and bashy-bash, this movie really does its best to be traditionally heroic and tell a theme of legacy. Not just in terms of the in-universe characters, but also for the MCU as a whole. As a movie series that has -- without any trace of exaggeration -- shaped an entire generation, all of the more meta "we'll be fine without you" and "every journey comes to an end" lines seem to be a sendoff to the actors that played these iconic characters as much as they are to the characters themselves.
MAIN MOVIE DISCUSSION -- JUGGLING CHARACTERS
"Is that everybody?"
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And I know this has disappointed a fair amount of people who expected Okoye to get some chance to shine as a supporting member of the Avengers, but other than that holo-meeting, Okoye disappears until the final battle. Likewise, Captain Marvel also only participates in the first and final acts, something that's... that we will discuss more properly in the second part of this review where I talk about all of the secondary characters. It's a neat way to basically maintain the illusion that Carol's still one of the god-tier characters in this setting, and the movie side-steps this pretty well, but ultimately it's definitely a good decision to keep Carol relatively off-screen if they also plan to keep her super-duper-powerful.
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MAIN MOVIE DISCUSSION -- MOVING ON
"You can rest now."
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But, of course, we've had a while to mourn Vision, whereas the other three's deaths (well, two deaths and one permanent retirement) are still fresh after this movie. And let's talk about the three of them.
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Again, it's interesting that Marvel's announcing a Black Widow movie a bit belatedly, so maybe it's a prequel? An inter-quel? A new Black Widow? This movie seems to really want to hammer home that anyone lost to the Soul Stone is permanently dead and not even Infinity Stone snaps can bring them back.
Iron Man probably gets my favourite send-off in this movie, due to just how utterly badass that scene was, especially just how hard he's been campaigning that he's going to fight for the right to retire peacefully and be a dad. Of how that scene with Howard Stark could be interpreted as Tony taking a different stance on personal happiness/greater good thing. But the signs are there, and at least before his death, Tony has resolved all of his baggage. He made peace with Captain America, he made peace with Pepper, he got to get Peter Parker back, he had five years to enjoy happiness with his child and clearly is a superior parent compared to Howard, thanks to time travel he also made peace with Howard Stark... as someone who started the movie at a pretty low point -- something he shares with Thor -- Tony ends up choosing the greater good, ending his life's story both as the slayer of the greatest threat the universe's faced while simultaneously capping off his MCU career with an inspirational speech via a hologram message.
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The fact that after being a person that is probably the most selfless out of all of the Avengers, Captain America finally took one of Tony's barbs to heart and decides to actually just stop and... and rest, and build a family with the love of his life... it's just nothing short of beautiful, y'know? I've never really been someone who's super invested in Captain America's love story or his "man out of time" plotline, but the framing of just how much Steve misses Peggy Carter just ended up really being super-sad, particularly, as I mentioned above, when the two of them meet, separated by nothing but an inch of glass, when Steve time-travels to 1970.
And honestly? Would I love more movies with these characters, with these actors playing them? Abso-fucking-lutely. But if they were going to write these characters out... this is honestly one of the best ways they could've gone out on.
Anyway... I've rambled on long enough. Keep an eye out some time in the future for when I start to talk about each of the individual characters more closely!
You've summed up the movie beautifully. Endgame is a wonderful experience and a worthy ending to 10 years of buildup. It's especially rewarding for "hardcore" fans who'll notice the hints and nods to previous films.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I do have two big issues with this film. The first is Captain Marvel. I wasn't big on her character being shoehorned into the MCU only a few months before Endgame; the big finale. Sure enough, she doesn't really impact the film in any meaningful way other than rescuing Tony and Nebula, though I'd argue that role could easily be filled with Thor. We properly know the other characters since we've spent time with them, but Carol Danvers is a new addition and her own film doesn't really flesh her out so in Endgame she isn't a character as much as a device to move the plot along. (Rescue Tony so he can be back to Earth, destroy the big ship so the battle can come to an end, etc). That being said, she doesn't impact the story negatively even if she's unnecessary.
Which brings me to my other problem and the one that irritates me the most: Thor. I think you can make your character hit rock-bottom without making him a joke, but the movie didn't. They chose to portray Thor as a fat slob who spends all day video gaming. I do get that after all that his character has the fight left out of him, but visuals play a part in allowing us to identify characters and having him be isn't emotional; it's pathetic. Can he be dishevelled? Sure. Can he be out of shape? Sure. But don't make the character a joke.
Still, the visuals wouldn't be that big of a problem if the movie didn't use his tragedy for laughs. Haha Thor's fat and trash-talks on fortnite *cue laugh track*. At that point, Thor wasn't a character who hit rock botton but a caricature of a previously known character. Even the moments where he lets his anguish come out isn't powerful because of the humorous undertone in it. Compare that to the emotional beats in Steve and Tony's respective arcs. An example is Tony meeting his father. There's an underlying heart throughout which culminates when Tony manages to resolve his issues with Howard without the latter even knowing who he was. Now take Thor meeting Freya. While it had it's emotional moments the underlying tone is always comedic, culminating to Thor stealing his own hammer and telling himself "yeah, I'm worthy.". You mentioned Thor learning humility after his talk with Freya, but that scene was the opposite for me especially when you consider that Thor had no idea he would need Mjolnir at the time and did it on almost childish impulse. It sets back his development all the way to Ragnarok, where he learnt that his power was from himself, not mjolnir. The final battle was where it became the most abominable, where the jokes had stopped and the tone was grim but Thor was still his fat slob self. Thor is one of the OG Avengers, but he gets the short end of the stick. The rest of the guys get to be cool in the finale but Thor, he gets to be a fat god whose armor now stretches. Sure he gets two hammers but it doesn't look as cool. I do like the conclusion that he eventually sets off to find his own purpose instead of following others, but by then the damage was done, and by the time the credits roll and Thor's image came with Chris Hemsworth's signature the disconnect was there diminishing Thor all the way to the end.
So, that's my two biggest gripes with the movie. There are some others but this comment is too long as it is. All in all, great ending to ten years of buildup. As they say, how you end a story is the most important part and the Russos nailed it (mostly).
Yeah, Endgame is certainly not perfect. But as an ending -- or, rather, the final chapter of this first "book" of Marvel movies -- it's certainly a very wonderful movie to experience. Particularly together with a theater that "oohs" and "aahs" at everything.
DeleteCaptain Marvel is... she's honestly a tricky character to handle, and I really wished that her debut movie isn't so divisive. I feel that however Captain Marvel is handled is going to rub people off the wrong way for the simple reason that unlike, say, Black Panther, her origin story basically, as most people put it, retroactively shoves her as the "Big Good" of the MCU. And while her debut movie does do that particular job well enough as it could possibly do, it's still going to rub people the wrong way. The fact that Carol's literally the only character to be introduced between Infinity War and Endgame is also honestly pretty much an odd writing choice.
The thing is, if you keep Captain Marvel around for the majority of the movie (and it's honestly a bit of a plot hole since they clearly have her on speed dial and the Time Heist won't take up too much time) she'd basically make a lot of the conflict in the movie that doesn't involve fighting Thanos be trivial, and people'll complain that Carol would take up too much screen time away from the actual original Avengers. Do what the movie does and keep Captain Marvel at a minimum, and people'll complain that she's "pointless" and such. I do definitely prefer the latter, though, since the movie is pretty stuffed as it is, and shoving in a Captain Marvel arc -- even if it'd do wonders for her relatively flat character -- would take away from so many other characters that the audience would feel more emotion towards.
Thor is... Thor is interesting. I have some opinions about him that I'll elaborate a bit more when I finish writing the character-by-character analysis, and perhaps they sort of went a bit overboard with him? I sort of wish that they'd made him a bit more of an "angry drunk" sort of loser instead of a "confused, possibly-high drunk", but... I don't know. I really felt that they really went full-in trying to make Thor feel as pathetic and tired and a complete loser. Perhaps it'd be more manly, so to speak, for his lowest rock-bottom spot to perhaps be him just being a broody bitter bastard (like Hawkeye) or to just be angry at the world in general (pre-timeskip Tony)... but I dunno. It's not how I would've written Thor if I had been writing the movie for sure, but considering the sheer amount of crap the world's thrown his way between Ragnarok and Infinity War, and the fact that every attempt he tries to do to bounce back is met with the world quite literally punching him back down... I dunno, I kinda felt that while the execution is odd, it's not a problem I really have with the movie.
DeleteThe fat-shaming, however, is DEFINITELY unfortunate. I'm also not a huge fan of the Fortnite joke -- and, in fact, I genuinely didn't realize that it was specifically Fortnite until it was pointed out to me after the viewing... becuase apparently in 2023 that's still one of the more popular game? I really loved that Frigga moment, and just how much of a loser Thor ended up being leading up to that moment, but I really felt that just like Professor Hulk, the transformation would've been a lot better served with more scenes in-between the pre-timeskip and post-timeskip versions. I dunno, though -- I feel like the fact that the character arc Thor's been going through his movies and the Avenger movies, finally realizing that as Frigga tells him, he needs to stop judging himself by the standards of The Perfect God and start just being human and bounce back from his alcohol-fueled funk to be a wonderful story to tell. Honestly, that whole moment, a perfect son who's fallen from grace but still finds out that his mother isn't really disappointed but knows that he'll come back... it's pretty well done. Because, well, if Thor was just "The Perfect God" all the time, that'd basically turn me off and he'd basically be in boring God-Mode all the time and be ultimately boring.
I do concede that I completely forgot the whole "your power is within yourself" bit from Ragnarok, though, which... yeah, that makes the whole summoning Mjolnir thing end up being more for the fans' benefit than it is for Thor.
As for the final battle... I dunno. I half-expected the combined Mjolnir/Stormbreaker blast to basically revert him back to muscular Thor, but that'd probably send pretty mixed messages? But then the movie also engages in fat-shaming, so I dunno. I sort of feel like the armour sort of covers up the fat slobbiness and turn him into more of a bulky figure sort of like one of those fantasy dwarves... but I really wished they did something better with his hair. It's really sort of frustrating, I guess, to see him not be as badass as he was before, and the movie could've handled the humbling of Thor differently. I personally didn't mind it that much, particularly becuase... well, it's far, far more relatable, I guess? I understand why people would have a huge problem with fat Thor, though -- Thor and Widow are the two characters that people tend to have a problem with in Endgame, and honestly, considering the sheer amount of characters that they had to juggle and make distinctive character arcs for all of them, it's still a pretty great ending.
Yeah, the divisiveness and politics that permeate Captain Marvel are really off-putting, especially due to Brie Larson's own comments. personally prefer to keep character separate from actor, so my indifference to Captain Marvel is based on her writing. The core problems which cause the dillema you speak of comes from her abrupt introduction, which feels more like an afterthought than a new piece to the puzzle. I've talked with friends about this and how Captain Marvel would benefit if she was introduced earlier if you wanted her to be there at all. Maybe have her accident as early as the Chitauri invasion when she gets injured and sucked to space from the portal before the Kree find her. After that, there's potential for her to pop up in GOTG when they're fighting Krees. Either that or just have her movie after endgame.
DeleteAs for Thor, I think it's logical that has no anger left, but I thought of a compromise scenario. Valkyrie tells Hulk and Rocket where to find Thor. They go there and see lightning hitting the sea so they expect to see an angry Thor. Instead, they find a shirtless Thor hitting beer cans and charging them up with Stormbreaker so they explode as they reach the sea, like a godly golf. Korg is still there cheering him on and there's some rock music playing or even nordic metal. You can even have Thor be visibly out of shape as his muscles are less defined, thought not outright fat. It subverts the audience the same way, shows Thor hitting rock bottom and escaping to immaturity without making him a caricature. I know fratboy antics are kind of cliché, but I think it's better than what we got.
I have genuinely not followed any of the Captain Marvel/Brie Larson online controversy at all beyond a vague knowledge that, y'know, it exists. And honestly, at this point I'm actually actively ignoring it? I just know that there are real die-hard people with strong opinions on both sides of the argument. I mostly base my opinions on Captain Marvel on the writing we got in these two movies, and she's... inoffensive. I really don't have a whole ton to talk about her character. There's not a lot that I dislike, because there's definitely room in this wide universe for a serious "let's kill the bad guy" character -- but on the other hand, there is genuinely nothing really interesting about her beyond "she punches things real good." And a huge part of it is, of course, the fact that her movie is a very amnesia-laden origin story. Not that those movies can't be good, but Carol herself doesn't really develop a proper, solidified personality until the final act of her movie, and where quite literally every other character has had multiple movies to at least develop and resonate with an audience, poor Captain Marvel just feels like an outlier.
DeleteHonestly, comparing the introduction of Captain Marvel with Black Panther -- whose lore was tied in amazingly well in previous movies with Vibranium and the whole Age of Ultron plot; as well as the character getting a soft 'preview' debut in Civil War before her own debut movie... I dunno. Even things like little hints in the Guardian movies or Ragnarok where they talk about some glowing superhuman fighting the Kree Empire or something would've gone a loooong way at establishing that, hey, this character exists, and it wouldn't be too much of a shock for her to show up. I know that the Captain Marvel movie is apparently something that has had sort of a troubled production, but honestly, considering that (and my memory might be a bit faulty here) they announced Brie Larson's casting at around the same time that they did Chadwick Boseman's, I'm baffled why they couldn't hvae worked her into any of the movies between Civil War and her debut movie.
And after sleeping over the whole Thor thing... yeah, I think a lot of what people have problem with is the whole "fat flabby gamer drunk" portrayal and not so much Thor as a loser -- like you said, we'd have exactly the same emotional impact of Thor reacting to Frigga and being kind of a drunk shit with the Avengers prior to the Time Heist. Your description of a potential alternate Loser-Thor scene is definitely kind of an improvement, because... yeah, after sleeping on it a little, the fat jokes and the random HAHA FORTNINTE MEMES LOL joke really didn't end up working all that well. Not so much that I think it ruins Thor in this movie for me personally, but I definitely see where you come from here.