“This is the fight of our lives. And we’re going to win. Whatever it takes.”
-Steve Rogers
Here we finally are! The release of Avengers: Endgame, the culmination of eleven years of Marvel Cinematic storytelling, and the catching up of one very irresponsible blogger.
Oh hey, that’s me!
I was going to do a Post-Mortem for Endgame just like how I did one for Captain Marvel. But as time passed, it made less sense to do it. After all, by the time this review is published a vast majority of moviegoers would have already seen the three-hour finale of the Infinity Saga and the vast trove of memes it has already spawned. So this review will not be spoiler-free. For those few who still remarkably haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame, no apologies offered! You can’t spell “review” without “view.” Go. Watch the movie. Don’t give me that crap about not being able to find time or nothin’.
Ah geez, where to begin? Avengers: Endgame picks up the pieces (or dust particles) from when Avengers: Infinity War left off, and I’m really glad that it was able to capture that sense of chaotic confusion in the wake of the Decimation. The remaining Avengers, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, Clint Barton, Thor, and their allies on Earth, are there to witness firsthand the nightmarish effects of Thanos’ snap. Somewhere in deep space, Tony Stark and Nebula are rescued at the brink of death by Carol Danvers- the mighty Captain Marvel, who ferries them back to Earth. Sweet point- Tony Stark reunites with Pepper Potts, who also survived the Decimation, so the heartbreak can’t be all that bad, can it? Fat chance. Captain America is reunited with Iron Man and their first meeting is cordial. No remaining angst- just a numbing acknowledgement that they’d lost the Infinity War.
What’s next for our heroes? Striking back against Thanos. The plan is simple. They find the purple Titan, kill him, and use the Gauntlet to reverse the effects of the Decimation. This time Thor goes for the head and decapitates Thanos after he reveals a film-shaping truth: the Infinity Stones have been destroyed to prevent the reversal of the snap. Boooooo. So our heroes have to accept their defeat, as well as the disappearance of half of all life in the universe. Or do they? Five years pass, and thanks to probably the greatest act of deus ex machina in cinematic history (and the world’s greatest rat) Scott Lang is pulled back from the Quantum Realm since being trapped there at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp. He sees the massive mourning in the wake of the Decimation- deteriorating neighborhoods, memorials to “The Vanished”, but joy! He finds his daughter Cassie, who has grown in the intervening five years. Why is Scott so confused? His five years in the Quantum Realm lasted only five hours to him, thanks to the wonky behaviour of time there. Just like how Janet van Dyne was able to return from the Quantum Realm, Scott hypothesizes that it may be possible to use time travel to step between realms and right the damage Thanos has done. The Avengers rally, and plan to go back in time and individually retrieve each of the Infinity Stones and bring them back to the present.
So yes, Endgame does use time travel as many fans hypothesized they would. The end result was a very pleasing nostalgic trip down memory lane, as our heroes revisited several key moments in the MCU. And since they step into the past, they encounter several long-dead characters on their adventures. Steve, Tony, Scott and Bruce (who is now Professor Hulk since combining his brain with the Hulk’s body) travel to 2012 during Loki’s invasion of Earth to retrieve three of the Stones. 2023 Steve subdues 2012 Steve for Loki’s scepter containing the Mind Stone. 2023 Bruce visits the Sanctum Sanctorum in an exchange that reveals that during the events of The Avengers, the Masters of the Mystic Arts did fight against the Chitauri invaders. Bruce encounters the then-alive Ancient One, whom he convinces to give him the Time Stone. While Scott returns to the present with the scepter, Tony and Steve, having failed to obtain the Tesseract, travel back in time to 1970 to a military base where the Space Stone was stored. In the meantime, Steve Rogers catches a glimpse of Peggy Carter, his lost love, and obtain more Pym Particles with which they will travel back to the present.
…..With me so far?
After an emotional encounter with his father, Howard Stark, Tony makes peace with his daddy issues (since he became the father of Morgan Stark in between movies) and returns with the Tesseract. In 2014, Black Widow and Hawkeye travel to Vormir to retrieve the Soul Stone. And yep, I KNOW! Nobody mentions the demanding nature of the Soul Stone, so when Red Skull shows up and explains how things work, there is another emotional struggle as Natasha and Clint argue over who should be sacrificed in the name of their lost loved ones. We know who goes over the edge in the end. Clint Barton returns to the present with the Soul Stone.
In yet another emotional scene, Thor (the now fat drunk alcoholic) and Rocket Raccoon travel to Asgard in 2013 during the events of Thor: The Dark World to extract the Reality Stone from Jane Foster. Natalie Portman returns briefly in this role, as does Rene Russo in the role of Queen Frigga, Thor’s beloved mother. They talk, and the scene is made so much more satisfying when Thor successfully summons Mjölnir, realizing that he has remained worthy all these years. And finally, War Machine and Nebula stop Peter Quill on Morag before he can steal the Power Stone. While War Machine returns to the present, Nebula is intercepted in 2014 by that timeline’s Thanos, who discovers the Avengers’ plan through his Nebula’s system interfacing with the 2023 Nebula’s. This is when things get interesting.
Thanos ain’t stupid, and sends 2014 Nebula into the present as a spy. Upon the heroes’ return, they grieve for Natasha’s death, before Tony, Rocket and Bruce put together a new Iron Infinity Gauntlet constructed by Stark’s nanotech. Bruce volunteers to wield the Stones, and with a snap of his fingers, brings everyone home. Wowee! And of course, things immediately go to shit when the spy-Nebula uses the Avengers’ time portal to bring Thanos to the present aboard his ship, the Sanctuary II. It ain’t just the ship Thanos brought. Aboard the behemoth is the Black Order, the armies of Sakaarans, Chitauri, Outriders, and many more beasts and monsters, all coming to claim the Infinity Stones.
Yes, yes, we all knew this was coming, the combat reunion between the Avengers and the Mad Titan. While Iron Man, Captain America and Thor fight Thanos, the other Avengers struggle to get the Infinity Stones away. And during this incredible fight, Thor is battered to within an inch of death by Thanos’ purple fists. He is saved at the last second by Captain America- who, finally, after all these years, proves himself worthy to wield Mjölnir. WAHOO! I remember that moment. My theater mostly gasped. We’d seen this coming ever since Steve budged the hammer in Avengers: Age of Ultron. There are now dozens of reaction videos that show theaters turned into rock concert halls based on how loudly the fans cheered. But this deserved it. I remember when the culmination of Marvel crossovers was The Avengers. Even then I remember one critic saying that nerds would get orgasms watching that movie. Well, I don’t want to describe what Endgame did for nerds. Most of the nerd-moments occur during the film’s final, climatic battle.
Despite having his shield finally broken by an enraged Thanos, Captain America refuses to surrender as he stares down Thanos’ formidable army by himself. And yep, he could probably do it all day, but he can’t do it alone. Right on cue, golden portals appear behind him, and the moment fans have been waiting for arrives. Our Decimated heroes are restored. Black Panther, Shuri, M’Baku and Okoye appear at the head of a replenished Wakandan army, along with Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. Doctor Stephen Strange shows up with the resurrected Guardians of the Galaxy and Peter Parker. Master Wong of the Mystic Arts arrives with a swathe of sorcerers and wizards, and the heroes also manage to rally help from the Ravagers and a battalion of Asgardian warriors, supplemented by Valkyrie, Hope van Dyne, Scarlet Witch and Pepper Potts, now donning the Rescue Armor suit. Scott Lang in giant form emerges from the rubble, having rescued War Machine, Rocket and Hulk, and they too join the fight. Cries and cheers rise from the allied army, and finally, after eleven years, the iconic two-word phrase is spoken by Captain America, who orders: “Avengers, Assemble!”
Oh boy. Remember all the grandest battle scenes in the history of cinema? The Ride of the Rohirrim. The Battle of Beruna and Helm’s Deep. The Siege of Troy. The battles of the 300. They all go out the window in the face of the almighty Battle of Earth- and, by extension, the universe. I’ll never forget how I felt as the Avengers and their allies charged to engage Thanos’ army. Every single hero we know of who is still alive was there to fight for our universe. And therein lies what is, in my view, the greatest (and probably only) flaw of Avengers: Endgame. They had even more characters than Infinity War did, and I remember being disappointed with that movie only because of the fact that so many of its heroes received comparatively-little screen time. It’s worse in Endgame. Many characters’ roles are reduced to screen times ranging from several minutes to mere seconds, many of which were non-speaking roles. Take Black Panther for instance. He did some degree of ass-kicking in Infinity War but here does less, and blah blah blah. I don’t mind particularly.
The Avengers have achieved victory in the Infinity Saga- at great cost. After Thanos manages to fight off the cosmically-powered Captain Marvel, Iron Man interfaces with the Iron Infinity Gauntlet and takes the Stones away from the Titan, before snapping him and his forces out of existence. The dust settles on the battlefield, and the sun sets on one of the MCU’s most iconic and beloved heroes. Yes. Tony Stark has given his life in the line of duty. We also saw this coming. Remember Doctor Strange’s 14,000,650 visions of the future? He surrendered the Time Stone in exchange for Tony’s life, claiming “There was no other way.” Even then, five years before the end, he knew that Tony Stark had to be the one to make that sacrifice. And his quiet lakeside funeral is attended by almost every one of the major heroes and a swathe of minor ones, including Hank Pym, Maria Hill and Nick Fury. Stark is not the only departing hero as we saw. Steve Rogers, having decided that he’s had enough of a hero’s life, goes back in time to live his life with Peggy Carter, and in the present, Steve presents his retrieved vibranium shield to Sam, who accepts the mantle of Captain America.
Hang in there, folks! Nerd rant closing soon. Endgame answers so many questions and yet brings new ones to the table. The future is now certain for several characters. But as the MCU has demonstrated in almost every movie, events have effects. And in the trailer for the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home, Nick Fury informs Peter that the snap tore open a rift in their dimension. New heroes will be introduced such as Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio , and we’ll probably have new adventures with Sam as the new Captain America. But those are for another time. For now, I’m just very satisfied with the grand finale that is Avengers: Endgame, and am seriously rooting for it to overtake Avatar’s all-time box office record.
What an adventure this movie was. No need for a Post-Mortem. This single nerd rant has been enough for me. I don’t even need to say anything about the filmmaking process here. The whole movie speaks for itself. I won’t even call Avengers: Endgame one of the greatest. It’s one of the best.
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