‘Avengers: Endgame’ Marks End of Traditional Avengers
Promotional poster for “Avengers: Endgame.”
May 6, 2019
“The Avengers” came to an end with a big boom of a movie that combined every possible nostalgic element that Marvel spent more than 20 movies building. While it was overall a good movie, there were certainly some parts that fell short of expectations. The “Hulkish” fanservice from the writers and directors, however, left everyone in the theater clapping.
As Joe Russo, one of the directors, told Business Insider, “The thing that’s nice about the Marvel universe is that it’s long-form storytelling. It’s not predictive. You can challenge the audience.”
This creative plot-building is shown in “Endgame.” While predictable, the main plot line revolving around time travel was a great choice for the movie, allowing viewers to revisit every memorable moment from the previous Marvel blockbusters. In particular, the most stunning adventures into the past were Ironman and Captain America revisiting the original fight against Loki during the first Avengers movie, and then going back even further to encounter Howard Stark, Tony’s father, and Peggy Carter, Steve’s first love, in 1970.
A really striking part in the movie was during a scene that showed the harsh effects being in space had on Tony Stark. In a heart breaking—but needed and appreciated—moment, Tony rips off his arc reactor and shoves it at Steve as he yells at him. This showed a dark side to the struggle they have all been facing while providing a tiny amount of required confrontation between them before the movie dove into different things.
Another amazing choice by the writers involving Tony Stark was having him handle the Infinity Stones. While this led to his death, which left the entire theater sobbing, the fact that he got to save everyone will never be forgotten. It is also a great nod to the comics when Tony wields the Infinity Gauntlet. Of course, in the comics he does not die, but letting any of the other characters wield it would not have felt right in the movie because the traditional cinematic Marvel universe deserved to end with Tony Stark just as it started with him. Even the Hulk’s attempt to use the gauntlet felt like a cheap excuse to use his character more.
Speaking of the Infinity Stones, Natasha’s sacrifice to get the Soul Stone was greatly under-appreciated. The movie makers obviously did not have time for it, but she deserved a proper send off for sacrificing her life for the world. This was just one of the many bad plot choices in the movie.
Steve Rogers’ ending was another one. It was touching that he got to grow old with Peggy, but in doing so he erased the family she built for herself in the original timeline. Also, he spent two whole movies obsessed with fighting for Bucky, and yet he barely speaks to him in “Endgame” and does not seem to feel bad at all for leaving him behind. The only redeeming part about this storyline was that Sam Wilson got to take up the mantle of Captain America like he did in the comics. This means there is probably another Captain America movie to come.
The worst thing to ever happen to the Marvel universe was the path the Russo Brothers, directors of “Endgame,” took Thor on. They made Thor the punchline to every bad joke in “Endgame,” undoing all of the character development created by “Thor: Ragnarok.” Taika Waititi, director of “Thor: Ragnarok,” took away Thor’s hair and eye to show that he was more than just his physical appearance. Waititi also took away Thor’s hammer to show his powers did not stem from just that and overall just made him prepared to be a leader for the Asgardians.
Any character development that he made was spit on in “Endgame.” The Russo Brothers gave him back his eye and hair and gave him a new weapon similar to his hammer. Then they went even further to disgrace his character and made him into a fat joke. He was a drunk frat boy with no sense of responsibility in “Endgame.” This did not even feel like Thor and was the most awful choice the Russo Brothers have ever made. Every scene with Thor in it was ruined. I can only hope that Taika Waititi will take over the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie and redeem Thor again somehow.
Despite its many flaws, “Avengers: Endgame” was a fitting conclusion to the original Avengers. I have no doubt that MCU certainly has many more Marvel movies planned, but they will not feature the characters that started it all. Due to the unfortunate lack of an end credit scene, we will have to wait in agony until the end of “Spider-man: Far From Home,” coming July 5, 2019, to see what will happen next.
