Avengers: Endgame Thoughts

               Avengers: Endgame is one of the most interesting films I have ever seen. It is the grand finale for the great experiment that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is no other film I have ever seen that feels like this or that can lean on 21 other films. The only thing that comes close Avengers: Infinity War. But that was not the end of this chapter of the story. It was just another page. Endgame is the final proof of concept film.

               This film is split into three distinct section: Leftovers Part Deux, Time Heist, and the Final Battle. There is also a prologue in the opening minutes. Which is such a distinctly strange structure for a series of films that typically have very straightforward structures and plots. In any give section, and from moment to moment, the straightforward approach is retained, but the overall structure is weird. And to think this is going to be the highest grossing film of all time! The creative team really took some risks and I think the vast majority paid off. This is a long, dense film packed with callbacks, cameos, and any number of plot lines and character motivations. Let’s dive in.

               The film opens on the part that emotionally affected me the most. Seeing Clint hanging out his family on the farm was cool. Then they disappeared, and the audience is left to wallow in Clint’s anguish while the opening Marvel logo plays. This followed by one of my favorite parts: Captain Marvel shows up, they rescue Tony and Nebula, and then the team goes to get the Infinity Stones from Thanos. Except he destroyed them. This causes Thor, whose entire motivation in Infinity War was revenge, to angrily decapitate Thanos and storm out of the building. This was the most interesting twist in the entire film. To dispose of the theoretical primary antagonist in the first ten or so minutes was incredibly ballsy. It was also the right the choice. Not only did it set up the Avengers having to deal with the fact that they lost, but it also sends a message to the viewers that this film isn’t about Thanos. Infinity War was his film, this one belongs to the surviving heroes.

               From there, the film jumps five years into the future. A future where half the population has died. Steve Rogers leads an emotional support group for those that struggle to move on. Natasha Romanoff struggles to move on and leads a small Avengers team. Bruce Banner and the Hulk are on good terms and have become the MCU’s version of Professor Hulk. Thor is a fat recluse that refuses to lead the remnants of his people. Clint Barton is roaming the world murdering criminals. Tony Stark has retired to a lakeside cottage with his wife and daughter. And Carol Danvers has a sick new hairdo. They are all a mess (Except maybe Carol, but she’s not in this film enough to really know). Even Tony, a man that loves his current life, has a nagging feeling that maybe he didn’t do everything he could and that he failed Peter Parker.

               Then, the MVP of this film arrives: A rat in a warehouse storing Scott Lang’s van. It steps on a button that releases Scott from the Quantum Realm he was trapped in at the end of Ant-Man & The Wasp. Scott is confused because he has experienced only a few hours of in the intervening five years. He searches for and eventually finds his daughter Cassie. They hug, and she explains what has happened to the best of her ability. Scott decides he must go find the Avengers because he has an idea about how to save everyone: Time Travel. Everyone is so desperate that they agree that time travel is solution to their problem, but they need Tony’s help to do it (Side note: Bruce could probably have gotten this working, but we gotta get Tony on board somehow). A group of Avengers go to try and convince Tony to no avail. That night, just before going to bed, Tony Stark CASUALLY AND ACCIDENTALLY INVENTS TIME TRAVEL. I cannot overstate how crazy this is and that no one seems to even question it is bonkers. Yes, your lives are weird, but are they THAT WEIRD? The film yadda yaddas the actual explanation of exactly how it works (How did Ant-Man’s portal become a watch and platform to stand on?), but they use Pym Particles to travel to the Quantum Realm and through time.

               So, time travel is in this film. I love time travel stories. And this is pretty good at it. There is a concerted effort on the movie’s part to make sure you understand how it works here: You cannot change the past. If you change anything, it creates a divergent timeline, but your timeline remains unchanged. If you were to, say, steal some Infinity Stones from the past, you create a new timeline in which they weren’t there when the users needed them. So, this ragtag team of Avengers (Including Clint after Natasha convinces him to stop murdering long enough to maybe get his family back) comes up with a plan to steal the Infinity Stones from points in the past where they know their locations. So they split up and so begins the heist film portion of the film. Steve, Bruce, Scott, and Tony return to the Invasion of New York; Natasha, Clint, Nebula, and Rhodey (He’s in this film by the way) travel to the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy; Rocket (Also here by the by) and Thor travel to Asgard during Thor: The Dark World.

               I love a good time travel film. I also love a good a heist film. The middle of Endgame is both of those things and, even though it is my least favorite section, I was in heaven. There are too many highlights to run down here, but Steve saying, “Hail Hydra,” to an elevator full of Hydra agents because he’s been through Captain America: The Winter Soldier was supremely cool. This is followed up shortly after with a fight against Past-Cap, one that Steve wins. He also decides that Scott’s assessment earlier was correct, and he does indeed have “America’s ass.” And a meme was born. Overall this excursion (Except Bruce gets the Time Stone because smart Hulk has high quality references on his CV) is a failure and Steve and Cap go back to a military base in the 70’s. Robert Redford, Hayley Atwell, and John Slattery all make guest appearances and the duo successfully steals the Mind and Space Stones (Loki’s scepter from Avengers and the Tesseract). They all return to their native time.

               The Guardians team split up: Natasha and Clint head to Vormir while Nebula and Rhodey head to Morag. One of the greatest strengths of this film is that they employ an extremely talented actor in Jeremy Renner and, unlike the other MCU films, allow him to act. Nowhere is this clearer than on Vormir where Natasha and Clint argue and come to blows over who will sacrifice themselves to get the Soul Stone. Natasha eventually wins and sacrifices herself, but not before Clint is able to express his remorse over killing all those criminals and his guilt over not being able to protect his family. There were three scenes in this film in which I was on the verge of tears or had my eyes watering. The first is the opening scene where the Barton family is caught in the Snapture (I hate this term). The second is this scene. I don’t mean to imply that Scarlett Johansson does a poor job here, but she is entirely outclassed by Renner. That man made me FEEL something and that’s no truer than here. The look on his face when the Soul Stone appears in front of Clint is crushing. He has lost both his family and his best friend now. If this plan doesn’t work, he has absolutely nothing.

               Nebula and Rhodey and land on Morag at the outset of Guardians. They watch the opening dance sequence Peter Quill has and it involves a great gag where you see it shot for shot with the music and everything, but then it cuts to Nebula and Rhodey staring at this idiot singing off-key along with a song on his Walkman. This honestly might the best joke in MCU history. Anyway, Current-Nebula and Past-Nebula are connected to the same Wi-Fi so they can see each other’s memories, and this allows Past-Nebula to show Past-Thanos that he succeeds, but the Avengers have found a way to undo it. They show up immediately after Rhodey and Current-Nebula knock out Quill and steal the Power Stone. Rhodey escapes with the stone, but Nebula is captured. Past-Thanos and Past-Nebula take her Pym Particles and send Past-Nebula in disguise to the future.

               Thor and Rocket have it simple. Rocket steals the Reality Stone from Jane Foster (Natalie Portman via leftover footage and a line of voiceover) while Thor has a heart to heart with his mother. She recognizes that this is not her Thor (probably because of the beer gut) but gives him some sage advice anyway: Don’t be who you’re expected to be, be who you are. Which I think is an interesting way to view the Thor trilogy: In the first two, he is trying to be who he is told, the prince and heir even if he doesn’t want to be. But in Ragnarok, he was able to cut loose and be the big goofball he has been hiding within himself because there was little pressure to be kingly. Rocket comes to get Thor and they leave, but not before Thor summons Mjolnir to take with him.

               At this point, everyone is back. Tony creates a gauntlet, and everyone fights over who should be the one to use it. Eventually, Bruce does it and heavily burns part of his body. At the same time, Past-Nebula has brought Thanos and his army to the present. Thanos blows up the Avengers HQ in a scene highly reminiscent of Iron Man 3’s scene of Tony’s home being destroyed by the Mandarin. The Avengers are separated, but somehow everyone is alright.

The film then moves into its final section and my favorite part. Some Outriders chase Clint through the sewers as he hangs onto the new Infinity Gauntlet. Hulk, Ant-Man, and Rhodey are trapped under the wreckage, but safely escape. Thor, Tony, and Steve engage in an epic fight with Thanos. Steve summons Mjolnir in one of the films best moments. He continues to use it throughout the rest of the film. Meanwhile, Past-Gamora has a heart to heart with Current-Nebula aboard Thanos’ ship and they decide to fight for the Avengers.

               We then arrive at the best moment of the film. One that legitimately brought tears to my eyes. Thanos smack the Avengers around for a bit. Steve is the last one standing. It is clear in his eyes that he can’t win, but he gets up to fight once more. Which is the best and most consistent part of his character going back to Captain America: The First Avenger. Even as a scrawny young man, he would fight for what he believed in. And just as Bucky shows up to help him in the alleyway fight in that film, Steve gets some help. He is walking towards Thanos ready for another round when he freezes because he hears a voice in his earpiece. “Cap? Cap? On your left.” And then a magic portal opens on his left and T’Challa, Shuri, Okoye, and the Wakandan army step through. Sam Wilson flies by, Peter Parker, Valkyrie, the Guardians, and everyone else you can think of show up to back Steve. It was this point that I started pumping my fist and whispering, “Say it.”

               Steve yells, “AVENGERS,” and summons Mjolnir. He then almost whispers, “Assemble.” And I lost my mind. I am no Marvel Comics or Marvel Cinematic Universe fanboy, but this moment is what the last 11 years of films have been building toward. I have seen all but two (Guardians 2 and Ant-Man & The Wasp). And the epic battle scene that ensues is maybe the best fight scene this franchise has ever made, definitely the best since the famous elevator scene in Winter Soldier. There is so much going on in this scene that I may to watch it four or five times before I understand where every character is and what they are doing. The important parts are the Tony-Peter reunion. It is a clear testament to how well they have built this relationship over the course of three films that I got a little emotional. Then, Captain Marvel shows up and busts through a ship and I was psyched! She is severely underused for what we had been told for the last twelve months was the key to defeating Thanos. That also might be a genius swerve on the behalf of the filmmakers. Either way, I wanted more. Thanos gets the new gauntlet and is about to snap his fingers when Tony steals the gems from him and makes a gauntlet out of his own armor. Thanos has claimed he’s inevitable, but Tony snaps his finger and dusts Thanos and his army. His last line here is, “I’m Iron Man.” That seems to be both a callback to the end of Iron Man and a meta commentary. It’s a reminder that not only is this the defining role of Robert Downey JR.’s career, but also that he has been the most important figure in the largest, most successful franchise in film history.

               After the battle, a funeral is held for Tony. After the funeral, some of the character have chats that hint at their futures. And this is where the film starts to come apart a little. Clint is going back to his family and presumably retiring FOR REAL THIS TIME. That’s fine, it fits with his character arc. Peter Parker goes back to school where, amazingly, all his friends are still 16 because they all got dusted in the prior film. Doctor Strange goes back to doing whatever he does, T’Challa returns to rule his country. Scott returns to his family. Everyone returns to the status quo. Except Thor, Steve, and Sam Wilson. Thor took a very different meaning from his mother’s pep talk than I did. I took it as a sign for him to step out of his father’s shadow and rule in his own way without the pressures of his father. Thor took it as a sign he should… abdicate his throne and join the Guardians of the Galaxy? This doesn’t fit either Thor’s arc throughout these past two films or his arc throughout the last decade. It feels weird and shoehorned. But maybe I’m just mad because he gets into a really annoying dick measuring contest with Quill (My least favorite MCU character) immediately after he leaves Valkyrie in charge. At least we know the remaining Asgardians are smarter hands.

               Then we come to the final moments in Steve Rogers’ time in these films. He takes Mjolnir and goes back in time to return the borrowed Infinity Stones to their proper times to avoid as many bad timelines as possible. He never makes a return trip. Instead, Sam, Bucky, and Hulk spot an old man sitting on a nearby bench. Bucky and Sam go to investigate and find 110 (by my math) year old Steve. He tells them he lived out his life with Peggy Carter. Steve then gives Sam his shield and declares him the new Captain America. Sam is uneasy about it, but Steve reassures him that he can handle it. The last visual of the film features Steve and Peggy sharing their long-promised dance.

               I love the way Endgame handles Steve Rogers. It really understands him and what he stands for. Until this scene. At this point, the film throws out Steve’s character arc from the last decade. These writers and directors worked on most of those films. They should understand this character. Since he arrived in the present, Steve has had to learn how to move on, to accept that his past is what it is, and the love of his life married someone else. He must learn to live in the present. To become more than a man out of time. He learns to belong to this time, even if he is sometimes uncomfortable with it. Having said that, it is the near-perfect end to Steve’s arc in this one film. He is constantly glancing at a locket with a picture of Peggy inside. When Steve sees Peggy in the 70’s, he almost goes to speak, but holds himself back. So when he is presented with the opportunity to go back and live a life with his greatest love, he takes it.

               This ending shows the MCU’s greatest strengths and weaknesses. Serialized storytelling is hard, but they remain mostly consistent. It is when they don’t that it is obvious as it is in this case. But that must also be balanced with the fact that each film is an individual film and must be viewed that way. Endgame probably doesn’t make any sense to someone that has only seen four or five of these films, but it is also a love letter to the fans and allows the other films to do the heavy emotional lifting for most of the characters. Nowhere is that clearer than the ending. In the small picture it is perfect. In the larger picture, it is a mixed bag. Yes, it a betrayal of Steve’s character arc, but when viewed in conjunction with Tony’s death, you can see the heart of the MCU and its greatest triumph. In Iron Man, Tony is a self-centered, arrogant, jerk. In The First Avenger, Steve is willing to give everything for his cause. He never thinks of himself, everyone else comes first. In Endgame, the end of these characters at least for the foreseeable future, their stories end in the opposite ways: Tony gives everything to save everyone and Steve allows himself some selfish happiness. Even if there are some problems in execution, this kind of evolution and long-term storytelling is the entire point of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And I’d say this grand filmmaking experiment has been a rousing success.