“Avengers: Endgame is a nearly flawless closing chapter to this universe that started with Iron Man.”
Avengers: Endgame is a nearly flawless closing chapter to this universe that started with Iron Man in 2008. Every movie leading up to Endgame is represented here is a way that honors (while flexing) everything that Disney/Marvel has achieved in the last 11 years. For a movie this dense and long to be executed at such a high level is a testament to the common knowledge that Marvel has created with its characters over the last 11 years. For a movie to have nearly 50 characters appear yet still feel grounded and focused on the original six Avengers we met between 2008-2012 was astonishing.
Endgame picks up minutes after the events of Infinity War. The trailer footage is legitimately pulled from the first 30 minutes of the movie. I purposely avoided all spoilers outside of the trailers and I was shocked at how much I didn’t see coming. The remaining heroes are trying to understand and deal with the after effects of the snap when they meet Captain Marvel and head off to kill Thanos and undo the snap to bring their friends and the vanished back. That is all I’’ say. Any more plot details would ruin it for you.
The characters all get their moment to shine. Every decision and emotional beat hits like 100 extra pounds because of the shared history we have with these characters. These characters have grown in the past 11 years in remarkable ways that feel organic and certainly pay off in this movie. We have a shorthand with Captain America, Iron Man, Clint Barton, Natasha, Thor, & Hulk that could never exist without everything that came before it. The glances, the references, the humor, the stakes are all here because these heroes feel real to us after all this time. That faith in the characters allows the writers and directors to take us on an absolutely batshit story in Endgame as our heroes try to undo the snap.
I’ll have a spoiler review coming next week where we can all sit back and talk about our favorite moments and nitpick the theories of a film featuring a talking raccoon. Until then, see Endgame. Its worth it. It was three hours long but feels like it flew by. I can’t wait to see it again. Every journey has an end, and Marvel ended this phase of heroes with the best movie they’ve ever put out.