Spoilers abound, so if you still haven’t watched this movie, turn back now!
I don’t feel the urge to do one of these “Belated Thoughts” articles on every Marvel movie, or any of them up to this point. Usually my thoughts on Marvel’s movies have been “Wow, I really enjoyed that,” and that’s that. And I have. Even the weaker ones were an enjoyable watch.
Avengers: Endgame, however, is a special case. I know the cultural conversation around this movie is almost dead, but with the release of the movie on Blu-ray/4K/whatever there’s still a little life left in it.
We all know just how many movies have been building to this particular storyline. From the first shot of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony stark, a very specific world has been created. If you come to this world as a comic fan, it’s not the world you know. The characters are the same, but the circumstances, the interplay, the bones of the story itself are all varying degrees of different. Regardless, the DNA is encoded in them just the same. These are Marvel characters.
The best superhero stories—especially those concerning teams—are built on a springboard of family. The best superhero teams are families, in every sense of the word. And Avengers: Endgame is a movie about families, both those you are born into and those you choose. Families love and laugh but they also hurt and bleed. Families aren’t pretty. Nothing can be as cruel as a family, but nothing can be better, depending on who you choose to surround yourself with. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has echoed its comic origins by focusing on the functional dysfunction inherent in all relationships, and has never been more Marvel than when our heroes are at odds with each other. Because we all know that when the heavy stuff goes down, they will come through, for each other and the world.
Endgame was a 3 hour movie that felt half its length and yet still felt too short. It was a huge juggling act that cinema will rarely see again. There were smaller moments that flew by in the nonstop thrill ride that almost demand their own movie. Just offhand, Hawkeye’s descent into the murderous Ronin persona is an entirely separate picture I’d love to see.
Endgame did something rare in that it enriched previous movies without diminishing them. Through the conceit of time travel, we were able to see extra scenes from previous movies enhanced by an alternate perspective. Chief among these would be the acknowledgment of the Ancient One’s involvement in the invasion of New York. While the Avengers were doing their part, she was doing hers.
It would be tedious to just list everything satisfying about the movie. That could encompass everything from Tony hugging an unsnapped Peter to a wedding ring on an elderly Steve’s hand. Which was better: Mjolnir flying to Steve’s hand or an exuberant Thor shouting his approval? Which was more of an eye-popping spectacle: the hordes of Thanos or the arrival of the revived heroes of Earth?
For me, a superhero movie is only as strong as its villain, and Thanos is by far the best villain in a franchise that has sometimes been plagued by weaker-than-necessary villains. Thanos was a whole, complete villain. Much like Killmonger, Thanos was someone with a clear point of view. He was not just “evil” in a simplistic way. He truly believed he was correct in his thinking, and was laser-focused on his goal, which as everyone knows is what makes someone truly dangerous.
What’s more is how human Thanos was. Despite being a collection of pixels motion-captured on a greenscreen, Thanos was real. He carried a weight of exhaustion in his eyes. He wore a zealot’s burden in his movements. He carried the restlessness of unwavering desire in his voice. His every move was a calculated science. There was an easy exasperation that anybody was incapable of seeing that what he did, he did for the universe. The greatest villains not only believe that they’re right, but that it is incomprehensible that anybody could believe they’re wrong.
With the closing of this chapter and the loss of a handful of characters that the franchise has come to rely on, it’s going to be a very different and very strange universe as we move on to the next phase. The entire MCU could come crashing down now and it would feel as if it reached a satisfying conclusion. But it, much like the comics they come from, isn’t done yet. I’m looking forward to the next step.
