Avengers: Endgame – The Unpacking

After Avengers: Endgame came out in theaters, I saw Marvel fans take to social media to say that now the series with the original characters has ended, they are finished with Marvel movies. I personally can’t understand that mindset – how can you have come this far, seen the stories of these amazing characters play out, and not care about how they move forward from here? Maybe Marvel has successfully brainwashed me, but short of a film on the same level of The Incredible Hulk, I can’t imagine just deciding to give it all up now. And Avengers: Endgame, with its crazy-long run-time, bouts of fan-service nostalgia, and occasional hurried misuse of the story we’ve come to know and love, never stoops to the lower levels of the Quality Spectrum. Though it never quite matches the intensity and magnitude of Avengers: Infinity War (despite being a good half hour longer), it still ends in a way that brings closure to an audience who’s followed it for almost ten years. Whether you’re happy or upset (should be more of the former, I think), Avengers: Endgame feels like the end of the story that the characters have built to, and it closes the book on a pretty great chapter in the MCU. While I have included a score at the end of this post (like always), I feel that this is less of a review and more of an unpacking of all of the elements that make up the film. You can understand my point of view and take that as a review if you wish, but it’s intended to look at the different pieces of this large movie and understand how they came together, as well as what did and didn’t work.

Avengers: Infinity War – It’s All Led to This

In 2008, when Robert Downey Jr.’s character Tony Stark announced to the world “I am Iron Man,” he (and we as an audience) had no idea what was going to unfold. Now, ten years later, we’ve seen eighteen movies and multitudes of characters grow and develop, defeat enemies and fight amongst each other. It’s all led to this moment – the moment where the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Kings of Asgard and Wakanda come together to protect the world from the biggest threat its ever faced (as well as finally seeing all six Infinity Stones used, for good or ill). With such a large film, there were a lot of expectations that were years in the making, added to by previous team-up films and sequels that attempted to add in and build up more characters (sometimes successfully, sometimes not). You won’t be disappointed by the scale – this is a battle that takes place on entire worlds, rather than just a few blocks in New York. Heroes have pulled together because the villain really is as dangerous and terrifying as he appears to be. And, despite how much material there is to get through and how much we have to settle without, the film never feels like it’s too much. Sure, you’ll be brain-fried at the end of it, but just because that’s how the story is meant to be. As Doctor Strange says: “We’re in the end game.”

Thor Ragna-rocks (My Belief in Marvel)

Superhero movies have gotten pretty dark in recent years (not as dark as their Netflix counterparts, of course, it’s hard to believe those are even in the same universe with how often they kill people), so it was almost strange to hear that the newest addition to the Thor saga was going to be primarily a comedy. Granted, those familiar with director Taika Waititi knew that comedy was his forte, and everyone not so secretly believed that maybe a bit of comedy was just what Thor needed. His films, while not outright terrible, have always been at the lower end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Quality Spectrum. One big reason is because Thor, the main character, is constantly being upstaged in his own movies (by Loki, who we forgive because he’s awesome, and by Jane, who we don’t forgive because being played by Natalie Portman is not quite enough to make a character likable), but another reason is that he is played off as a serious warrior, and he’s an alien from a magical planet with a magical hammer. He SHOULD be a little ridiculous, his entire universe is a little bit (okay, very) ridiculous, and his films have never even once tried to capitalize on that. Now, under Waititi’s amused gaze, Thor is fun again, and what could be wrong with that? Well, sadly, becoming a fun movie has not only amused us, but it’s shown us just how tired this MCU is making us, so we are both laughing and crying and wondering how much longer we can take this. I have new respect for Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans.