An Absolute Marvel
It’s all built to this. 11 years, 22 films, one Kevin Feige, and too many heroes to count.
Directors Joe and Anthony Russo, screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and producer Kevin Feige deliver the followup to last year’s Avengers: Infinity War, which saw the Mad Titan, Thanos (Josh Brolin), snap his Infinity Stone-bejeweled, magic gauntlet-clad hand and wipe out half of all life in the universe. What he sees as necessary, dispassionate balance is obviously not received so well by those who lost friends, loved ones and more. Though I have my qualms with Infinity War, watching a terrified Peter Parker (Tom Holland) slowly disappear in the arms of Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is heartbreaking, even on repeat viewings.
Avengers: Endgame is about its titular heroes reckoning with the fallout of their failure, and the film does an excellent job of amplifying that dread from the end of the previous film to the ways it touches every surviving character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). To even attempt to explain how and under what circumstances the Avengers attempt to reverse Thanos’ act is to spoil almost all of the film and hint at its many surprises; I’ll just say that it’s a satisfying follow up, though it works best as a cap on the unprecedented feat of franchise filmmaking that is the interconnected Marvel universe.
My biggest problem with Infinity War is that, despite being an Avengers film, it provides no real arc for any of our heroes. No one grows, and essential characters like Chris Evans’ Captain America are relegated to action-heavy supporting roles. Infinity War is really a Thanos movie, and its silver lining has been that the Avengers left alive at the end included the original lineup from Joss Whedon’s The Avengers. That film still works like gangbusters despite its relative simplicity in the face of what’s come since because it focuses on these characters and what makes them a team. Infinity War had very little of that, and after the Avengers fractured in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, the missed opportunity of exploring their new dynamic was felt.
Thankfully, Endgame is everything Infinity War is not. With an epic yet earned runtime of three hours, Endgame dedicates the majority of its story to Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner). They butt heads, they commiserate, they come together. These actors and characters have been together for the better part of a decade, and they deserve the carefully considered finale they’re given in Endgame.
Now, don’t take that as a spoiler that everyone dies or rides off into the sunset (I won’t tell). The Marvel Cinematic Universe will continue (the next Spider-Man comes out in July), but more than in any previous film in this franchise, the consequences of what happens in this story will truly change the series going forward, and some characters won’t appear in the future. With that in mind, the filmmakers have crafted an event of a movie that rewards fans who’ve been with Marvel every step of the way. Though the MCU seemingly built to Thanos and Infinity War as its climactic flourish, it was really building to something far richer and more rewarding.
The entire cast provides excellent performances, Downey and Evans in particular, as their characters have been the figureheads of the universe, and the center of the Avengers’ conflicts. I wrote in 2016 how Captain America: Civil War (made by the same writers and directors as Endgame) felt like the real culmination of the franchise at that time, because the actions taken in previous films rippled forward and changed the characters’ relationships to one another. Endgame takes that to the nth degree in the best way possible. Though the Russo Brothers’ direction leaves some things to be desired—and the cinematography here is underwhelming for a project of this scale—they really have done the impossible, and they deserve all the commendations that fans, critics and peers will bestow on them.
My history with this franchise dates back to its beginning. On a sunny Friday afternoon in May, my dad picked me up from high school, and we drove straight to the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland. Iron Man had received glowing reviews despite the character’s relative cultural obscurity at the time, and it was to be our first movie of the 2008 summer season. The viewing experience was great, but the one thing I’ll never forget is how we stayed until the end of the credits (I vaguely remember hearing somewhere that Samuel L. Jackson showed up in a cameo). It was just us and three teenagers left in the theater by the time Jackson’s Nick Fury stepped out of the shadows to tell Tony Stark about the Avengers Initiative; we looked forward to whatever came next, the other guys cheered at Fury’s appearance.
It was the start of something big, and while the Marvel movies have never quite become my favorites, they’ll always hold a special place in my heart as something I’ve shared with my dad and my friends as the whole thing unfolded over the years. Avengers: Endgame is an incredibly heartfelt final salute that enriches what came before, and I don’t think we’ll ever see anything quite like it again.