The spoiler ban has officially been lifted.
So we’ve assembled members of the staff to go headfirst, and spoilers and all on Avengers: Endgame. The group will discuss the film as the unofficial close to Phase 3 of the MCU (know Spider-man: Far From Home ends things officially), but the close on one of the biggest arcs in film history. We’ll be discussing the film, the deaths, the returns, what we think will happen going forward, and more.
So be warned…spoilers abound.
Rob Crowther IV (Staff Writer – TV & Wrestling, Host of The Bob Culture Podcast): Avengers: Endgame wasn’t the movie I expected it to be — and I loved every second of it. The movie did all of my favorite characters such as Tony Stark, Clint Barton (Never really addressed as Hawkeye, yet his daughter is….), Falcon, and even Agent Carter justice (no pun intended). The movie came full circle with call-backs, deaths, time-jumps, cameos, and even nods to some of the Marvel Universe TV shows. The movie was a masterpiece and a giant Easter egg within itself. (Look for Jarvis from the Agent Carter television series and the boy from Iron Man 3 just to name a few).
If you’ve ever read anything that I’ve written on ThePopBreak.com, you know that I think the flash-forward tactic is often overused. As the movie progressed, and I realized we were watching a Back To the Future type of plot (which the movie itself pokes fun at), I wasn’t sure if this was the way to go. Well, Great Odin’s Ravens, let me tell you, I was wrong. I was sucked into every second, every character interaction, and every line of dialogue. It was amazing to me how almost every single character got their moment. Just seeing the ensemble of our favorite characters “assembled” at the end of the movie was breathtaking. I almost thought for a moment we might see a Deadpool or a Hugh Jackman pop out of one of the Dr. Strange portals. I can dream…..
Yes, I could nitpick about some of the subplots or Thor’s Big Lebowski impression, but the movie was brilliant. I was honestly surprised at the amount of comedy the Russo Brothers were able to get in along the way. The loss of Stark was painfully obvious to me even before Infinity War was released, but man did they ever do him justice. Black Widow was a death I was shocked at, but I thought this was easily Johansson’s best performance yet. And Cap’s ending was just amazing. Despite the popular notion that Bucky should have got the tap on the shoulder from Cap, I am so glad the SHIELD went to Falcon. In my mind, it was the perfect choice.
After 11 years, this movie absolutely set the bar for superhero movies moving forward. Although this was a near perfect ending to an amazing era, the movie left the door wide open for a new generation of amazing heroes and I for one cannot wait for more.
Shameless Plug: We’ll be doing a character by character analysis of the film this Monday on The Bob Culture Podcast! Tune in!
Josh Sarnecky (Staff Writer – Game of Thrones & Film): Avengers: Endgame is nothing if not ambitious and true to its name. Fittingly, the two lead Avengers receive the most emotionally impactful endings of the film.
As Tony Stark/Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. laid the foundation of the MCU and has continued to drive its evolution. Endgame perfectly encapsulates how much Iron Man has grown as a person and hero. Harkening back to his sacrificial act in the original Avengers and his mission to safeguard the world itself in Age of Ultron, Tony martyrs himself for the sake of the universe and his loved ones. With several callbacks to Iron Man’s first solo outing, Tony’s death is equal parts heartbreaking, badass, and beautiful. After eleven years in the role, RDJ’s departure feels like the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s twenty-plus movies and Marvel Studio’s longest running sub-franchise.
Meanwhile, I have been surprised by some of the negative reactions to the conclusion of Captain America’s story. In my opinion, Chris Evans once again proves that he was born to play Steve Rogers and brings his time as Cap to a touching, fitting end. While some fans have presented Cap’s decision to finally have his dance with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) as a selfish move that abandons his friends and his duty to protect the world, I see his ending as the first real choice Steve has made in his life.
During a heated conversation with Tony in Civil War, Steve states, “If I see a situation pointed south, I can’t ignore it. Sometimes I wish I could.” Of course, when pushed, he admits that isn’t entirely true. He doesn’t wish that. Cap is dependent on his moral compass and has always been willing to make personal sacrifices for what he knows is right.
In The First Avenger, that meant crash-landing a HYDRA plane with the belief that he would die. But even then, that act wasn’t a choice as much as an instinct. In Endgame, Cap is finally acknowledging that he has a right to be happy and let others continue his mission. After reversing Thanos’s cataclysmic snap and preventing a reality-ending follow up, Cap recognizes that he can finally move on from his need to stop “bullies” and put his own wants first. Cap’s retirement is a poignant testament to the power of growing past grief and selflessness. And given how much Cap has sacrificed, that retirement is damn well-earned.
Chris Diggins (Staff Writer – TV & Film): Avengers: Endgame is the culmination of a decade of filmmaking, and it features all the payoffs and completed character arcs you would expect. But not all of them are executed successfully. One character in particular suffers by far the worst of it: Black Widow. Marvel has never quite known what to do with her, but a strong finish could have helped mitigate that. Instead, we got a shamefully inadequate conclusion that reinforces everything they’ve always gotten wrong.
Things start acceptably enough, with Black Widow hoping she can find purpose and redemption in trying to help people in the aftermath of The Snap. But things quickly devolve when that manifests itself in a sacrificial impulse at Vormir. The idea that the best thing Black Widow can do for the team is die is kind of gross, let alone that this mean’s killing off the core team’s only female. That it is done for the exact same reason as the last movie’s awful scene of killing a female character for a male character’s emotional arc is even worse. Top that all off with the equivalent of a slapfight over who gets to sacrifice themselves, a scene so comical that it robs the moment of all drama, and you have a truly rancid story beat.
But worst of all is how things go from there. When the team reunites after the time heist, there is a brief moment of sadness over Natasha’s death. It lasts only a minute, though, before everyone moves on, seemingly totally unchanged by the loss. In the end, when everyone gets a chance to reflect on their losses, Tony gets a massive funeral with all his friends and family and several heart-wrenching moments. Steve gets a heart-to-heart with Sam and the chance to pass on his legacy. Natasha gets a couple sentences from the only two or three characters who seem to care. It is just top to bottom a total failure to treat the character with any care or respect, and in my studied opinion, it majorly sucks.
Logan J. Fowler (Senior Editor – Film & TV): While the MCU is far from over, Avengers: Endgame solidifies the conclusion for the original six’s stories. It’s a phenomenal exit for those characters while putting others on the front lines. I’ve seen this movie three times in theaters and I’ve cried, without fail, each time.
Not only is the movie emotional because it needs to be, but it gives the comic book fan the moments they wanted and have been waiting for since 2008. Captain America has two moments towards the end of the film that sent me into a fanboy frenzy. Also, the movie references the entirety of the MCU at large. If you did your homework watching all the films, then this movie is definitely going to take care of you.
I don’t know how I feel about the MCU past this movie. There’s no denying what Kevin Feige did was impressive. Creating an interconnecting series of films over 11 years sounds like a crazy idea, but Endgame proves that it’s a reality. However, moving forward, it’s going to be hard to recapture that buildup because the novelty is gone. I’ll still support the Guardians and my boy Spidey of course, but as far as the franchise is concerned, I’m most likely going to be more selective with viewings.
That said, Endgame was everything. While it isn’t flawless, it does what it needs to and executes it wonderfully. They stuck the landing, no doubt about it. I love it 3,000.
Matt Gilbert (Staff Writer – Film & TV): The reliable shorthand of superheroes does not call for more than superpowers (or above-average abilities or resources), a moral calling to fight for good and to always, always beat the villain. Regardless of what is sacrificed or lost or fundamentally altered, the day is saved and the status quo is always maintained as a direct result of the hero’s thinking and action. Infinity War was about bucking that cardinal rule entirely as we watched the Avengers lose to Thanos and his disciples again and again, and in doing so, it made itself considerably more engaging than nearly every MCU film that preceded it.
Endgame does not merely posit the question of what would happen if the heroes lost. It forces the Avengers to confront their weaknesses, shortcomings and outright failures by amplifying their defeat to a level “hitherto undreamt of.” The first hour of the film is so personal and patient in its piteous wallowing that it conveys a sense of intruding on private moments between broken individuals. The audience feels their despair and can maybe even recognize it—which is what makes it so easy to buy their newfound sense of hope when the time travel option fails into their laps. The film transitions from categorical despondency to creeping optimism leading up to the big “assemble” scene that it is never even a question as to whether it earns it.
It does this so well that by the time the portals appear, Endgame can just know that it is the most singularly satisfying experience millions of its viewers have experienced in years. Then it milks the ensuing larger than life all-out assault for all it’s worth because it has a decade of ideas to pull from. A success this definitive should not be possible for a movie with this much buildup and hype, but the Russos make it look easy. They deliberately break rule number one of superhero storytelling, and that is exactly what makes it one of the best films in the history of the genre.
Tom Moore (Contributing Writer – Film): Upon leaving Avengers: Endgame, I had a somber realization that made me utter just a single phrase: “They did it.” If you had told me that the final battle would’ve been as epic as it was or that Iron Man and Cap would have their respective stories come to a close, I would’ve said that that’s expected. However, if you told me that the likes of Robert Redford and Natalie Portman would show up to reprise their respective characters, or that Bruce Banner and the Hulk would combine to make me finally love Ruffalo as the iconic character, or even that Cap would say, “Hail Hydra,” as a coy reference to Secret Empire, I would’ve told you that was crazy talk.
It’s honestly crazy to think how the Russo brothers truly took even the smallest details of the MCU and placed them in a film that’s a fantastic swan song to a 22-film saga. Achieving a satisfying pay-off that will be what fans both deserve and expect to see is a feat that most film franchises and filmmakers only dream of doing, but the Russo Brothers have made dreams a reality with Endgame. Seeing Hawkeye and Black Widow have their sacrificial duel on Vormir, getting a nice final talk between Tony and his father, and even having Thor have one last goodbye with this mother was everything I wanted to see and more.
Even though the endgame has finally come and gone, the future seems bright for what other stories the MCU has left to tell. Even if Iron Man, Cap, and the rest of the original Avengers won’t be around much, knowing that the newer additions to the MCU have more to their stories and that there will soon be the arrival of lesser known heroes, like Shang-Chi and The Eternal, has me excited to see what a new kind of MCU might look like.
Ben Murchison (Contributor – Film & Netflix Specials)
My number one unanswered question going into Endgame regarded the fate of the characters from Asgard who were assumed lost when Thanos destroyed their ship in Infinity War. When I say “the characters,” I really mean Korg. I personally enjoy the more comedic tones to the Marvel films, which was at its best in Thor: Ragnarök – thanks in part to Korg’s hilariously written and performed dialogue by Taika Waititi. When he wasn’t alluded to, I feared the worst and I’m not sure I’d want to live in a Marvel Universe that doesn’t include him. Thankfully, he was shown to be safe and sound with his innocent humor still on full display and we can all look forward to seeing more of him in the future.
Additionally, if there was a close second concern, for the same reasons, I was sad to see Loki go. Cleverly, the Russo’s were able to leave a door open for his return by allowing him to escape in the previous timeline during the Avenger’s mission back to 2012 by using the Space Stone. While his tragic death still stands in one timeline, the quick-witted Loki’s story may not be over yet and that’s one more win for comedy.
Daryn Kirscht (Staff Writer – Film & TV): While not my personal cup of tea and not the endgame I am still waiting for (Snyder Cut of Justice League), it is still hard to fathom the idea of an entire decade-plus run of the MCU officially complete. I grew up with DC and was not really introduced to Marvel–outside of Spider-Man–until Iron Man 2 and The Avengers, so I have grown in my knowledge of their world along with their cinematic universe. My personal favorite Marvel character is Captain America and it’s pretty evident his trilogy is the best (my favorite MCU film is Captain America: Winter Soldier). Plus, what an ending to both his character and Iron Man!
I have no idea where the universe goes from here, but a logical idea would be to stick to solo movies for three-to-four years and come back with a fresh slew of characters (new and old) for a different kind of Avengers film. Knowing Kevin Feige, he probably has the next eight years entirely planned out. I may be a DC guy, but I still have a lot of respect for the job Feige has done in crafting and sustaining a coherent cinematic universe for so long (unlike Star Wars, DC, and Universal’s “Dark Universe”). Avengers: Endgame may not be a perfect film, but it’s a very solid ending to an era that will never be forgotten.
Aaron Sarnecky (Senior Editor – Television): I have to be honest: I liked Infinity War more than Endgame. That’s not to say Endgame was bad. On the contrary. I’d say it comes down to which genre I prefer. Infinity War was more of a straight-up epic whereas Endgame was a heist movie (with an epic third act). Don’t get me wrong. It was cool to see events like the Battle of New York from different perspectives. But I was sort of underwhelmed because fans had already figured out the Avengers were going to use the Quantum Realm and travel through time. Maybe it’s my fault for listening to theories.
Do I have complaints besides the genre? Not particularly complaints, more nitpicks, like Thanos being stronger without Infinity Stones or the movie’s over-reliance on Fat Thor for humor. And sure, maybe Cap broke the time travel rules or Black Widow’s death was unceremonious (she deserved a joint funeral, at least). But those moments were genuine surprises, which is what I wanted. Would Hawkeye dying have been better? Debatable. I’m much more annoyed Loki is apparently alive again so he can have a show on Disney+. I can accept Vision coming back but not Loki.
I guess I’m just rambling now, but there were many elements I enjoyed. While I could have used a little more melancholy, the movie knew that it had to be more serious but also have humor and fun moments. Cap wielding Mjolnir, Pepper as Rescue? Awesome. Nebula? Great character. Tony’s arc and sendoff? Virtually perfect.
So while I don’t think Endgame is the best Marvel film or the best Avengers movie, it’s without a doubt a good movie. And you can bet I’m cheering for it to surpass Avatar at the box office.
