Thoughts on Avengers: Endgame

This post contains plenty of spoilers, so stop reading if you haven't seen Endgame yet! 

I just looked back through my old posts and realized I never reviewed Avengers: Infinity War, which kind of surprises me. I saw it alone opening weekend and freely admit to crying when Spider-man dusted. 😭 I thought Marvel/the Russo Brothers did a really good job of including so many characters and storylines without things getting muddled or confusing. They pulled several storylines and movies together, getting everyone in place to commence the beginning of the end. My biggest complaint is the scene when Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) punches Thanos in the face. There's too much time between Star-Lord finding out Thanos (Josh Brolin) sacrificed Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to retrieve the Soul Stone and when he punches Thanos. It would have played better if Star-Lord was reacting to the news, instead of clearly making the horrible decision that lead to Thanos breaking free, etc. 

And one of the best parts of the movie is the first time you see Steve Rogers/Captain America in the train station. It's one of my favorite moments in the MCU and is one of the few times I prefer a man in a beard (as opposed to clean shaven Cap in End Game). 😀😍 

On to Avengers: End Game. 

This is more of a "thoughts on," as opposed to a review. I'm not feeling particularly creative at the moment, so this isn't quite as pulled together as I would have liked. Anyway...

Short version - I was a big fan. I laughed. I cried. I jumped when the Hulk smashed through a door and ran over Tony. And I was sufficiently uncomfortable with paunchy, PTSD Thor (although I thought Thor dealing with PTSD was a good, interesting arc for his character). 

Now for the long version. 

Holy heartbreak, Batman! That got dark fast!  😲 Talk about getting people right back to the emotional turmoil they felt at the end of Infinity War! Crikey! 

One of the first issues a friend of mine had with the movie was Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) rescuing Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) in the first couple minutes of the movie. Since they hadn't seen Captain Marvel, they didn't know she made an appearance at the Avengers' compound in an end credit and so thought it was odd that she "magically appeared just in time." My assumption was the Avengers asked her to seek out survivors, since they didn't know who had been dusted on Titan...nor did they know where Tony/Dr. Strange/Spiderman/etc ended up when they took off in Ebony Maw's spaceship. It would have been helpful if someone had made a comment to that effect, that it had taken her three weeks to find them or something along those lines. 

The time jump surprised me, but I thought it was a good choice. One of my biggest concerns was the dusted 50% of the population would be brought back too quickly/easily, which would negate the emotional investment of Infinity War. Showing how much everyone had dealt with/changed in those five years, plus the effort the Avengers went through in order to gather the Infinity Stones (yay for the Ancient/Tilda Swinton cameo!) worked really well to maintain the emotional integrity of the two parts (Infinity War and Endgame). 

I like the story arc for Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johannson). Throughout the movies she matured a great deal - from her first appearance as the provocative secretary in Iron Man 2 (PR lady? It's been a while since I saw it) to chosing to save Hawkeye/half the Universe in Endgame. She had taken over the organization of the Avengers, keeping everyone on track and managing the day-to-day of superhero-ing. While appearances seemed important to Natasha, for most of Endgame she is a toned down version of herself, to the point where she even let her roots grow out. And though she's always been willing to put herself in harms way, jumping into any fray, she goes a step further in sacrificing herself to obtain the Soul Stone and save her family and best friend. 

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) goes through quite a tough time in this movie! At the end of Infinity War, his hubris causes him to aim his ax for Thanos' chest, giving Thor a chance to make a snarky, revenge-filled comment...and in doing so, allowed Thanos to snap his fingers and decimate half the population of the universe. So when we meet fat Thor, he's not only dealing with the guilt of failing to save half of the universe and the impotence of feeling useless, but also the guilt, shame and depression of having killed Thanos once it was pointless. Thanos' death was purely revenge-based and not in the course of protecting anyone, which would (and should) weight heavily on any good man. 

I was really glad Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downwy Jr.) went out with a bang (quite literally). After all he'd done and been through, he should have been the one to save the world. I loved that he found some peace and the semblance of a "normal" life with Pepper and their daughter, which also made his stakes higher in rejoining the Avengers. The only thing I'm not entirely clear on is how he got the stones out of Thanos' specially made glove and adhered to his...but details.  

I also loved Captain America's ending. I hate that the franchise is losing him, but it made me really happy that he and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) were finally able to be together. When he went back in time and saw her at the compound, I got teary-eyed. I can't imagine how hard it was for him to be that close to her and not let her know he was there. The last scene at the end made me cry. Not like, bawling cry...but streaming tears kind of cry. Took forever to stop too. I told my poor friend who saw the movie with me that I think I broke something. Ugh...tears. They really need an off switch. 😭

Captain America fan art

I wish the Russo brothers would have left the question of Captain America being able to wield Mjolnir alone. It takes away from the awesomeness of the scene in Endgame when Thor's getting his butt kicked by Thanos and Cap is not only able to wield Thor's hammer, but lightening blast the crap out of everything! Gah...so cool!! 😎

I'm not going to lie, I loved Captain America getting a little...gritty? Is that the right word? He's my favorite because of his Boy Scout integrity, dedication and forthrightness...but the fact that he called someone a bastard (son of a bitch? Now I can't remember) and said "shit" when he encountered his bright-and-shiny self at Stark Tower was amazing. It wouldn't have meant anything if he hadn't always been so straight laced...so you need one to create the other. And it was fantastic. 

Also, in case you forgot about the great hammer scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron...here you go. You're welcome. 😊 

Stupid nitpick:

1. Hawkeye's (Jeremy Renner) hair once he's basically turned into the Punisher. With all that rage and hurt over losing his family, there's no way he would spend as much time on his hair as that style would require, from the gel products to the constant trimming. I'm just saying...
2. Luis (Michael Peña) really needed a cameo. I don't care what kind...it needed to be a thing. 

I was excited and sad for Endgame to come out. These are characters we've followed since Iron Man (2008) and some of their storylines have ended. It's a little like losing an old friend. But I am looking forward to seeing how the MCU grows from here, what directions it takes. 

Don't let us down, Marvel. I can't handle another disappointment, not after finding out who was just cast as Batman. (I'm sorry...I can't talk about it yet. So freakin' angry! 😡😭😣)

~ Katie Q. 🐧