Avengers: Endgame

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NO SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: ENDGAME, BUT SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

     The summer blockbuster season arrives early with Avengers: Endgame, the fourth installment in the Avengers franchise and the 22^nd entry in Marvel Studios’ wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. Endgame is billed as a culmination—wrapping up the overarching threads that have held the franchise together over the last eleven years.

     The movie follows the Avengers in the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), which saw the villain Thanos use the power of the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of all life in the universe. Reeling from their defeat, the surviving Avengers must regroup if they hope to restore order to the universe… or, if not, to take revenge on Thanos.

photo courtesy of ign.com

     First things first: can you watch Endgame without seeing the previous movies? Yes, but I’d caution against it. You’ll probably be very confused, and the experience certainly benefits from a wider context. As the final installment of the franchise, Endgame features callbacks galore and relies on pre-existing knowledge of some character arcs and relationships. I’d recommend Infinity War as the bare minimum prerequisite, but you should also take time to see The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Captain America: Civil War (or check out my recap here).

     And now to business. Avengers: Endgame is a resounding success, improving upon some of Infinity War’s flaws while maintaining the exaggerated scale appropriate for a 22-movie finale. In the process, it manages to pay homage to the franchise’s history, resolve a surprising number of important threads, and cram in just about all the fan service that long-time fans could dream up. And perhaps most impressively, Endgame doesn’t drag—even with a three-hour runtime.

photo courtesy of variety.com

     Where Infinity War had difficulty juggling its enormous cast of characters, Endgame feels more focused. With roughly half the amount of heroes at its disposal, Endgame has the liberty to invest more deeply in its characters—essentially the core cast of the original Avengers (2012), plus a few extras—and the movie spends its unusually solemn, quieter first hour doing just that. In that time, the movie makes a number of surprising and welcome choices: 1) it subverts audience expectation with a clever opening act, 2) it effectively grounds the consequences of Infinity War, and 3) it provides a series of intimate, character-forward scenes.

     Robert Downey Jr. gets the best moments and the most screentime, but Endgame lets the others—particularly Scarlett Johansson—share the spotlight. Some actors get the more serious scenes, others (like Chris Hemsworth and Paul Rudd) bring shades of levity, and Downey Jr. splits the difference from moment to moment. Endgame does a decent job of resolving the major character arcs with emotionally resonant endings, though the quality and amount of resolution differs from hero to hero.

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     When Endgame does finally turn the page and enter blockbuster action mode, it pulls out all the stops. I didn’t find the big sequences to have quite the same energy as the best of Infinity War. Then, the urgency and vulnerability that comes from our heroes being so outmatched made the action sequences exciting and inventive, but in Endgame the audience can sense that the heroes will (must, surely?) come out on top this time. There’s tension, to be sure, but not in the same order as Infinity War.

     Even so, the action is well choreographed and immensely satisfying. Endgame stages its climactic showdown as a battle for the ages, and it ends up being one of the largest and most impressive set pieces in recent memory. And it’s not just about scope, it’s about satisfaction and payoff. Endgame knows its diehard fans, knows what they want, and delivers on not only fan expectations but also a good deal of indulgent wish fulfillment. The final act should always be the best, and Endgame takes that prerogative seriously.

photo courtesy of ew.com

     FINAL VERDICT: Weaving massive blockbuster action together with sincere character moments, Avengers: Endgame resolves the narrative and emotional threads of the world’s highest grossing franchise in outstanding fashion. 

Avengers: Endgame is rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and some language.

For a spoiler-filled preview of where our characters stand after Endgame, keep scrolling past the trailer.

TRAILER

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE AVENGERS

(BEWARE: HERE THERE BE MAJOR SPOILERS!)

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     So you’ve seen Avengers: Endgame. What’s next? Some characters are bowing out, some didn’t even make it back for Endgame, and others are moving on to bigger and better things. Here’s a quick look at where Endgame leaves the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

     Iron Man. Super dead, but his legacy lives on through Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) and his daughter, Morgan (Lexi Rabe). #rip.

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     Captain America (Chris Evans). Not dead, but probably about to die? Having gone back in time to live out his life with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), his superhero days are done.

     Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) Hulk’s future unclear. He’s figured out how to bring Banner and Hulk together, but his arm appears to be permanently injured after wielding all six Infinity Stones.

     Thor and the Guardians (Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillian). Thor leaves Asgard behind and joins the Guardians as they head off into space for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. They could get up to any kind of shenanigans, but our one hint is that Star-Lord will be continuing his search for past-Gamora, who apparently slipped out at some point after the battle.

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     Black Widow. Super dead, but her death resolved her character arc on her own terms. #rip. Presumably, this means her heavily rumored solo movie will take place well before the events of Infinity War and Endgame.

     Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Hawkeye finally gets the retirement he’s always wanted.

     Ant-Man and the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly). Scott and Hope’s story is all about family, so it’s fitting that they end up spending quality time with (a slightly older) Cassie (Emma Fuhrmann). We don’t know yet whether we’ll see them again in a third Ant-Man movie.

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     Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Although Loki is still dead in our reality in the present time, there may be another version of him out there. When the Avengers revisit the Battle of New York, they let Loki escape with the Tesseract, which, according to the time travel rules Endgame sets up, effectively creates an alternate reality where Loki escapes. The time travel rules aren’t abundantly clear, but this could be a way for Loki to return in his upcoming Disney+ show.  

     War Machine (Don Cheadle). We see him along with the other heroes at the big funeral, but we don’t know much else about what his future holds.

photo courtesy of theverge.com

     Bucky Barnes and Falcon (Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie). Now that Falcon has inherited his very own Captain America shield, this pair is set up for adventures and hijinks in their very own Disney+ show.

     Spider-Man (Tom Holland). Spider-Man and his supporting characters are headed for Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), along with Happy (Jon Favreau) Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), and Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders).

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     Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). We see her at the funeral, but we don’t know precisely what her future holds… apart from a Disney+ show with Vision (Paul Bettany), who’s currently still dead in the MCU.

     Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). Strange is seemingly back in the Sanctum in New York. Assuming he gets a sequel (which he probably will), he could face off against Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Eijofor). And once word gets around that the Time Stone is no longer in play, Dormammu will probably come knocking at some point.

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     Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman). T’Challa and his supporting cast should all be back in Wakanda, ready for the inevitable Black Panther sequel.

     Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). Carol kind of slips out unnoticed, but we can assume she’s keeping busy somewhere in the vast recesses of space.

     Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson). Valkyrie is apparently going to rule New Asgard going forward. Not gonna lie, that seems like a weird way to position her character after what we see of her in Thor: Ragnarok (2017), but hey, good for her?

photo courtesy of variety.com

     General “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt). Ross is alive and present at Tony’s funeral, and we can probably assume that the Sokovia Accords—or at least that version of them—have been thrown out. 

     The Infinity Stones. In the present time, the Infinity Stones have been destroyed, and Captain America returned each of the past-Stones to their places in time. They could show up again, of course, but it looks like Marvel is closing the books on the Infinity storyline. But now that time travel exists, who knows?