Avengers: Endgame was not a perfect movie. And while it may be the highest grossing movie in history, it is not the best movie ever made. Far from, in fact. But having said all that, the truth is Endgame wasn’t really a movie.
It was the most pivotal chapter to date in the most ambitious movie saga ever made.
Endgame didn’t merely wrap up the story begun in Infinity War or finish up phase three (Spider-Man: Far From Home notwithstanding). It didn’t merely conclude the entire Infinity Saga (the complete story the MCU has been telling since the Iron Man in 2008). It was all of those things but so much more.
Rather it was a conclusion. A farewell. A greeting. A launch pad. It was a touching salute to the characters who have spent a decade plus making the MCU-an unprecedented and unparalleled cinematic achievement-a global entertainment force while passing the torch to a new generation of heroes ready to face their own challenges and fight their own battles.
It was a perfect cocktail of all those things. And on the eve of the movie’s DVD release, we should talk about why the crowning jewel in the monument that is the MCU was perfectly crafted for what it needed to be.
(In case you’re one of the five human beings who haven’t seen Endgame yet, SPOILERS FOLLOW.)
I genuinely despise time travel as a storytelling device (and the movie’s clumsy attempt to explain away time travel’s narrative pitfalls and complications with some witty banter was a little cringe-worthy). It’s why I’ve never been able get into Doctor Who and every time Star Trek plays the time travel card-which has always been WAY TOO MUCH-I find myself slapping my forehead in storytelling frustration. Yet I gave Endgame a Death Star-sized pass. I asked myself a dozen times why and kept coming back to the same answer.
Because the plot didn’t matter.
What did matter was seeing the original six Avengers, the MCU’s first big guns make, one final stand in the greatest battle any of them could imagine. Endgame made sure to tip it’s hat to the heroes who will carry the MCU banner forward but it was all about paying homage to the originals and ending most of their stories.
Sure, Captain Marvel held her own against Thanos after others had fallen and Black Panther had a handful of significant appearances in both Infinity War and Endgame. We all know how important Spidey was in both movies (it was his memory that inspired Tony Stark to get off the bench and rejoin the Avengers, save the day and rescue half the universe) and while he did turn up in Endgame, Dr. Strange truly earned his stripes in Infinity War when he danced one on one with the Mad Titan (and looked better in those few minutes than he did in his entire solo movie).
But Endgame belonged to the golden oldies, as it should have been.
We got to see Hawkeye recover his soul after descending into darkness and vengeance. We got to see Bruce Banner finally reconcile his two warring halves and become a stronger hero for it. We got to see Black Widow face her demons down free herself from the burden of her sins by sacrificing her life as she lived it, in the shadows. We got to see Thor beat his guilt, rediscover his worthiness and share a final touching moment with his mother.
We got to see Cap finally live the life he deserved dancing his days away with his one true love. And we finally got to see Tony finish the journey he started eleven years ago, evolving from a womanizing narcissist into the world’s, no the universe’s greatest hero, giving his life to save the friends and family that walked with him through his evolution.
But there were so many little touches little that made Endgame more than the sum of its parts. Seeing the return of so many supporting characters from years and movies past was simply poetic. Pepper Potts and Happy. Peggy Carter. Freya. Loki. Senator Pierce. Howard Stark. General “Thunderbolt” Ross. When Harley (the adorable kid that helped a down and out Tony in Iron Man 3) made an appearance at Tony’s funeral, well let’s just say he had a few nerd tears with his name on them.
It’s just too bad they couldn’t figure out a way to bring Coulson in one last time.
Tony and Pepper fight back-to-back during the epic battle against Thanos, Bucky smirk when he realized that Cap stayed in the past on purpose, Tony hug his father after appreciating the privilege of fatherhood himself, Tony living a humble life after spending it at the top of the world and his unflinching, pure love for his (beyond cute) daughter. All of these were giant cherries on an already huge sundae.
And Cap lifting Mjolnir? That may be the biggest nerd-gasm in modern cinematic history.
But perhaps the best touch, the most emotional touch, was substituting the trademark MCU end credits scene with the sound of Tony forging his first suit of armour. Ending Tony’s story with the sound of him becoming the world’s first hero was a storytelling stroke of creative and emotional genius.
And in the middle of it all, Endgame launched every original Marvel show we’ll soon be paying to see on DisneyPlus. Just like it tapped Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Dr. Strange as the future stars of the franchise without stealing the spotlight from the originals, it set up The Falcon and Winter Soldier, Loki, WandaVision and Hawkeye streaming shows without taking away from the movie’s story.
Endgame isn’t the best movie in history because it isn’t really a movie at all. It is equal parts goodbye and hello. Equal parts introduction and conclusion. Equal parts farewell and new beginnings. It is, at the end of the day, just another chapter in an ever growing book. In short, it was everything it needed to be to complete and continue the MCU.
And for that task, it was perfectly crafted.
Avengers: Endgame is available on Blu-Ray, 4K and DVD August 13.
Image Marvel Entertainment
