The world is in a tailspin after Thanos's plan succeeded, and though they've been left feeling helpless, the Avengers are betting on one last plan to save everyone.
Under house arrest after the events of Civil War, Clint Barton is happily teaching his daughter Lila archery while their family has a picnic. The snap happens when he turns for a moment, and she disappears, following by his wife and sons.
Aboard the Guardians' ship the Benatar, Tony Stark and Nebula have formed an unlikely friendship while drifting in space for three weeks. Despite surviving the stab wound from Thanos, Tony is wasting away and leaves what he thinks is his final message as a recording for Pepper. After Nebula places the sleeping man into the pilot's seat, a bright lights wakes him; he sees Captain Marvel, who flies the ship back to Earth. Pepper and the Avengers welcome Tony, and as they get him medical attention, Steve learns about Peter's death and Raccoon id upset to learn about the Guardians. In the Avengers Facility, Steve asks Tony if he has ideas about Thanos. Enraged, Tony rants about how it's pointless to try, blaming Steve as he claims this sort of thing is what he wanted to defend against with the Sokovia Accords. Tony passes out, and they give him a sedative before returning to Thanos. Nebula reveals he always talked about one place when discussing his plans: "The Garden." Rocket creates a 3-D diagram based on her information and an energy signature the stones give off, showing the stones were used on a faraway planet two days prior. A silently fuming Thor, angry at himself for not killing Thanos, takes a liking to Danvers, and the group heads for the planet. When they arrive, Danvers scouts ahead and learns Thanos is alone at a small hut, which they soon smash their way into. As multiple avengers hold him down, Thor severs Thanos's arm and gauntlet with Stormbreaker, but they discover the stones are gone. Thanos, whose left side is heavily damaged, says the stones would've only been temptation after his work was done, so he used their power to destroy them, almost killing himself in the process. Nebula sadly admits to the incredulous Avengers that Thanos is no liar, and as he thanks her, the furious Thor decapitates him. Though Rocket is horrified, Thor simply states that he "went for the head," and walks out, with the Avengers feeling hopeless.
Five years later, the "Decemation," as the snap is known, has left people struggling to move on as progress halts and they build small communities.
Steve is running a support group to help people deal with their losses, and Tony has moved on, living in a cabin with Pepper and their daughter Morgan. Meanwhile, Luis's van is sitting in a storage unit when a rat stumbles over the quantum tunnel's controls, freeing Scott Lang. Confused, Scott wanders the city and comes across a memorial to the fallen; though he's relieved Cassie isn't listed, he finds his own name. He visits his daughter, surprised to find she's now a teenager, and heads to the Avengers facility. There, Natasha is finishing a meeting with her Avengers allies about the Decamation's damage throughout the universe, and Rhodey stays to talk after the others leave. He explains Clint has become a violent vigilante, believed to have killed cartel members in Mexico. Though Natasha is upset, he promises to give continued updates. Steve arrives and the two discuss what they've decided to do with their lives, and are shocked when Scott arrives at the front gate. Once inside, he reveals that for him, only five hours have passed since entering the Quantum Realm; he believes it could allow them to time travel. The trio visits Tony, and though he knows they're there on business, he allows them to stay, but immediately scoffs at Scott's "Time Heist" idea. Believing he could lose what he's built since the Decamation, he says he's done, and they can only stay for dinner if they don't press the matter. The group decides to instead bet on Bruce Banner, who since the Decamation has discovered how to combine his intelligence with the Hulk's body. Though pointing out he's not an expert on quantum physics, he agrees to help.
While washing dishes, Tony comes across a picture of himself with Peter Parker, and decides to research the possibility of Quantum Realm time travel.
Though he hopes his efforts with F.R.I.D.A.Y will fail, he discovers the key to making time travel possible with an inverted Möbius strip. Conflicted, he talks to Pepper, wondering if he should risk their present with time travel, as he could lock up what he's discovered and toss it away. Tony brings up how everyone else has suffered just like he did, and Pepper says he wouldn't be able to sleep at night if he didn't help. The Avengers run their own time experiments on Scott, succeeding only in repeatedly changing his age, and Tony arrives as Steve is wondering what they should do. Back to his more joking nature, Tony agrees to help on the condition that they don't use time travel to rewrite everything, since he now has Morgan. Steve agrees, and the two get over their past feud, with Tony returning Steve's shield. Banner and Rocket go to New Asgard in Norway, where Valkyrie tells them Thor only comes out when they get beer shipments. They go to Thor's messy house, where they learn the god of thunder fell into a deep depression after dealing with Thanos; he has gained weight, drinks constantly, and spends his time playing Fortnite with Korg and Meik. He becomes upset when they mention Thanos, and though he doesn't seem to care about their idea, he agrees to their time travel plan when offered beer. Meanwhile, Clint has tracked down a Yakuza gang in Tokyo, and slaughters them all. Natasha arrives and convinces them they have a chance to save everyone.
Everyone returns to the Avengers Facility, where Banner and Tony have completed a Quantum Tunnel and Advanced Tech Suits for everyone.
Believing he has little to lose if they fail, Clint volunteers to test the machine, and successfully finds himself on his farm before the Decamation. Though he hears his family, the Avengers bring him back before he can see them. They begin planning to find the stones, and when Rhodey suggests just going back to kill baby Thanos, Banner explains that changing the past would only cause alternate timelines, and do nothing for their world. As they only have a few Pym Particles, and Hank disappeared in the Decamation, they decide they need to have small groups go after one stone each. They realize the Time, Space, and Mind Stones were in New York when Loki attacked, but the others were in separate places and times: the Reality Stone was on Asgard in 2013, while the Soul Stone was on Vormir and the Power Stone was on Morag in 2014. With enough particles for a single round-trip, they split into teams: Steve, Tony, Banner, and Scott go to New York; Thor and Rocket to Asgard; and Nebula and Rhodey go to Morag with Natasha and Clint, before the latter two head to Vormir. In 2012, Bruce leaves the team and finds the Ancient One has the Time Stone, and she refuses to give it to him, instead knocking his soul from his body. Tony and Scott infiltrate Stark Tower as Loki is apprehended, planting Scott on past-Tony as our Tony to fly below and disguise himself as an agent. On his own mission, Steve finds himself reliving another part of his past as he encounters the secret Hydra agents in an elevator. They become suspicious when he claims he's supposed to take Loki's scepter, he wins their trust by whispering the "Hail Hydra" greeting. Back with Banner, the Ancient One explains reality would go out of whack if even a single Stone were removed from the timeline. He points out they could just bring the Stones back to the exact moment they were taken, making it as if they never left. She still doesn't budge, but becomes concerned when Banner reveals Strange gave the Time Stone to Thanos; as Strange is meant to become the best of the sorcerers, she relents, and Banner promises to get the Stones back when they're done. Back in the lobby, Lang incapacitates past-Tony by tampering with his arc reactor, allowing our Tony to nab the case with the Tesseract. Past-Hulk, however, enraged at having to take the stairs, bursts into the room, knocking the Tesseract over to Loki and allowing him to escape. Steve faces trouble in the form of his past self, who believes him to be Loki in disguise. The two fight, but our Steve gets the upper hand by revealing Bucky is alive, then using the scepter to incapacitate his past self. He regroups with Tony and Scott, who explain what happened and feel they can't do anything since they only have enough particles for one more jump. Tony realizes there's a place and time they can go to get the Tesseract and more Pym Particles. He and Steve travel to 1970 Camp Lehigh while Scott returns to the present.
Elsewhere, Thor and Rocket arrive to extract the Aether from Jane Foster, but Thor becomes worried that he can't do it and spots his mother, who soon dies.
Unsure of his own abilities despite Rocket's encouragement, he runs off, leaving Rocket to get the Reality Stone himself. Natasha and Clint drop Nebula and Rhodey off on Morag, where the two see Peter Quill dancing around like a goofball and knock him out. Past versions of Nebula and Gamora are on a mission for Thanos when he calls them back about an Infinity Stone. As Nebula bows before him, her system suddenly connects with present Nebula's, allowing them to see what she does. Clint and Natasha, landing on Vormir, meet Red Skull, who tells them of the gruesome sacrifice they have to make to get the Soul Stone. While Rocket easily gets the Reality Stone from Jane, Thor is given the chance to talk to his mother, as she quickly surmises he's from the future. He explains the situation, and to his surprise, she is gentle with him, feeling that he made a mistake but is trying to rectify it, proving him still worthy. He tries to warn her about her imminent death, but she orders him not to tell her, deciding to accept whatever comes her way. Though Thor still wishes he could do something, he relents, and Rocket appears. With his friend ready to go, Thor gives himself a final test, holding his hand out, and is ecstatic when past-Mjolnir flies into his palm. Having had Nebula examined, Thanos uses her connection to our Nebula to see how his plans work out, ending on his decapitation. Though Ebony Maw is horrified, Thanos shrugs that this is his destiny, and is happy his plan succeeded, deciding to stop the Avengers from undoing his work. Using their connection, Thanos cripples our Nebula just as Rhodey leaves for the future, and takes her aboard his ship. Past-Nebula then makes herself look like ours, and travels to the future. Back on Vormir, Clint and Natashs struggle to decide what to do; each wants to sacrifice themself and refuses to compromise with the other. The two finally come to blow and wrestle their way to the edge of the cliff, allowing one to make the ultimate sacrifice and leaving the other returning with the Stone. Back in 1970, Steve heads off to steal some Pym Particles while Tony goes into the depths of the base's hidden building. Steve easily steals the Particles, but notices guards are after them. He hides in what turns out to be Peggy Carter's office, and stares longingly when he notices her. Tony swipes the Tesseract, but encounters his father Howard, and realizes his father is preparing for the infant Tony's birth. Understanding his father's struggle as a parent, Tony gives Howard advice and thanks him for his actions, then returns to the present with Steve. Though the Avengers now have all six Infinity Stones, they've suffered one loss, and it's time to use their own Infinity Gauntlet and unexpectedly face Thanos again.
As a follow-up to Infinity War, an end to the MCU as we've known it, and a film in general, Endgame was a fantastic time.
Obviously there is a drawback in a way that you have to watch so many movies before watching this one for it to make sense. But to me this just makes it a longer version of things we see in trilogies and such; it would be confusing to start any saga on anything other than the first film. I was caught off-guard at the start with how brutal Thor was with Thanos; I guess just because of the reputation Disney tends to have with toning down violence. We saw dark things like Thor shoving Stormbreaker into Thanos and Thanos ripping the Mind Stone from Vision, but I think it was more because I expected present Thanos to be the villain. It's only the start of the movie, and we've already seen the Avengers dismember Thanos, and then Thor becomes so enraged he beheads the Mad Titan. One thing I like about this is how it's incorporated later in a new take on a typical revenge trope of "killing so-and-so won't bring your loved one back." I've seen that done so much, and usually it's an older character telling the hero why they shouldn't go for such revenge, but this time it's actually the hero thinking back to when he did it. I saw some people seemingly feeling negative about the kill scene for how it was pointless, as Thanos' death didn't change anything and he was already weakened. I'd say this is precisely the point, and is a major part of why Thor sinks into depression. At that moment, the thing Thor wanted most of all was the avenge the fallen and bring them back, but there was nothing he could do. The Stones were gone, nothing could bring them back, and in the end, even killing Thanos did nothing but momentarily cure his rage. For all his strength and abilities, one of the most powerful Avengers was helpless to do anythingfor his friends and loved ones. Sure, it sucked seeing Thor in such a state, especially after everything he went through in Thor: Ragnarok, but there was a point to it. It's also a nice message for people who are suffering from depression , is it shows that although Thor went through a rough time and got a bit selfish at times, it was him trying to deal with a tough time, and he came through in the end. While Thor wallowed, Hawkeye took to violence to handle his emotions, becoming "Ronin" and going after gang members who pray on the weak. While Thor had begun to see himself as just a failure and lost his confidence, Clint went on a quest for vengeance similar to what Thor did with Thanos. Thor blamed himself, but Clint blamed people like Thanos, who harm the innocent, and made it his mission to stop them permanently. This change has an effect on Natasha as well, as she worries about what her friend would do; I'd say she has the most experience with such violence. With no knowledge of even her own family, Natasha was raised to be an assassin, and it took time for her to defect to the U.S. As much of her life was spent killing people and probably trying to fill the hole from not knowing her past, she understands the pain her dear friend is going through. As always, Tony went through a devastating amount of physical and emotional trauma in this series: after slowly dying while floating in space, he is rescued but has lost all hope, and when he finally moves past everything and starts a family, he has to fight. As many have pointed out, in Avengers, Steve claims Tony isn't the kind of person to make a sacrifice play, while Tony says Steve is only special because of the serum. Of course in that movie, Tony proves Steve wrong by taking the nuke into space, but his return here and work with Steve shows how both of them have grown. Though Tony did make a sacrifice play back then, he did start out caring only about himself, and grew to worry about those around him because of his experiences. Creating Ultron was an attempt to make a protector for the world, and after his nightmare from Wanda, he believed in the Sokovia Accords, worried that his friends and maybe the entire world could be destroyed. Now, he's facing the issue of "working" rather than being with his family, much like his dad, as he loves Morgan with all his heart and doesn't want to risk losing her, but knows he can't just sit by and let others suffer. Steve's own willingness to keep going is tested when he sees Peggy, as in that moment he has a golden opportunity to return to his old life. He's a man out of time, and the Quantum Realm allowing time travel has put this proper time within grasp, but he too knows he can't rest. Steve has always been the person to make such a sacrifice, but I'd say his own growth comes in how his experiences have taught him it's sometimes necessary to break the rules, and looking through people's outer shells. His initial judgment of Tony, though correct on the service, was stuck up and made it seem as though he felt himself better than Iron Man. Since then, he's faced the deadly discovery of Hydra having invaded Shield and the whole government, as well as Tony's repeated sacrificial efforts. Back in Age of Ultron, Steve was able to slightly move Mjolnir, and while some felt he was close to being worthy, the writers claimed he was, and spared Thor's pride. To me, it seemed more likely that Steve wasn't yet worthy because he still had his own growing up to do. Sure, Thor has always had his problems, but he's been tested as a leader and matured. Steve was still more of a classic "boy scout" at this point, wanting to be squeaky clean and always follow orders, not realizing the problems behind this. Despite this, Steve is still a great example of a classic hero, never giving up, and therefore the perfect symbol for this movie and characters feeling hopeless. After learning the truth about the Stones, even Steve was feeling like everyone should move on, but he's one of the first to immediately step up when there's a possibility to bring back everyone Thanos killed. The movie jokes about this repeated line, but the perfect phrase to represent the Avengers, and of course Steve in particular, who refuse to give up when they can fight back, has to be "I can do this all day." Back to worthiness, I have a feeling future movies could lead us to a character I've talked about before, who was supposed to be in Ragnarok: Beta Ray Bill. For some info on his character, you can check out a post I made back in 2017. To sum it up, he's a monstrous-looking righteous character who is worthy to wield Mjolnir, and Odin granted him the hammer Stormbreaker, appearing in the MCU as an ax. In an interview, Kevin Feige wanted him to appear in Ragnarok, but the part was so small it felt like a disservice to his character. Though I won't say how things go for the characters we have in this movie, everyone knows at least some will be coming back and surviving, though others die. I feel like the aftermath of Endgame could be a nice way for Beta Ray Bill to earn Stormbreaker, as a part of phasing out some earlier MCU characters. One of the controversies about this movie came from another alien, with people disliking the idea of Captain Marvel coming in and defeating Thanos. I could see complaints about this considering how little we've seen her at this point, but for the most part I found these complaints to be just whining, and there was no need, as it's not what happens in the movie. As Carol herself points out early in the movie, she has to help planets all throughout the galaxy, preventing the Avengers from having an ultimate ace up their sleeve. Even if she was there, for much of the movie Thanos himself wasn't a threat, since Thor had beheaded him, presenting the interesting problem of the characters needing a way to reverse his work without the stones. People had assumed the Quantum Realm would be the key, with time travel, which of course turned out to be right, but even then their methodology was unclear. I found it entertaining that Scott was released from the Quantum Realm due simply due to coincidence, and his inexperience with quantum physics is a perfect way to bring the broken Avengers back together. The mission they choose has its issues, considering how careful the group has to be to not wreck the timeline, and of course it goes off the wheels. This honestly presents an interesting situation moving forward, which the Spiderman: Far From Home is presenting: that off the multiverse. The Ancient One has mentioned a multiverse before, and though Hulk assures her in this movie they'll prevent altered timelines, this promise likely failed. They can't really know for sure even the successful attempts, like getting the Power Stone before Star-Lord, can even work, and then there's the failed attempts. Loki retrieving the Space Stone after the events of Avengers would cause a massive change for this world, even if they try to return the other stone. Having a multiverse as canon within the MCU can effectively keep the movies going as long as someone wants to work on them. Anyone could take a pivotal moment and put it in a "what-if" scenario, and actors can at times be swapped out when need-be. In Infinity War, anyone who knew anything about Thanos knew there would be a lot of death, in a way lowering the stakes, even if they didn't know who would die. This time around, there are stakes because anyone could die, and failure in any regard could result in either more death or loss of those who already died. My one big complaint with the movie I can think of right now is more with the writers themselves, as Hulk survives quite a damaging event in this movie, and the writers have claimed it was a permanent thing. Now, I'm going back and reading some classic comics right now, but haven't gotten to Hulk yet. I do know, however, that Hulk has one of the greatest healing factors in Marvel, allowing him to recover from horrific damage. Other than that, I loved getting to see this closing chapter to the MCU we started out with, finding it to be packed with emotion. While I simply got emotional with the climax we got, I have friends who cried in the theater, and it was definitely difficult not to. The finale is explosive, emotional, and gives closure to numerous plot points from the series and moments that fans have wanted and expected. As a superhero fan, Endgame was an epic conclusion to a fun saga that left me simultaneously hyped up and emotional.
Avengers: Endgame trailer from the Marvel Entertainment YouTube page
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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