Great movies or TV series are often defined by great moments. The more memorable moments are, the bigger the likelihood that more people will refer to them in conversations with their friends. This is true of successful franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek or, in recent history, Game of Thrones on television. For the better part of 11 years, films released by Marvel Studios have been known to deliver on those big moments. Thus, when the fourth Avengers film, Avengers: Endgame, was released, the audience cannot be faulted for expecting those to close this decade of Marvel cinematic triumphs. And boy, did the Russo brothers deliver.
Anthony and Joe Russo have now been responsible for four of the 22 Marvel Studios films, thus giving them a lot of leeway in shaping how “Earth’s mightiest heroes” adventures reach a climax in Endgame. The three-hour runtime notwithstanding, the Russos wanted to put in everything they could into one film, and in the process, try to tie up a lot of perceived loose ends as this core group of actors also bid goodbye to Marvel. In doing so, the brothers literally bring us through time and space as our heroes attempt to correct the crime of Thanos while ending his mad plot for good.
In the aftermath of last year’s Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers are devastated. Thanos (Josh Brolin) succeeded in eliminating half of the universe’s population thanks to the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Stones adorning it. Beloved characters such as Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Groot (Vin Diesel), Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), and many more no longer exist. Even as Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) are marooned in outer space, it takes the arrival of Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) to finally bring them home to reunite with the surviving Avengers. Hunting down Thanos on another planet, the Mad Titan reveals that he has destroyed the Infinity Stones so that they won’t be able to undo his mass genocide. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) beheads Thanos out of rage, leaving the universe still without the vanished.
Five years later, Captain America (Chris Evans) is helping other survivors move on with their lives while Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) is monitoring the globe with War Machine (Don Cheadle), Okoye (Danai Gurira), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), and Captain Marvel. Thor has become the drunk and overweight king of New Asgard in Norway while the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) has merged both the intellectual Bruce Banner persona and the mindless rage of the Hulk. Iron Man has married Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and they have a little girl, Morgan, far from everyone else. Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) has taken on the mantle of Ronin and is killing crimelords in Japan after his family vanished.
When Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) re-emerges from the Quantum Realm after everyone thought he too had been snapped away, the surviving Avengers come up with a plan to commit a “time heist” in hopes of reversing what Thanos did. The proposal is a hard sell for Tony, but when he works out the theories in his head, he agrees to join. Splitting into three teams, they resolve to secure the Infinity Stones before Thanos gathers them together despite the dangers of messing with time. Can what was done be undone and can the Avengers truly avenge the fallen?
The Marvel Studios films have their roots firmly in the comics where the heroes first appeared. A huge part of the appeal of the movies is that stories that many of us grew up reading and enjoying on paper could finally be seen rendered with actual actors dressed in the costumes of our heroes. If the plot of Avengers: Infinity War largely followed the 1991 miniseries The Infinity Gauntlet, any of us wondered where would the plot of Avengers: Endgame be sourced from the comics. The answer, as hard as it is to believe, is that no previously published comic would provide this story’s resolution. This was critical to my personal desire to watch this film because I wanted to know how everything would play out despite the numerous fan theories floating around the internet.
Make no mistake, Avengers: Endgame is a quintessential rollercoaster ride of a movie in terms of emotional highs and lows. It is masterful how so many seemingly divergent plots and story arcs that have been sprinkled across 21 previous films are touched upon, called back, and even tied up in this motion picture. Even stories that entered Marvel’s efforts in television such as Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Marvel’s Agent Carter are tapped to add more layers to the overall story. Actors and characters that were last seen so long ago are seen again, albeit briefly, as the proverbial doors to the main characters’ stories are now closed.
Again, the movies that really stay with us are made of great moments, and Avengers: Endgame just has so many to count. Of course, Captain America has to wield Mjolnir and prove worthy of the hammer. Of course the female Avengers have to come together. Of course, Cap has to utter the words “Avengers Assemble!” Of course, the final blow has to be done by the cornerstone of the decade-long achievement of Marvel Studios. One could not be blamed if tears are shed during those emotional highs. The moments are too many to count, and for this film to have so many of them in the span of three hours is more than enough for this humble comic book reader.
The one great sadness that I felt at the film’s end is that Stan Lee, the man credited with being the architect of Marvel Comics, did not live to see this conclusion of a story and universe he began decades ago. Still, the best compliment one can probably give the Anthony and Joe Russo at the end of Avengers: Endgame is this: Stan would be proud.
About the reviewer:
Jason Inocencio was once the Digital Editor of adobo magazine who still loves seeing great campaigns from all over the world. He proudly shows off his love for all kinds of geeky things, whether it be movies, TV shows, comics, sports, or trivia.
