Let’s talk Avengers: Endgame. The story that began eleven years ago with Iron Man, that went on to span twenty-one
different films has come to a close. We’ve seen a self-centered industrialist
become an armored champion, a soldier out of time rally the troops, a jade
titan find a home, a being of legend fall from grace and reclaim his glory, a
pair of assassins transform into cunning allies, a king become both champion
and envoy of his people, a man of science embrace the mystic, and a group of
outlaws save planets. Just to name a few. Oh, and Spider-Man is there now too. Ha.
They faced off against the Mad God Thanos last time, and while the different
groups of Avengers put on valiant fights, Thanos ultimately overcame them all
and used the Infinity Gauntlet to kill 50% of life. This is a massive film, so
I think you can understand why I want to break it down into multiple parts. Don’t
want to overload your eyes and brains with my nerd gushing. So, let’s get to
it.
 |
| The Avengers have to avenge 50% of all life. Tall order. |
We open on Tony and Nebula onboard
the Guardian’s ship, the Milano. Despite captain Peter Quill’s death due to The
Snap and ship’s engineer Rocket Raccoon being on Earth, the two were able to jerry
rig the ship to fly, at least for a while. It does help having the world's fore most engineer on the ship. While they made it most of the way from Thanos’ homeworld
of Titan, the ship still broke down about 1000 light years from Earth. Tony,
fearing the worst, records a goodbye message to Pepper. He knows it’s an insanely
long shot of anyone back home finding their ship, but he feels better leaving
the message to her that he drifted off dreaming about her. He passes out, while
the cyborg Nebula makes sure he’s comfortable. Just when all hope seems lost,
Tony is awakened by a blinding light. It’s not a supernova, it’s Captain Marvel.
Carol grabs the ship and takes them home, lickety-split.
Back home, the surviving Avengers recap
to Tony and the audience what happened. That Thanos overcame the Avengers and
the massive Wakandan Army to get the last Infinity Stones, did his big Snap,
and 50% of all life was Dusted. Well, sentient life, anyway. What? Aside from Groot,
I saw no other foliage disappear. Combining resources with Nebula and Rocket,
they’re able to track down Thanos to his hidey-hole on the other side of the
galaxy. They detected a massive energy burst unique to the Infinity Gauntlet on
a planet that Nebula called the Garden. Thanos talked to her about it while
mutilating her and upgrading her cybernetic components. Great dad right there. To
the groups shock, Tony tells them to piss off. He’s tired and obviously broken
after their defeat at Thanos’ hands. I have to imagine holding your young
student in your arms as he fades away into ash does have that effect on a guy.
He hands over his portable Arc Reactor and tells them to run and hide. Despite
that setback, the team moves forward. It’s Captain America, Black Widow, Thor,
Captain Marvel, Rocket, Nebula, War Machine and Banner in the Hulk Buster to
save the day.
…
And that’s all you’re getting out of
me. For now, anyway. I’ve spent the last few days agonizing over how best to
approach this one. On the one hand, I want to gush about this movie, everything
it did right and how overall amazing it is. On the other, I hate to give too
much away and ruin someone else’s first experience of it. Honestly, I wish I
could Neuralize myself ala Men In Black so I could watch it again for the first
time. So, I came up with this little compromise. I’ll only talk about the first
fifteen minutes of the movie here, and do a more in-depth analysis next month.
That should give everyone who honestly wants to see it spoiler free a chance to
see it and allow me to gush in detail later.
That all being said, I will give
you broad strokes. This is perhaps the BEST send off for several Marvel
Characters. It’s no secret that Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans for sure are done
with Marvel Movies after this one, as they haven’t signed new contracts. For
them, and several other legacy Avengers, this was their last Rodeo. And by God,
it delivers. I think of Logan, and how that was a bittersweet but perfect send
off for Logan and Professor X as played by their definitive actors. And this
was that for those who have decided to bow out. It highlights their strengths,
their humanity, and tugged at my heart strings in just the right way to make me
feel truly sad that we won’t be seeing some of these guys again.
The effects are gorgeous, both on
the massive, planet wide scale down to the intricate details that go into digitally
altering a character’s face.
I have loved these movies and these
characters since first seeing Iron Man
with my older brother in theaters when I was a teenager. The Marvel Cinematic Universe
encapsulated everything I love about Marvel characters, costumed superheroes, and
big budget effects while changing just enough to make the stories accessible to
those who don’t know how many Iron Men, Captain Americas, or Black Panther’s
there’ve been. And to fill in gaps in the roster that the lack of ownership of
several key characters caused. It’s been a long, strange and bumpy trip these
last eleven years. And while it brings a tear to my eye to let some of them go,
it was still a hell of a ride. And there’s the promise of whatever comes next.
But after the decade’s long Infinity War Saga, whatever does come next has some
pretty big shoes to fill.
There’s so much more I want to say.
Hell, it was a three-hour movie, I could probably write a full twenty-page essay
on the damn thing. And it would be fantastic, just saying. But, saying even one
thing more would ruin several twists that even I didn’t see coming. And this stuff
is what I spent my free time think and writing about. I’ll just close by
saying, to everyone that has ever starred in, worked on, and enjoyed the
exploits of the big screen Avengers, it’s been a fantastic ride and I wish you
all the very best.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/26432275
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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