By Nadia Ranaputri
Avengers: Endgame has been out for weeks, but I'm still giving out a spoiler warning to give some chance for anyone who hasn't seen it. If you haven't seen it, I suggest that you watch the film first, then come back. If you have seen it, welcome aboard to the spoilers discussion. This is mostly just my spoilery thoughts about Avengers: Endgame since I have a lot of feelings with this film. It's possible that I might have missed out on a few things in this spoiler review, but really, I just wanted to discuss about the things that stood out to me, and things that made me downright emotional. Let's get into them.
[SPOILER WARNING. THERE WILL BE MAJOR SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: ENDGAME. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT AND DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, TURN BACK NOW]
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Still here?
Alright.
Let’s talk spoilers
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| Image source: IMDB |
Avengers: Endgame has been out for weeks, but I'm still giving out a spoiler warning to give some chance for anyone who hasn't seen it. If you haven't seen it, I suggest that you watch the film first, then come back. If you have seen it, welcome aboard to the spoilers discussion. This is mostly just my spoilery thoughts about Avengers: Endgame since I have a lot of feelings with this film. It's possible that I might have missed out on a few things in this spoiler review, but really, I just wanted to discuss about the things that stood out to me, and things that made me downright emotional. Let's get into them.
[SPOILER WARNING. THERE WILL BE MAJOR SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: ENDGAME. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT AND DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, TURN BACK NOW]
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Still here?
Alright.
Let’s talk spoilers
Thor finally goes for the head
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| Image source: IMDB |
In some ways, I knew that somehow this confrontation wasn’t going to work out. The fact that what I expected to happen actually happened made it quite a surprise, which was that the infinity stones were already destroyed. This was one specific theory that I said to myself would be interesting if they actually did it, and they did. By the time the Avengers found out where he was, they were too late; Thanos had already used the stones to destroy themselves two days earlier. I thought that was an interesting way to set the film up. One particular scene that I have to mention here that I actually really liked, both because of the visuals and the music; was after Thor beheads Thanos (because of course he finally went for the head), he walks out of the front porch, with Alan Silvestri’s somber version of the “Porch” track from Infinity War. I thought that was a really great contrast to when compared to the ending of Infinity War, where Silvestri used the music to symbolize both the defeat of the Avengers whilst also highlighting Thanos’ victory and serenity; while in Endgame, a much somber version of the track is played to symbolize the Avengers’ second defeat. It just gives me chills.
Five years later
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| Image source: IMDB |
If you’ve been keeping up with news and theories regarding the MCU, chances are, the five-year time jump won’t be much of a surprise. The time jump was something that had been previously discussed prior to the film’s release. In this film’s case, it jumps from 2018 to the year 2023. Here, we see that the world hasn’t fully moved on yet, including the Avengers. They can’t really do much other than accepting that half the population is wiped out and all they could really do is provide comfort and support for each other. Tony has somehow moved on by settling down with Pepper and the cutest surprise, a daughter, while Steve is holding a support group for people in grief, and Natasha is overseeing conflicts within earth and the galaxy through contacts with Okoye, Carol Danvers, Rocket, and Rhodes. Scenes in the first act like Natasha silently crying and Steve coming over to comfort her gave room for our heroes to show vulnerability, that such a defeat would have a great effect on them. It gives so much more emotional depth and in those moments, we see them as more than just superheroes, we see them as humans. Hawkeye, who lost his family to the snap in the beginning of the film, becomes the vigilante Ronin. I loved the Tokyo sequence where Ronin takes down some sort of mafia gang, but it does feel like it belongs in another film, because it had a completely different vibe compared to everything else (for some reason, it gave me John Wick vibes).
Whilst we
see other Avengers grieving over the Snap, it’s Thor who’s drastically changed.
Some people may not like how the film went with his character, since he no
longer looks the part of the mighty God of Thunder, but instead as a sort of hermit
who has isolated himself from everyone else in New Asgard (save for Korg and
Meik) and is playing Fortnite (yes, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the
fact that Fortnite is still a thing in 2023) whilst constantly drowning himself
in booze. I honestly enjoyed where they were going with Thor. It’s
understandable that their failure to undo the Snap has affected Thor a lot. He
has lost the people he loves, he lost his home and he lost his people to Thanos’
slaughter in the beginning of Infinity War. The reaction Thor has when Bruce
mentions Thanos is undeniably heartbreaking. You see his pain, his grief, and
his denial when Bruce says they have might have found a way to solve the Thanos
problem. But throughout the film, we see that despite being unable to forgive
himself for preventing the snap, it doesn’t make him any less of a hero. I
loved that in the second act, he got to spend more time with his mother and
that he sought guidance from her. It was a nice little scene that actually
warmed my heart.
Back to the Future
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| Image source: IMDB |
The time
travel element was actually really fun, I’m not going to lie. I loved going
back to the events of previous films and looking at them in a completely
different perspective (like how we see that boisterous opening to Guardians of
the Galaxy where Peter Quill dances to “Come and Get Your Love,” just in the
perspective of an outsider who of course, would think Quill’s an idiot for
dancing on his own. I’m looking at you, Rhodey). Honestly, the time-travel
logic kind of went over my head the first time I saw it. It literally took a
second viewing for me to really see their time-travel logic. As Bruce explains
it, travelling through time and taking the stones won’t affect their current
timeline, but it would open some sort of alternate timeline. Not sure if I’m
saying this right, but he did say something along the lines of “your present
self becomes your past” (anyone who remembers this line, help a friend out). Point
is, as explained by Banner and later The Ancient One, the present them that is
about to embark on this time heist will be their past, meaning that anything
from the past events won’t be affected, rather it opens up another branch
reality. Also, they really had the audacity to say that Back to the Future, aka one of my most favorite films of all time; was
a bunch of nonsense (not taking this to heart, it did give me chuckles when
they mentioned it).
Time travel logic bonanza aside, I just really loved that the film was reliving past events. Fans who have watched and cherished previous MCU films will be truly rewarded by the second act. There’s something so nostalgic and so joyful about returning to 2012 New York and seeing the present Avengers witness their past selves. And I loved that fight scene between present Steve and past Steve. It was a fun little fight scene. Let’s also address that joke about Captain America’s ass, because that joke was the one my theater laughed the hardest at. I mean, when do you ever get to see Captain America looking at his past self and saying “that is America’s ass”? That was admittedly hilarious because it came out of nowhere and it was so sudden, yet so delightful to see. Also, this might be a major plot hole, but Loki escaped with the tesseract, so there’s an alternate branch timeline where Loki didn’t go to Asgard with Thor and is actually still alive out there..? Or….is that some sort of set up for the new Loki show that’s coming out? Either way, that should be a pretty fun arc to explore.
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| Image source: Slash Film |
Then we get
to second major death scene after Thanos in Vormir. As soon as they paired
Natasha and Clint together to go to Vormir, I instantly knew it was a bad idea.
What made it worse is that I already knew who was going to die. Little
backstory about this, so about a week before I saw the film, a friend of mine
had a couple of theories, one of them being that two Avengers will die in the
film. This leads to another one of his predictions that Natasha will be one of
the two deaths. Fast-forward to the day Endgame came out, my friend had already
gotten spoilers from someone who had seen it. He decided to give me
some hints about one of the spoilers, which actually confirmed two of his
predictions: two Avengers will indeed die and that one of those deaths were
between Steve Rogers and Natasha. My guess at the time was Steve Rogers. Now
back to when I finally saw the film and came across the Vormir scene. Because
my friend had indirectly spoiled it for me, I already knew who was going to
die. But here’s the thing, even if I knew who was going to die, it doesn’t make
the death any less painful. What made it even more sad is Natasha’s last line
to the Avengers before they head separate ways for their mission was “See you
in a minute.” It was actually more emotional for me the second time because I
was already aware of what was going to happen.
A Worthy Third Act
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| Image source: Youtube |
What else
can I say other than that the third act is one epic finale? I think it’s safe
to say that it is one of the best third acts I’ve seen in a superhero film. I
mean, Captain America finally wielding Mjolnir? That was freaking epic. And
just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, they amped it up by having the
heroes who were previously snapped out of existence have an epic return. I was
squealing and I had the biggest chills watching it on the big screen. I’m sorry
if I repeat the word “epic” but how else could I describe this entire act? Some of the scenes here even have “fan-service”
written all over it, but guess what? The fan-service here just works. They’re
doing more than just mere wish-fulfillment for the fans, they’re honoring the
fans who have followed the franchise for eleven years. I also want to add the
Wanda vs Thanos scene because heck yes,
Wanda finally shows her full potential. Her powers always had the potential to
be so much more than what the previous films have shown, and in here, they went
all out and really gave her the spotlight. If it wasn’t for the aerial strikes,
Wanda would have definitely defeated him easily and the film would have been
over sooner (and Tony wouldn’t have died too). Which leads us to....
“And I….am Iron Man.”
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| Image source: IMDB |
As soon as
Doctor Strange gave Tony the signal that this was the one chance that they
would win, I was already dreading for what’s going to happen. When it was
revealed that Tony had taken all the infinity stones from Thanos and preceeded
with the words that started the entire MCU, the very infamous “I am Iron Man,”
I was in tears. I knew he wouldn’t survive, but at the same time, I had a
slight bit of hope that he would. But he didn’t, and when Peter Parker was crying and
saying “Mr. Stark, we won,” while Tony was on the verge of death; I was
full-out sobbing. It didn’t help that they showed his arc reactor flickering out
when he was dying. Now, I was already sobbing when Tony died, but when they
showed the arc reactor that Pepper gave him in the first Iron Man at his
funeral, that was when I truly lost it. It didn’t help that the shot panned
through every single hero that came after him, because in the end, it was Tony
Stark that started this whole thing. I’m not sure if the whole theater sobbed,
but it’s probably because I couldn’t hear it over my own tears, though I do
know that the kid who sat beside actually cried as well. The MCU has crafted so
many amazing heroes, and Iron Man was one of them. His development throughout
each film he’s in just makes us love him more. The fact that his death hit
audiences so hard means that the MCU has done a spectacular job in creating and
developing these characters. We feel the weight of Tony’s death because we’ve
spent more than a decade with him, seeing his development and how he falls and
thrives again. It's just....I have never cried so hard over a death scene since Logan.
Steve stays with Peggy
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| Image source: IMDB |
There’s one other thing I need to talk about. I’ve mentioned in my spoiler-free review that there are things I didn’t particularly like, and that’s Cap’s ending. This ending may be polarizing because as far as I know, I’ve seen people who hate his ending, love it, or just accept it, with valid reasons for each point. Most of my friends who’ve seen the film aren’t very fond of his ending, and I hate to say it, but I’m also one of those people. Now again, time travel here apparently doesn’t have any effect on the present, instead creating another branch timeline. Our heroes, Bruce Banner specifically, have clearly stated much earlier in the second act that they have no intention of messing their own timeline, hence why they’re adamant on returning the stones back to the time it was taken as soon as the job’s done. With how they concluded Cap’s story though, it’s the complete opposite of that. I don’t even know how to explain that there seemingly isn’t any effect on the current timeline. It isn’t even clear on whether or not he went to his current or another timeline to be with Peggy.
Yes, Sam
says that he’s living in a world without Captain America, but the film treats
it like a minor thing. If the modern world never got to see Captain America,
that means films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America:
Civil War never happened, or at least; the film never addresses whether or not
those stories are completely erased from the current timeline. That means that
his roles in the previous Avengers films are non-existent. Honestly, I don’t
know, I mean I am glad that Steve finally got to settle down and have that
happy ending with Peggy, and the passing of the torch scene where he gives his shield to Sam was touching, but shouldn’t his decision affect the current
timeline and perhaps open a new one? Which is ironic considering that Bruce specifically said to not mess around and to close the other alternate loops that might happen. I'm pretty sure that by staying in the past with Peggy, Steve was doing the exact opposite of what Bruce told him to do.
Final Thoughts:
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| Image source: IMDB |
After seeing
this film multiple times, it’s safe to say that my love for it hasn’t wavered.
I can’t say if this is my most favorite MCU film (for now, that spot still
belongs to Guardians of the Galaxy) but it is most definitely in my top five. Avengers: Endgame honors the fans who have been following the franchise since Tony Stark said "I am Iron Man" in 2008. The MCU has crafted these characters so wonderfully that we can't help but feel bittersweet to say goodbye to the characters we know and love. I never really put much thought into how I would feel when I had to say goodbye to the characters I have been following for years, but now that the time is finally here, I can say that I was not prepared for it. Endgame was really the perfect sendoff for the original six Avengers (save for Steve Rogers, but I don't hate his ending, it just didn't really make sense on a logical standpoint and it created so many questions and plot holes). And I love the credits sequence, especially when they honored the original six, that part made me cry because that is where I felt like I was truly saying goodbye to not only Tony Stark, but to the rest of the original Avengers. Endgame was an experience, and it was one that had everything I wanted, but at the same time, it had things that I did not expect; and that elevated the experience.
