How do you even begin to write a review for a movie like Avengers Endgame which for me was the source of so many feelings and emotions? A movie packed with so many ends it becomes near impossible to talk about it to those who haven’t seen it without spoiling some of it.
In Avengers – Infinity War we found our heroes decimated by a simple snap of Thanos’ fingers. For the first time in the history of Superhero movies, the heroes had lost in a big way. In spite of that, it was clear that this decimation would be undone. After all, franchises like Spider-Man already had a sequel in the works (Spider-Man Far From Home) and Black Panther or Dr Strange had done too well to not warrant a sequel. Even Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 had been confirmed despite the controversy that shortly followed the release of Infinity War. The real question was not only how the decimation would be undone but at what price.
A well-known trope of superhero movies is the fact that if you kill a character, there’s a fairly good chance that the character will end up coming back in one form or another. Whether it’s through faking one’s death or literally bringing someone back from the dead, the Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn’t been one to avoid that trope over the course of the past 11 years. And when it comes to Endgame there is no shortage of characters being brought back. However, not all of them make them back, and since talking about the death of a character is the pinnacle of spoiling a story, I won’t go into further details than this. I will say though that while some character returns were expected, it leaves a hole in your heart when one of those characters doesn’t appear to have been brought back, and that in itself is testament to the quality of writing, filming and editing that Marvel Studios and the Russo brother in particular have perfected that we should attach ourselves to said characters in spite of the seemingly overwhelming number of them in the movie.
As a standalone movie, Avengers Endgame is structured in the traditional 3-act format with the second act taking up the majority of the 3:05 hours the movie lasts. Without going into specifics, the beginning may confuse those who haven’t gone to see Captain Marvel. Sometimes post-credit scenes are repeated in the movie they tease (eg Captain America Civil War at the end of Ant-Man) but that’s not always the case. Here they chose not to do that and it perhaps would have helped explain the (seemingly) sudden appearance of Captain Marvel. This is just one example of details that true fans of the MCU will understand better coming from seeing all preceding 21 Marvel Studios movies.
And yes, the movie does a lot of fan service. There are Easter Eggs, not just to comics, but to previous MCU movies as well (most prominently Captain America – The Winter Soldier, so go re-watch that before going to see Endgame if you can) all over this movie. If you’ve read about fan theories on how certain events happen or some future movie the studios should do, they put it in there. Not all theories of course, and I’m reluctant to give anything away but there is something in there which will please every fan even if every fan may not be pleased by everything in the movie. To top up the Easter Eggs, there are characters from various previous movies returning, some of whom had been killed in the movie they were last in, while others had just not been seen for a long time. The logistical feat of bringing all those actors, some of whom are really big names, together to shoot new scenes is nothing short of heroic from a film-making perspective.
The down-side of there being so many references, cameos and surprise character returns is that it makes you sad to see that some characters you had been hoping to see if a Marvel movie for so many years still isn’t showing up. In spite of this, there is one character who has been seen exclusively in a Marvel TV show who makes a very brief appearance. It isn’t much but it’s a start. Though given the gaps in logistics between movies and TV (and differences in management), significant crossovers between the two are still probably just a pipe dream. Having said that, the two are still supposed to live within the same shared universe and I fear Endgame has introduced a conundrum which will be hard to ignore for all surviving TV shows going forward. Not only that but given the state of certain characters it raises a lot of questions regarding certain TV shows which have recently been announced for the Disney+ platform, and future Phase 4 movies (assuming they continue with their “phases”). In other words, while Endgame pulls at our heart strings like a guitar hero shredding their soul away, it will mess with your mind in a way that will make you wonder whether Scarlet Witch isn’t lurking around somewhere.
In the end, it does very much feels like a very fitting end to 11 years and 22 Marvel Studios movies, honouring especially the original 6 Avengers and in that regard it is very satisfying. If you are the kind of person who gets emotional easily and would like to see the movie more than once, I’d recommend pacing yourself because it is a very emotional rollercoaster. It has plenty of the humour and action we’ve come to expect but it is first a foremost a true celebration of everything Marvel Studios have done to date. Topping this up in the next 10 years is going to be a real challenge.