We’ve covered the masterpiece that is Endgame a lot on the site and there’s a hell of a lot of articles to cover it pretty much everywhere saying it’s a solid 11 out of 10, which it is for sure. So you probably don’t need to read another article about it but I am as much a fan of the MCU and Marvel Comics as a whole as I am video games so I thought that this isn’t one that I couldn’t write about.
I’m not going to delve into it all too deeply as this is just a light impressions piece, for a deeper view on my thoughts check out the podcast here or on Youtube here. I also will most likely be following this up – What the Russo’s have managed to do is essentially achieve comic book movie perfection, well, actually movie perfection in my eyes, and for many of those who are massive comic fans. It’s actually quite unbelievable how much this film gets it right. I’ve seen it twice so far and I’ll be going a third time in the coming weeks just because there’s so much to enjoy and take in.
When watching I’m just sat there completely invested thinking throughout the whole film, there just isn’t anything I would change. Like we’ve covered in our spoilers podcast, it’s one hour set up and fallout after the events of Infinity War, which needs to be done because everyone’s in a bad place. It’s worth noting at this point that I can’t talk about it without going into spoilers so don’t read on unless you haven’t seen the film! You’ve been warned….
Using time as such a big plot device was fantastic, not only with the time travel but also the big chunk of time that passed at the beginning of the movie, it gave them so much to play with and yet again, they don’t fuck it up! It will also change the face of everything from here on out – You get 5 long years at the start that pass after old Thanos’ death, this sets in how depressed everyone is, dealing with a long time of loss. It also allows them to transform many characters such as Hulk and Hawkeye into something we can enjoy in a new light, as completely new version of themselves. The time travelling part of the movie was both hilarious and emotional, as a lot of this movie is. It’s used to create many comedic moments as well as final conversations that characters had longed for. What’s also clever is it makes the movies Thor and Ant Man 2 both a little more important than they seemed before.
What they did with Thanos was pure perfection, in Infinity War he did more damage than all of the other villains of the MCU combined had done, he’s a big bad threat and BOOM he’s dead in 10 minutes, it was nuts. It works so well because you’re like holy shit he just destroyed half the universe and was already out of the picture before you’d even opened your bag of popcorn (lol jokes it was all gone in the trailers). This was on top of the reveal that he’d destroyed the stone so our heroes had no options a this point – They then bring back a stronger Thanos who has a different plan for universal domination, and a different weapon, and takes on Thor, Cap and Iron Man – Badass… Although he gets his comeuppance in the end, he still hugely damaged the Avengers and heroes we know as there are so many big characters who are no longer with us. So what they managed to do was bring in 2 Thanos’ which could have been ridiculous, but was completely and utterly awesome.
The next item of conversation is Thor; now I have seen that there are those who don’t like Thor in this movie, perhaps feeling they’re taking the piss out of depression or fat shaming, but I didn’t see it this way at all. This Thor is the closest to King Thor we’ve seen, and seeing how quickly the MCU timeline progresses, this would make sense! He’s lost his entire family over the last 6 years and the one he speaks about a lot is his mother, so I thought it was amazing that he gets a scene; one last goodbye with her. You can see he is a very broken man, and it’s a great way to say he’s not in full control of his ultimate power he gained in Ragnarök, so won’t be too OP; again a clever move. Although he’s broken, he provides some of the best comedy, especially with the reveal that he’d let himself go… He then gets to have a pretty decent battle with Thanos, and comes round by the end of the movie, being put into the Guardians of the Galaxy – Snd I have a personal prediction that this is so they can have a match for Adam Warlock in Guardians 3.
I’m going to finish on Iron Man; the guy who has made all of this so easy to watch and enjoy since day 1 – This hero started the universal franchise that we adore, and has decimated any other franchise in existence, and arguably that’s still one of the best standalone movies in the MCU. Tony has had a fantastic arc of dealing with this addiction to being Iron Man, and thinking he’s doing the right thing, affecting all of his decisions and the movies he’s been in. You then get his relationship with Peter giving him a very different, fatherly, connection to a hero (Although it’s in his own way), and all of this comes to a climax in this movie… With Tony delivering the final – but fatal – blow. I have never before cried at a comic book movie (Except V for Vendetta), and this had tears streaming. The way they set Tony up with Morgan, his happy life and then giving him a scene with Howard was just incredible. Throughout the whole film they’re kind of setting him up to make the final move and it works so well, in fact since day 1. I completely loved how he was pretty much dead as soon as he snapped his fingers, no long drawn out death speech. Then Pepper says ‘you can rest now’; ah good god man. The MCU made Iron Man one of my favourites and now he’s been given the perfect send off.
So thank you to the Russo brothers for this masterpiece which I will watch again and again. I truly believe that no other film will come close to Endgame in what they achieved; let’s just hope that the Marvel cinematic universe can carry on as strong as its been!