Symptom 113: Avengers Endgame

A little late, but we wanted to give everyone time to see the movie so that we could do what we do and give spoilers. Ok, if you haven’t seen the movie, stop reading, seriously, stop reading now, because fat Thor was amazing!.

Enggame was a masterclass for wrapping up multiple storylines while setting up the playing field for whatever phase 4 of the MCU will be. Tony Stark received one of the all time greatest death scenes a character can hope for. Steve Rogers finally does what makes Steve Rogers happy, Thor teaming up with The Guardians of the Galaxy is a fantastic pairing that should make for a wonderful movie. Doctor Strange’s lines at the end of Infinity War and to Tony before battle nor carry more gravitas than ever, and the writers set up a perfect pitch for what Captain Marvel will be doing in her sequel.

Avengers Endgame is a three hour movie that never felt like a three hour movie. it was enjoyable, well paced and had an ending that made many cry, as well as one of the greatest climactic battle scenes ever in film. It was a cultural event and it will be decades before something like this comes around again. The last time something did was probably Empire Strikes Back. It wasn’t a perfect, it has flaws that we will discuss, it was essentially a time travel reset button flick that jumped five years ahead. The time jump led to world building and significant character developments that occurred off screen, which is always bad. Professor Hulk was cool but ham fisted and we miss what we should have seen in Phase, Bruce Banner’s journey to becoming professor Hulk. Tony Stark changes from rogue, billionaire genius playboy philanthropist to family man, off screen, Captain America learns to deal with failure, Thor gives up and becomes fat., Black Widow is running the Avengers. All this occurs off screen. The reset button eliminates all consequences save Black Widow’s death. However, none of these flaws matter as Endgame is fun, entertaining and story that always remembers to focus on the central characters that we have come to love. Endgame focuses on completing the stories of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers and rightfully makes them the biggest heroes in a story about Earth’s biggest heroes. For all these reasons it is an excellent film and precisely because it does these things can overcome being a time travel reset button film that leaps forward in time five years.