Pure satisfaction.
Marvel’s 23-film, 11-year cinematic storyline came to a conclusion this past week, with its latest installment, “Avengers: Endgame.”
While Marvel doesn’t have any plans on finishing making superhero movies anytime soon, its initial story arc that began with “Iron Man” in 2008 concluded.
“Avengers: Endgame,” which was a follow to Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War” from last April, took place five years after the defeat of the Avengers that left half the universe, and more than half of the superheroes literally turned to dust. Now, while some are trying to move on with their lives and accept defeat, the other surviving heroes look for a way to reverse the irreversible.
With the help of new superhero Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), who was called to help at the end of the last movie, and who we have gotten to know through her solo prequel that came out in March, the remaining heroes track down the big bad Thanos (Josh Brolin) on his home world. But after telling the heroes that he destroyed any possible way of changing what he had done, the team wasted absolutely no time in killing Thanos in the initial 15 minutes of the three-hour film.
The heroes are now forced to accept the outcome and move on with their lives. Captain Marvel leaves with the explanation that she must help other civilizations in more need than them.
Eventually, the heroes discover the use of time travel and after heated debates they realize the only possible way to fix everything is to go back in time and collect the six Infinity Stones that Thanos used to wipe out half of the universe, bring them back into their present time, use them to reverse the damage that was done, and then return them to the exact spots they took them from so nothing in the past could change the events of the future. Sounds simple enough, right?
Through the events that transpired over the course of the next two-and-a-half hours, every character that we have been introduced to over the last 11 years had their individual storylines end. All were not happy endings, but endings that were certainly memorable.
“Avengers: Endgame” could best be described as satisfying. Unlike Marvel’s past movies, this finale was very predictable. With more than half of the actors that were “killed” in the last movie already signed for sequels for the next five years, there was little doubt that we wouldn’t all receive a happy ending.
One aspect of the movie that completely stunned me, was the misuse of Larson’s Captain Marvel. For the last year, Marvel has done absolutely nothing but hype Captain Marvel up as the biggest new superhero. “Avengers: Infinity War” ended on a cliffhanger with a message being sent to her as humanity’s last hope. Then audiences were introduced to Marvel’s first female solo movie in March setting up who this new hero was for the big finale. But in the end, Captain Marvel’s total screen time was 15 minutes of a three-hour long film. She was completely misused.
It looked as if the only way for the heroes to win in the end would be from the help of Captain Marvel, a former Air Force pilot turned space activist, but when it came time for her to take on Thanos herself, she was completely thrown aside. Why the buildup for the let down?
Other than that, I believe Marvel did a tremendous job closing the book on this story. I have watched the franchise since the beginning and remember seeing the first “Iron Man” in theaters 11 years ago. Following the story for more than a decade, this finale was bittersweet for me, but unlike so many things today our story came to a just end.
It will be nice to see where Marvel takes its franchise next with a new team of younger superheroes, but to see the originals all get the endings they needed was what fans like myself and countless others deserved.
Ken Downey Jr. is the Features Editor for Time OFF and Packet Publications. This is a part of his series of weekly columns focusing on arts and entertainment. He can be contacted at [email protected].