I saw Avengers Endgame last Thursday on opening night, just like millions of other fans, and when those glorious end credits started to roll across the screen, I was so emotionally overwhelmed and excited, that I wanted to do nothing more than rush home and write my thoughts down for all of you...however, I quickly realized that I had no idea how to do so. This was the first time I have ever walked out of a movie actually lost for words about what I had just witnessed. That's when I realized that what I had just watched was much more than a movie, and that I couldn't treat this like one. That means that while I am going to be discussing Endgame and the impact it has made on not only myself, but the world, I will not be treating this like a review, but rather I will be treating it as a thank you letter to Marvel Studios and the great mind of Kevin Feige for giving me this once-in-a-lifetime experience unlike anything that has been seen or ever will be seen again. Wow. What a run.
Let's talk about it.
Thank You Marvel Studios...No Really...Thank You.
Just so we are clear...YES THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. If you have not watched the movie...first of all, what the hell are you doing reading this? Go out and see it! After you do that....SEE IT AGAIN GODDAMN IT. Then come back and read this. This is not just a movie. This is a cultural event. Our generation's version of Star Wars. A hundred years from now, people will ask where you were when this movie came out, and when you saw it in theaters. This is something that has never been seen before, and it will never be seen again. To be a part of this cinematic event is to be a part of history. Please go and see this movie.
The first thing that came to mind as I was watching Endgame was how carefully and tenderly it treated every movie that has been made in the MCU thus far. The biggest thing this movie did was make EVERY movie relevant and important again. Even movies like Thor: The Dark World which were commonly hated on by the fandom (not me I enjoy that movie) were made out to be important and after seeing this movie, one quickly realizes how important each movie actually is. There would be no Endgame without each and every one of these movies, and now each and every one of the movies leading up to this one have been completely immortalized and placed on a pedestal to be recognized and celebrated. This movie was supposed to be the culmination of the past 11 years worth of films...and it felt like exactly that. There are things in this movie that were set up literally YEARS ago across various films that were paid off in this one, and I just have to take a moment to appreciate and thank the creators of this amazing universe for their incredible foresight.
This movie made EVERYTHING special. Everything. Even things you didn't even think about before were made special by this film. No detail was left out, and no expense was spared. Marvel brought out all the tricks for this one, and for the first time, I don't feel like anything could have been added or removed from this film to make it better. It stands as the only film besides Captain America: The Winter Solder to be completely and utterly perfect. It is for this reason I am declaring Avengers Endgame as my personal favorite film in the entire franchise. Now I know it's early to be saying things like that, but I have seen it 3 times, and I will be seeing it a fourth time this Friday. The only film I have seen more times in a theater is Star Wars: The Force Awakens. That fact right there is enough to convince anyone that this one is my favorite, but it goes so much deeper than that.
What This Movie Really Means To the World
Like I said before, this is more than a movie. It's a cultural event...a cinematic marvel....but most of all it's a love letter to all the fans of these characters that not only love these movies...but have loved them long before they appeared on screen. I think I speak for every comic book reader when I say this film represents something much more than the culmination of 11 years and 21 films. It's a celebration of everything of something we fell in love with long ago...it's a celebration of the very idea of superheros, and how far the genre has come from being once-ridiculed and enough to get your head shoved in a locker back in high school. To be a comic book fan and to see what the MCU has done for the genre is nothing short of miraculous. Because of this amazing special thing that Marvel has accomplished, superheros are literally everywhere you look. Because of Marvel Studios, Iron Man is now just as recognizable as Superman or Batman, and if you told me that 10 years ago, I would have laughed in your face. Believe it or not, Iron Man was a B-List character before the MCU, and now he's an A++ one. Marvel has empowered and inspired literally millions of little boys and girls across the world, and have taught them that they can literally do anything. This film is a celebration of that, and reminder to all of us just how special this thing really is.
There are so many meta-narratives in this film, and at times, it feels like the characters (and directors/writers) are speaking directly to the audience. The biggest example of this is when Captain America is talking to the therapy group about how "This is the only world we got" and how "We need to do something with it". If there is one thing that superhero movies and comic books do, it is inspiring us to be the best version of ourselves, and that is something the Russo brothers do not take lightly. You can see this theme throughout all of their films, and it is something they know how to do very well. Another moment that spoke to me directly...as I'm sure it did to many of you...was Thor's conversation with his mother and how she tells him that "Everyone fails at who they are supposed to be, but the true measure of a person is how well you succeed at being who you really are". That quote hit me like a brick, and the moments don't stop there. You don't have to look to hard to realize what the Russo Brothers and Marvel Studios were trying to accomplish in this film...and boy did they pull it off beautifully.
What This Film Really Means To Me
If you haven't caught my drift yet...I really like superheros. I really love comics...and I really love these movies. I have loved this stuff since I was old enough to read. I am not going to lie...I had started to take these movie for granted. I really did. After a decade of films, it's not hard to start expecting these things to be great and spectacular, and along the way, I lost myself in the "bigness" of it all and lost sight of just how special this really is. You see, as a comic book reader you take characters for granted because in the comics...they don't really age. Time goes by really slowly in comics and you just expect these heroes to keep going on forever...and for the most part they do. Something that really hit me while watching this film is that the MCU is letting these heroes age. I realized that this was literally it for characters like Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. That is something not even comic book readers are used to, and it's a large reason why this movie makes the past 11 years so special. The realization that this is it. This the end of a saga unlike anything else, and that this is something the comics can't even touch in terms of finality. In the comics, characters can always come back or be re-written, but real life doesn't work that way. These characters feel so real to us because they are being portrayed by real people. We literally grew up with these people, and that's why they have become so adored by billions across the world. We see ourselves in these characters...and I see myself in these characters. To see it all come to and end like this is just so surreal knowing it all started when I was barely a teenager.
There are things that happen in this movie that just fanned the flame of my love and adoration for what comics are and what they represent in terms of creativity and story telling. Things like Captain America wielding Moljnir....or literally thousands of heroes lining up behind a bloody and beaten Cap while he shouts his iconic "Avengers Assemble!" catchphrase. Or something as simple as Thor cutting off Thanos's head within the first 15 minutes of the film. Things that are just so unexpected or amazingly fantastical (i.e. Valkyrie riding a freaking pegasus) that it makes me sit back in my seat and tear up with excitement. These are the things we want to see in these movies, and although we got little tastes of it throughout this film saga, they definitely wanted to save most of it for this film. Because they chose to do that, I would not go back and change a single thing about any of the movies leading up to this one. Just like Dr. Strange knew everything that needed to happen in order to beat Thanos....Kevin Feige and Marvel knew everything they needed to do in order to make this movie pay off the way that it did. Absolutely incredible.
Part of the Journey Is the End...
As I sit here concluding this article...this letter of gratitude....I still cannot believe we have finally reached this point. I thought it would never come. We did it guys. We lived through a decade-long story arc...and we did it together. As much as I love Star Wars, that's not something even they can say. There is such a gap between those trilogies, that each generation has lived through a different part of it, and while that is special in it's own right...it doesn't even come close to the accomplishment that this is. This is something all of us have lived through from beginning to end, and I'm not sure anything will ever come close to this ever again. This is special. This is immortal. This will last forever. We will be telling our kids and grand kids about this experience. They will tell their kids, and it will go on for all eternity. I am so extremely grateful and overwhelmed that I was born during this time....where technology and creativity met to create something beyond my wildest dreams. I am so extremely proud to call myself a fan of this genre, and for the rest of my life I will owe it to Marvel Studios for inspiring me to chase my dreams and to write about these heroes. I owe it to them. Part of the journey is the end....
....and what a journey it has been.
- SAF