Avengers: Endgame – A feat of Cinema we may never see again! *SPOILERS*

It has finally arrived and much like its iconic villain Thanos, Avengers: Endgame has taken the world by storm. Box Office projections predict this mammoth to eclipse all current records, ‘boxofficemojo,com’ already states the film is estimated to have made over $1.2b worldwide and that’s only after the its first weekend of release. To compare, it’s predecessor Infinity War made $2.048b in its entire run. Now it has a way to go to overcome the juggernaut of Avater which made $2.8b worldwide and currently resides at the top as the highest grossing film of all time; however there is a chance Endgame could overtake it. So we already know it a guaranteed success for Disney and Marvel Studios but how is it being received by the public? Well very well actually, it currently has a 96% score on ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ from the critics but also a 92% audience score. I called Endgame the biggest and most anticipated film of all time, a daunting feat on the shoulders of the Russo brothers and boy have they pulled it out the bag.

Let’s look back to around this time last year. We have just seen Thanos eliminate half of the people in the MCU and speculation and anticipation spread like wildfire for Endgame. What happens next? How will they defeat Thanos? How will they bring everybody back? Who won’t come back? Who’s going to die? – All these and more were asked, everybody had their theories of what would happen next. Even I had my own predictions on how Endgame would play out. So let’s take a look at what occurred in the biggest film of all time.

We immediately find out what has happened to Hawkeye and find out that his whole family had been taken away by the snap, a heartbreaking opening but another reminder that the ‘snap’ has affected everybody. What surprised me most was how quickly they thrust you into the story. After a quiet moment with Tony Stark and Nebula we immediately have them rescued by Captain Marvel and returned to the Avengers base. Although the opening is fast paced we have some really important slower character moments, especially between Tony Stark and Captain America in which we see the events of Infinity War really begin to take their toll. We immediately have the surviving Avengers head straight to find Thanos where they overpower him leading to Thor beheading him out of revenge and probably due to his failure to kill Thanos in Infinity War. I was pretty shocked that they killed off Thanos straight away but it’s quite a genius move considering how the rest of the film pans out. The move to have the a 5 year time jump allows us to see how the Avengers and how the world has tried but struggled to move on. Captain America is helping the public recover whilst Black Widow seeks to keep up the fight and continue to help the world as best she and the other superheros can. Meanwhile others like Thor and Hulk have gone off the radar so to speak. One hero who returns is Ant Man after being stuck in the quantum realm after the events in Ant-Man and the Wasp, meaning he missed the ‘snap’. He manages to find his way to the Avengers base and they work out how they might be able to use the Quantum Realm and time travel to bring back the Infinity Stones in turn bringing those lost back.

The pace of the film begins to slow down as the crew go on a recruiting mission, they seek out Tony Stark who has gone out to the wilderness with Pepper Potts to live out a quieter life with their daughter. Tony is reluctant to get back into it as he is content with his new life. However the thought of bringing back those lost, especially Spider-Mandigs into his mind and he figures out how to make the time travel work; with some encouragement from Pepper he agrees to help. Black Widow seeks out Hawkeye who has become this killing machine following the loss of his family, he too agrees to help hoping to get his family back. Bruce Banner has managed to find peace with Hulk and they are now able to live as one almost as a celebrity figure. The most interesting take on a character and in my opinion the greatest character arc in the MCU is Thor, we find him an overweight and drunken mess living in rubbish, he is clearly suffering from depression and potentially ridden with guilt. It’s brilliant to see how deeply the effects of the snap can affect the mightiest of heroes.

Now we have the team back together, they have figured out what points of the past to go to in order to receive the Infinity Stones before Thanos does. The story takes you on a trip back to the past of the MCU. In a reminiscent and celebratory way, we see a group of Avengers head to New York in 2012, the backdrop for the first Avengers film. The Russo’s handle this section of the story brilliantly, you get a new view of the classic films with extra added details sprinkled in. We get to see Loki return as well as a great moment with the Ancient One and Bruce Banner when she relinquishes the Time Stone after realising it must be done. The film gives us a fun fight between 2 Captain America’s something you probably would never have expected to see. The current Captain America manages to obtain the Mind Stone but after Loki escapes with the Space Stone, Stark and Captain America use the last of their ‘Pym particles’ (used for time travel) to travel further back in time to the 1970s in order to obtain an earlier Space Stone. In this sequence not only do we get a great Stan Lee cameo we also get an emotional and brilliant moment between Tony Stark and his father, this conversation brings great levity to a fast paced film; something the Russo’s have done well in their MCU films. Paralleling this moment, we see Steve Rodgers get his moment seeing a younger Peggy Carter showing us a life he missed. However the two manage to retrieve the stone and extra Pym particle vials in order to return to the present day. Rocket and Thor arrive in ‘Asgard’ to get the Reality Stone, it’s another reminder of what Thor has lost and he has a small breakdown again showing the suffering he has endured throughout is journey, this is compounded when he meets his mother before her eventual death; they get a beautiful last conversation where she offers him words of support and wisdom. Oh yeah, Thor gets his old hammer back too. Black Widow and Hawkeye head off to ‘Vormir’ to retrieve the Soul Stone where they find out that one of them must die for the other to get the stone. In Infinity War we see Thanos throw Gamora over mountain edge however now we see two beloved characters fight over the right to sacrifice themselves. It’s quite uncomfortable to watch and when Black Widow manages to sacrifice herself it turns into a very emotional moment enhanced by the reaction of Hawkeye. The crux of this plot comes with the other surviving members heading to ‘Morag’ for the Power Stone before Peter Quill can at the start of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Here we get introduced to the 2014 version of Thanos who is just starting his journey to obtain all the stones in the lead up to Infinity War. Thanos is able to see Nebula’s memories and as they are shared between her current person and her 2014 version. He is therefore able to send the 2014 version of Nebula to Earth, so she can bring him there as all the Stones will be present in one place.

All the Avengers arrive back to the compound minus Black Widow and they immediately get to work on bringing back the others. They come to the agreement that Hulk would be the only one capable to use all the stones and he puts on a ‘Gauntlet’ made by Iron Man, after a struggle he manages to snap his fingers. Meanwhile 2014 Gamora transports Thanos to the compound where him and his army attack it. We get an awesome battle between Thor, Captain America, Iron Man and Thanos where each get to show off their incredible skills and powers. We are given a moment where Captain America wields Mjolnir (Thor’s hammer) and uses it against Thanos even summoning lightening. This is a great character moment. However this version of Thanos is different, he is more vicious rather than acting as a saviour. He manages to overpower the trio and when all seems lost again we get the reveal that Hulk’s snap worked. All of the previously fallen heroes return to join the fight and an epic battle ensues; one which would rival any other ever put to screen. Each hero gets there moment to shine and the Russo’s guide you through the battle seamlessly. Captain Marvel returns also and shows off her incredible might however it falls on Iron Man to finally use the Infinity Stones. After Thanos utters “I am inevitable”, Tony Stark replies “I am Iron Man” and snaps his fingers whilst wearing the Gauntlet killing Thanos and his army. The power of the stones eventually lead to Stark’s death in an emotional sacrifice that will have you tearing up.

Following Stark’s funeral we get what seems to be a few goodbyes. Thor passes on the mantle to Valkyrie to lead the new Asgard as he goes off to join the Guardians of the Galaxy. Other members meet up with their previous lost ones. They remember Black Widow and her sacrifice. The story fittingly ends with Captain America who goes back in time to restore the stones to their original times however he remains in the past to live out the life he missed with Peggy Carter. He returns in the present day as a much older man to hand his shield and the mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson. 

Avengers: Endgame is an incredible feat in the history of cinema. Never before have we been through a journey like the MCU from Iron Man to Endgame. The hardest part of it was to stick the landing and they did it perfectly. The film is as epic as it should have been with action and visual effects to blow your mind and have you cheering, it has the comedy to have you laughing but it too provides the more personal and emotional moments to have you crying. Endgame is a lot to take it, although the 3 hour run time goes by in a second, there is a lot of story and information being thrown at you. However it is fairly easy to digest and you are taken on a ride the whole time. They could have taken the story so many different ways however I feel the landed on the perfect one. The MCU is a feat of cinema that will continue to live on however this first chapter of it is exceptional storytelling and something we will never see again.