Felicity Banks

Marvel-ous Day 5: Part 3

June 29, 2020 at 12:58 am (Reviews, TV/movie review, With a list)

AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019) Disney +

One-sentence summary: The Avengers kill Thanos (twice).

That opening scene with Hawkeye’s family vanishing puts us right back in that moment when half the population simply disappeared. It’s powerful.

And then we see Iron Man and Nebula slowly dying, in space. And Stark is teaching her dumb childish games, and she wins, and it’s freaking her out because any form of competition was always a precursor to punishment for her. But she’s learning to be (for want of a better word) human, for the first time.

And then Stark leaves a farewell message for Pepper.

Devastating.

Captain Marvel shows up, takes the spaceship back to Earth, and joins the remaining good guys. *much cheering*

They figure out where Thanos is, and go to kill him and get the stones so they can bring back all the people who turned to dust. (I really like the closeup on Captain America’s eyes as this man from the 40s goes into space.) But Thanos has already destroyed the stones. Thor kills him with that super cool new Stormbreaker axe, but it feels hollow.

The screen fades to black, and then says, “Five Years Later.”

There is time for the pain of the Avengers’ greatest failure to sink in. In the theatre, people gasped. Marvel firmly established the rules for their own universe, and then broke them. That’s good writing.

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I wish the fact that there’s a gay character could pass without comment. It’s such a tiny moment. But we had waited for so many years to finally have the existence of gay people acknowledged on screen.

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Thanks to the world’s most heroic rat, Ant-Man is brought out of the Quantum Realm (leading folks to try time travel to ‘borrow’ the stones from the past) and soon finds out what has happened. Sweet little Cassie is a teenager.

There are so many different types of grief in this film.

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When Captain America talks about whales returning to the less-polluted Hudson River… that moment hits so much harder during the COVID-19 crisis. Because we now know what it’s like to see the world doing a little better because humans are doing so much worse.

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Also? There are SO many characters in this movie, but the writers take their time letting us feel who they are through their grief before jumping into the time heist.

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ARG MORGAN STARK SO CUTE.

This is where the audience figures Stark might not die after all. Because hurting that precious child is too awful to contemplate.

And, this is where we get some legitimate tension because Stark has a lot of great reasons to NOT do anything heroic any more. But of course the others need his help.

In the end, he can’t resist helping. His compulsion to invent and explore and save the world is too strong.

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Incidentally? Not that it’s a competition or anything, but my son TJ once said to me, “I love you times a googol.” (A googol is a 1 with 100 zeroes.)

Just saying.

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The Honest Trailer pointed out that this time heist is the ultimate fantasy for the current generation(s): the chance to go back and fix our mistakes.

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Love Professor Hulk.

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Love Fat Thor, hate fat jokes.

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Still, Hawkeye manages to surpass him in the ‘least functional member of original team’ awards.

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And now for the main plot: borrowing the six infinity stones from the past in order to bring back the people who were snapped away.

Six stones, three teams.

This is our hero shot: bleak looks, bleak colours, bleak situation. (Captain Marvel is off helping the rest of the universe. This must have been a trailer shot because Thor and Professor Hulk are both missing, but they’re there in the actual shot.)

*One team goes to New York in that moment when three stones were there (during the battle of New York from the first Avengers movie, which is extremely fun). Captain America, Professor Hulk, Ant-Man, and Iron Man.

-Loki escapes with the tesseract.

-Cap fights himself, and says the line, “That is America’s ass.”

Ant-Man and Hulk take the stones they acquire back to the present, and Iron Man and Captain America go further into the past, where Iron Man chats to his own father and Captain America gets a glimpse of Agent Carter.

Iron Man: Do you trust me?

Captain America: I do.

Theirs is the most intense relationship in the Infinity Saga.

*One team goes to the planets Vormir and Morag, to get the soul stone and the orb-encased power stone that Star-Lord stole in the very early (dancing) scene of the first Guardians film. Nebula and War Machine go there, and unfortunately Nebula’s built-in wifi alerts past Thanos to what’s happening (so old evil Nebula catches her and takes her place back in the present). On Voromir, Hawkeye and Black Widow fight each other for the right to hurl themself off the cliff so the other one gets the stone. This is how Black Widow dies. It’s not an easy scene to re-watch. I still hope that Gamora and Black Widow ‘get better’ although the fact that we end up with a past Gamora in the present makes me less hopeful for Black Widow.

*And the other team: Thor (who gets to talk to his mother before she dies) and Rocket go to Asgard to get the red stone from when it was making Jane Foster sick (in Thor: The Dark World). Thor also gets his hammer, which when combined with his mother’s wisdom makes him realise he is still himself and helps him get out of his depressive/alcoholic funk. “I’m still worthy.”

He’s still a wreck both physically and mentally, but that is the turning point. (It is beautiful that he doesn’t magically become ripped again before the final battle—he is imperfectly perfect.)

If it wasn’t for his own mum mocking him for his weight gain, this scene would be incredibly meaningful to so many who suffer from depression and/or the kind of weight gain that comes from having your life ripped apart.

FYI: Salad will never fix that.

FYI #2: When someone is seriously overweight, there’s always a reason. Their body is built that way, or they’re physically and/or mentally ill, or suffering from PTSD, or any number of other reasons that could cause someone to lose their control over their own body, knowing full well the disgust and hatred society will throw at them as a result. A huge proportion of disabled people are also overweight or obese. That’s what happens when it’s difficult or impossible to exercise; when the world tells you that you’re useless and/or a freak; or you’re using food to deal with constant pain.

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It’s 11:14pm and I have  one and a bit movies still to go. I’m getting a little tired, I confess.

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Black Widow’s death brings the movie to a halt for a little while (not as long as Stark’s death will do; not by a long shot).

Professor Hulk snaps his fingers, permanently withering his arm—and everyone comes back.

It’s a beautiful moment. It’s all right! They did it!

It is appropriate that it’s Ant-Man—the ordinary schmuck of the Avengers—who walks to the windows, seeing birds return. And Hawkeye’s wife calls him.

Then, boom.

Past Thanos has arrived, thanks to past Nebula.

It’s time for the final showdown—again.

I’m not going to attempt to rehash all the beats—Nebula enlisting past Gamora and then killing her past self; Giant Ant-Man punching out a chitauri spaceship; Captain America wielding Mjolnir, lightning and all (delighting Thor); Star-Lord seeing what he thinks is the Gamora he knows (who kicks him in the crotch); Captain Marvel’s rather dramatic arrival; the famous girl fight moment including Pepper Potts suited up as Rescue (Chris says, “It’s cheap and manipulative but you kinda love it”)

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I’m finally eating my own bowl of mousse now, sloppy as it is. You can’t go too far wrong with sugar, chocolate, and cream.

Speaking of cream, I used up the last of that pot of cream today by making creamy fettucini chicken for dinner.

I like finishing things.

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There are some things that must be mentioned, however.

“On your left.” (And Valkyrie has a UNICORN you guys!)

“Avengers, Assemble!”

And then the real hero shot of the movie, as the battle lines rush towards one another:

And, more importantly, this:

And the two lines we all know from this movie:

Thanos: I am inevitable.

Iron Man: I am Iron Man.

Bye bye Thanos.

And… bye bye Stark.

Time to sob for a solid half hour as we deal with Tony’s death, and the grief just piles on and on. Rhodey. Peter Parker. Pepper. Steve Rogers.

Peter: “We won. We did it, Sir. We did it.”

Happy, and little Morgan Stark.

“I’m gonna buy you as many cheeseburgers as you want.”

Like I said, a solid half hour of sobbing.

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There are so many shots of families and friends reuniting—a bittersweet joy, after five years lost and Stark’s death. And the deaths of Black Widow and Vision.

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Thor appoints Valkyrie Queen of Asgard, and heads off with the Guardians of the Galaxy. May the bickering between superheroes continue!

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Captain America returns all the stones to their right places (off-screen, because that would be QUITE a story) then returns as an old, old man. He gives the shield and the title of Captain America to Falcon (which Bucky clearly knew was coming), having spent his whole life with Peggy back in the past. It’s a neat contrast to Stark’s arc (going from selfish to selfless), and I’m very glad that Steve gets to live happily ever after.

There is no post-credits scene, but there is the ding-ding-ding of Iron Man building his first suit way back in 2008.

 

Status of original six heroes:

Iron Man – dead

Black Widow – dead

Captain America – super old and retired

Hulk/Banner – now Professor Hulk, but with a withered arm

Thor – gone walkabout in space with the Guardians

Hawkeye – should definitely be in prison after his actions as Nomad (not that the name is mentioned in the film), but is otherwise fine

 

Other active heroes (including probably-reformed villains):

Loki, Odin and Frigga – dead, although Loki (probably past Loki) will be on TV

War Machine – fine, with semi-artificial legs

Vision – dead, but gonna be on TV (presumably in the gap between Civil War and Infinity War)

Scarlet Witch – alive, and gonna be on TV with Vision

Winter Soldier (aka Bucky) – alive and gonna be on TV

Falcon – alive and gonna be on TV with Bucky

Guardians of the Galaxy: Star-Lord, Rocket, Teen Groot, Drax, Mantis, Gamora, Nebula – all fine except Gamora, who is dead (although her past self is around in the present). 3rd movie is coming.

Ant-Man and the Wasp – both alive, and presumably with one more movie

Dr Strange (and Wong) – alive, and with more movies to do

Spider-Man – alive, and second and third movies are coming (the second is the epilogue film to the Infinity Saga, which I’ll watch and review next)

Black Panther (and his mother Queen Ramona, and his sister Shuri, and his girlfriend Nakia, and his war general Okoye, and his ally M’Baku) – all alive ready for more movies

Captain Marvel – alive but usually busy in space; more movies coming