Avengers End Game is one of the highest grossing movies of all time that capped off an ending to an epic era of the MCU. This movie has everything from quotable dialogue to memorable moments. We all laughed when Steve Rogers realized he has “Amercia’s ass” and of course Tony’s sacrifice left not one dry eye in the theater. But somehow, this epic movie, with all of its grandeur of epic battles and amazing cast of superhero’s wasn’t quite able to stick the landing. We watched in awe as marvel studios threw those pieces high into the air like a juggler performing in-front of the brightest light on the biggest stage but in the last moment there was a slip and the pieces hit marvel on the head. Now I know you think my opinion sucks but I have 4 reasons that might make you think otherwise, hear me out!
Reason number one, in a world where everything is compared to one thing or another its hard not to compare the greatness of “Infinity Wars” with the finished product of not just “End Game” as a film but as the complete ending to a story line narrative.“If I’m Being Honest”the Russos out did themselves with “Infinity Wars”. From the story line to the emotional beats that set a clear tone and character motivation,“Infinity Wars” is fantastic and thats tough to do for a third time. Let’s not forget Russo’s also directed “The Winter Soldier” had all the same components of “Infinity Wars” but even better! One component that “Infinity Wars” set up was one that we as comic book movie goers had not seen was that the bad guy won! While we got to see what that looks like it brought up one of the biggest issues for “End Game” which is they had to find a way to dig themselves out of the whole they had written themselves into, how where they going to bring these characters back?
Reason number two, Time travel is a tough plot device to deal with when it’s woven into the initial plot of any movie but when it’s thrown into the mix in the 12th hour it just makes the plot far more complicated. So much so that no one in this movie knows how it works. “End Game” makes lite of the integral part of the story by characters stating their thoughts on how time travel works and others debunking how time travel works. In the end no one, including the directors or script writers, knew how time travel worked in the movie. There are many articles on the topic of the directors and writers not being on the same page but you don’t have to look much further than the ending of “End Game” itself. Old Steve Rogers, who we find out has lived a full life with Sharron Carter, shows up sitting on bench with his shield in hand. Based off of how the movie lead us to believe that in this movie the way time travel works is if one thing is left out of place then it will splinter and create a different time line. Clearly “Cap” stayed in the past, that would have splintered into another time line and he has a shield when he returns, which is is another alteration but somehow Steve Rogers was able to live a whole life and then be in the same time line that he left. It was a great moment when he passed the shield to Sam Wilson but that moment should not have been able to happen.
Reason number 3, Marvel is the King and Queen of making unforgettable moments but somehow they missed the mark in “End Game.” Directors decided to stuff a moment into the movie that included all the lady hero’s of Marvel during the last battle for the universe. While the attempt to make sure the woman were highlighted was noble it was not a success. The scene felt forced and takes the viewer out of the moment because the scene is not organic. One of the biggest issues with the moment in question is that it was done better in “Infinity Wars” when Scarlet Witch, Black Widow and Okoye fought together in Wakanda. The scene felt like it belonged and made the point that these woman were not to be taken lightly.
Reason number 4, we all felt the pain of that last snap when Tony stated for the final time that he was Iron Man but narratively I believe this is all wrong. In the first avengers “Cap” calls Tony out for not being a hero. Tony has proven over and over that he is a hero and willing to sacrifice his life and finally when he gets it right with Pepper and has his daughter, he earned the right to live. Just imagine if at that moment Steve Rogers stop Tony, takes the glove and completes the mission! Steve was the man out of time. All of his friends and the people he loved most were dead, he never wanted to be in the present. Steve making the snap happen would have allowed him to die with the honor and dignity that Captain America deserves. Tony had proven to jump on the preverbal “live grenade” multiple times. Steve making the sacrifice would have acknowledged Tonys sacrifices of the past and completely closed the special narrative these two characters shared.
As I said in the beginning this movie is one of the highest grossing movies ever in the history of cinema so I have to give respect where its do. Sticking the landing or getting the ending right in films or TV is incredibly hard and very often people are never satisfied but this is far from a the perfect ending. You may still believe my opinion sucks but if you made it till the end I’m glad you at least heard me out!
