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‘Avengers: Endgame’ | Anatomy of a Scene

Anthony and joe russo narrate a sequence from their film featuring chris hemsworth..

“Hi, I’m Anthony Russo.” “And I’m Joe Russo.” “And we are the directors of ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ This is a scene that happens relatively early in the film where we are catching back up with our characters after a five-year time elapse once they have definitively lost to Thanos— after he’s eradicated half of all life. Everyone’s taking that occurrence badly, of course, but some are taking it worse than others. Thor blames himself for the loss in many ways. And he’s basically masking it. He’s hiding in things like alcohol, and food, and video games, and TV. And he’s cloistered himself in this cabin here, and he’s very much hiding from the pain that he can’t face.” “Boys! Oh, my God! Oh, my God, so good to see you! Come here, cuddly little rascal. [GRUNTS] “Yeah, no, I’m good. I’m good.” “I think why this is one of our favorite scenes in the movie is this is an exceptional performance from Hemsworth. One of the hardest tones to play as an actor is to play both pathos and humor, and he does it with such a delicate touch in this scene. You really have to commit to stakes, you have to commit to emotional truth in order for the performance not to get ridiculous. That’s why it’s so difficult, because it can go absurd on you very quickly. And he does it. He grounds it. And this is right around the section where he starts to ground the performance.” “And he’s grounding it, of course, surrounded by a bunch of CG actors, which is doubly hard to pull off.” “And while wearing a 30-pound body suit.” “Yeah. And Joe and I, as filmmakers, we love to play with tone. We like very complicated tones. And this scene, I think, is really juicy for us because it starts from such a silly, absurd, frivolous place in terms of how Thor is hiding, what kind of behavior he’s adopted to get away from the pain.” “So what’s up? You’re just here for a hang or what?” “We need your help. There might be a chance we could fix everything.” “Well, like the cable? Because that’s been driving me bananas for weeks.” “Like Thanos.” “And this is a moment right here where, in a single moment, when Hulk says ‘Thanos,’ you see Chris Hemsworth reveals to us the pain that he’s been masking.” “He’s a tragically haunted man. And the tone shifts there very, very delicately.” [SOMBER MUSIC] “Don’t say that name.” “Even Korg shifts tone and becomes part of the conversation in this moment.” “The scene has a wonderful shape to it in the sense that we start from a place of lightness. It moves to a place of real darkness. And then at the end, there’s some kind of bizarre reconciliation of the two.” “Why would I be? Why would I be scared of that guy? I’m the one who killed that guy, remember? Anyone else here killed that guy?” “To get a peek into the window of how we would shoot a scene like this. So we didn’t have Taika on set that day, so there’s a motion capture actor playing Korg. We voiced Taika later. Ruffalo’s on set wearing, basically, the equivalent of pajamas which are a motion capture suit. And we have him on a platform so he can move around at the height he needs to move around at so he can have eye contact with Hemsworth. And when Hulk touches Hemsworth, we just replaced that with a Hulk hand instead of Ruffalo’s hand. And then we have— James Gunn’s brother plays Rocket on set. He’s crawling around on the ground on his knees so that he can also be at the same height as Rocket. So it’s very complicated to pull off a scene like this, and then to add in these difficulty-in-tone complexity of performance for Hemsworth, and this is about as a high degree of difficulty as it gets for an actor.” “You also notice the room— for as funny as this scene is, the room is very moody and dark. I think that really speaks to the fact that there’s a duality going on in this scene, and that ultimately, the story lies in Thor’s pain. And that that’s really what we’re moving here through on a story level here, and what this character is trying to push through. You’ll notice that the screen is blurred, and that’s because of some obscure rights issue. ‘Fortnite’ is actually playing on that screen, but for some reason in this clip, we can’t play it.”

By A.O. Scott

April 23, 2019

“No amount of money ever bought a second of time,” one character says to another — I’m afraid I can’t be any more specific than that — somewhere around the middle of “Avengers: Endgame.” So true, so true, and also in context so completely not true. The intersecting axes of time and money are what this franchise is all about, and while I’m not an expert in studio math, I’d guess that a second of the movie, based on what Disney and Marvel Studios paid to make it, would buy a decent used car.

There are roughly 10,860 of those — seconds, not cars — nestled in between the quiet, spooky opening and the last bit of end credits. Which means that whatever a ticket costs in your neighborhood, “Avengers: Endgame” might count as a bargain. At three hours and one minute, it’s shorter than “Titanic,” “The Godfather Part II” or Luchino Visconti’s “The Leopard.” And while the time doesn’t exactly fly, it doesn’t drag either. The two hours and forty minutes of “Infinity War” (also directed by Joe and Anthony Russo ) felt infinitely longer. Settling scores, wrapping up loose ends and taking a victory lap — the main objects of the game this ostensibly last time around — generate some comic sparks as well as a few honest tears.

And why not? We’ve lived with these characters and the actors playing them for more than a decade, and even when the party got hectic, stupid or crowded, there was no reason to complain about the guests. For the most part, it’s nice to see them again, and a little sad to say goodbye.

[Read the screenwriters’ explanations for plot points. | What to read if you want more Avengers. | How the movie did in Week 2 at the box office .]

Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, always kind of neurotic for a buff deity with a mighty hammer, has let himself go, turning into a fat Lebowski with mommy issues. War Machine (Don Cheadle), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) have more to do than previously. (I wish that were also true of Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie.) The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) has made peace with his essential duality. Robert Downey Jr., looking handsomely grizzled, exercises his seniority with a light touch. He’s been around the longest — the first “Iron Man” was in 2008 — and combines the duties of unofficial chief superhero with those of master of ceremonies.

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Entertainment

Avengers: Endgame spoiler-packed review -- so close to being perfect

It's the end of an era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Marvel just about pulls it off. Spoilers!

Avengers: Endgame begins and ends with quiet, intimate moments. And it's that sense of intimacy that makes this galaxy-spanning MCU blockbuster such a triumph.

Marvel's chapter-closing Endgame is in theaters now and already breaking box office records and mobilizing emotional fans . If you haven't seen it, stick with our spoiler-free review . If you have, read on for my spoiler-packed assessment (and check out our CNET crowdsourced review )...

We open in a rural field as a hero loses everything, his family, his whole life, the same devastating loss felt by half the galaxy. It ends in another tranquil countryside as another hero regains the life he lost long before. And he also passes a baton to the future, pointing the way to a new era for the Avengers and the Marvel Cinematic Universe .

In between, Endgame tells an epic story. It spans the galaxy, across space and time, and climaxes with a time-realigning battle involving vast armies of superstar superheroes. Yet somehow it seems to maintain that intimate feel for most of its runtime. Sure, we're hurtling to alien planets and traveling in time, but we're doing it in the close company of a crew of friends we've grown to love during the first decade of the MCU.

Read more: The Best Candy and Snacks to Sneak Into Avengers: Endgame (Chowhound)

The prologue shows us the home life of Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, aka Ronin ( Jeremy Renner ). His family vanishes in an instant, victims of the cliffhanger from Infinity War that wiped out half the souls in the universe. Where Infinity War ended with the devastating scene of beloved heroes turning to dust, this scene drops us right back in the devastation as real people vanish. With every new Avengers movie, it's easy to joke about Hawkeye's dispensability to the narrative, but -- not for the first time -- Barton is us. Crap haircut and all.

Robert Downey Jr. began and ends the MCU.

Cut to deep space. We may be floating amid the luminescent magnificence of the cosmos, but Tony Stark and Nebula are bored. This silly game is the kind of thing the MCU has always excelled at -- little moments that make us love the characters as they head into the huge CG battles. The MCU is at its best when its extraordinary situations are faced by, well, not exactly ordinary people, but certainly real people.

OK, this isn't exactly My Dinner with Andre -- although between Thanos' fruit, Natasha's sandwich and Hulk's tacos there's actually quite lot of food on show. But few superhero movies follow through on such emotional journeys for their heroes, with characters like Tony Stark ( Robert Downey Jr .) and Thor ( Chris Hemsworth ) plumbing the absolute depths of self-doubt and despair. Although it has to be said Thor's despair makes for some heavyweight humor.

Tony Stark's reunion with his former friend Steve Rogers is particularly affecting -- if anything, the rift between them is deeper than ever. In his swansong as Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr. gives a masterful performance. The scene where he first returns to Earth and bitterly lambastes Rogers is scintillating stuff.

The MCU began with Downey breathing life into Tony Stark and Iron Man , and this expansive first chapter ends with his last breath. Chris Evans also bids farewell to Steve Rogers and Captain America , and while his character has fewer emotional angles it's impossible not to root for the big lug. Even if he's quitting, his ass never did.

Together they and their fellow Avengers set out to undo the snap that brought worlds crashing down. With a bit of help from new recruit Captain Marvel , they quickly achieve what they couldn't throughout the whole of Infinity War, finding Thanos and parting the mauve mass murderer from his domed head.

Dispatching Thanos so early is an audacious maneuver by the filmmakers, wrong-footing the audience from the start. It's the boldest twist the film makes, however. From then on events could have been written by a committee of fans, as characters have countless crowd-pleasing encounters and conclusions. It's hugely satisfying and you can't begrudge fans or characters their happy ending. Still, a few daring twists would have helped the film feel less like it's proceeding on rails.

Compare Endgame with the most recent Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi , for instance. Say what you like about it -- lots of disgruntled fans have -- but it wasn't afraid to challenge viewers by exploring the very foundations of the franchise. I'm not here to relitigate Last Jedi, but at least it took chances. Endgame is nowhere near as brave.

hawkeye-black-widow-avengers-endgame-promo

Black Widow and Hawkeye make sacrifices.

It's intriguing, though, that these superheroes face a problem against which their superpowers are almost irrelevant. With Thanos gone, the heroes must deal with something they can't punch or laser-blast. As Steve points out, "The world is in our hands... We gotta do something with it." It's the strength of their character, not their muscles, that counts.

That's a subtext we can identify with. For Thor and Ronin, revenge and violence bring no peace. And in the real world, there are no easy solutions, no colorful cartoon villains to punch back into space -- whether it's xenophobia or inequality or climate change, problems are solved by collaboration, persistence and refusing to give up just because life seems overwhelming.

In a way, the actual filmmaking elements of Endgame are secondary. Things like cinematography, music and production design almost seem invisible, merely a delivery system for the characters we've come to know and love. Eye-popping settings and effects unroll in front of us like Marvel wallpaper. I feel it'll take a second viewing to fully appreciate the film's qualities, when we can see through the tears.

Endgame does have some striking visual flair -- cosmic light playing on Tony Stark's stunned face, a one-shot fight scene inspired by Asian martial arts cinema, or Thanos' menacing space cruiser emerging from a bilious gas cloud. But it's counterweighted by sludgy design that makes assorted settings look the same. Try distinguishing between the final battle at Avengers HQ and the various alien planets, for instance. When the missing heroes triumphantly return, what should be a colorful comic book double-page spread becomes a murky sludge.

Avengers assemble.

Despite reducing the cast to the core crew -- plus Ant-Man ( Paul Rudd ) and Nebula ( Karen Gillan ) providing gags and turning the plot cogs -- there are still a lot of spinning plates to keep in the air. With so many moving parts, the script sometimes grinds along with stuff just happening without much motivation or effort.

Tony Stark figures out frickin' time travel without even meaning to. The Hulk ( Mark Ruffalo ) is just the Hulk now, so deal with it. Captain Marvel ( Brie Larson ) turns up and saves the day when the plot requires her to, while being absent the rest of the time -- she's just busy, OK? And the entire salvation of the galaxy is predicated on a rat just happening to wander across a button. So that's the future Dr. Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) foresaw?

Which brings us to the time travel. I'm not going to get into Loki ( Tom Hiddleston ) disappearing or Gamora ( Zoe Saldana ) coming back to life or Thanos dying before he even snaps the snap -- frankly I don't need the headache. Let's just agree that time travel is cheating. It was cheating when Superman wound the earth backward 40 years ago, and it's cheating now.

Endgame is nigh

Endgame's biggest spoiler-filled WTF questions
Who lives and who dies (maybe) in Endgame
Captain America puts a human face on superheroes
I survived Marvel's 59-hour movie marathon, and loved it

It's a lot of fun though, isn't it? As eye-rolling as the timeline pseudoscience is, it does set up a supremely satisfying conclusion. Bring in time travel, and you pave the way for a gloriously nostalgic romp through the best bits of the MCU. We'll put up with any amount of quantum codswallop for a crowd-pleasing remix of Marvel's greatest hits.

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo pull this off -- just.

For some reason, they opt for more drawing room farce than Mission: Impossible suspense as the fate of the universe hinges on drawn-out gags about swapped briefcases and Hulk not liking stairs. They take us to a bit of the first Avengers movie we didn't even see the first time, to the Thor sequel everyone agrees is the worst MCU film , and to two identical-looking alien planets where very little happens. Oh, and some random never-before-seen trip to the 1970s that has no significance for viewers whatsoever.

But the remix of The Winter Soldier 's iconic elevator fight is genius. Captain America fighting himself -- and checking himself out -- is absolutely priceless.

Even when the jaunts through time feel a little off, the character moments save the day. Tony encountering his own father on the cusp of his own birth is a delightful pay-off to his 11-year journey from feckless playboy to husband, father and hero. Upon reconciling with his father, Tony reconciles with himself -- and dies.

So what does this mean for the Marvel movie project? Two of its core stars are gone, but there are legions of replacements. Those that survive switch tracks into new configurations -- hands up who can't wait for that Asgardians of the Galaxy movie -- while the MCU itself is irrevocably altered after the snap and the five-year time jump. Roll on Phase 4 ...

As so often in this era of sequels and reboots and cinematic universes, off-screen distractions detract from the impact of the ending. Fans will know several of the supposedly dead -- Black Widow, Vision and Loki -- are set to star in their own movies or TV shows on the planned Disney Plus streaming service . So even as the end of Endgame promises a fresh start, we already know in the back of our minds that the finale isn't final after all.

Some people are really gone, and some are just kinda gone.

It might not be perfect, but Endgame is still a towering entertainment experience. It's a genuine emotional roller coaster, delivering a satisfying if safe conclusion for these much-loved icons. Intimate character moments drive this epic blockbuster to its emotional endgame.

I laughed, I cried, I held my breath.

I can't believe this is the end.

And I'm glad it isn't.

2019 movies to geek out over

Originally published April 26.

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Avengers: Endgame Reviews

The series may never reach this fever pitch again, but we’re glad we got to watch the plan come together in such a memorable way.

Full Review | Feb 27, 2024

After an impatient wait after the “open” ending in Avengers: Infinity War, its sequel Avengers: Endgame has arrived, the outcome of the universal conflict posed by the extraterrestrial villain Thanos.

Full Review | Original Score: 7.5/10 | Jan 27, 2024

Who are the Avengers if they don't need to "avenge" anymore? Avengers: Endgame shows us our favourite heroes like we've never seen them before.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 2, 2023

Avengers: Endgame surpasses all expectations. One of the best comic-book films of all time, without a single doubt.

Full Review | Original Score: A+ | Jul 24, 2023

Your level of enjoyment depends on how invested you are in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you've been with [the franchise] since 2008, "Endgame" is an unparalleled experience – unlike anything that has come before and may ever come again.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 11, 2023

Avengers: Endgame is not just a culmination of the last eleven years of the Marvel Studios cinematic saga but also a celebration of everything people have come to love about these characters.

Full Review | Original Score: 9.5/10 | Aug 22, 2022

I’m not sure if I would call the great completion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe the best comic book film of all time. Still, it’s certainly the finest conclusion to a greater ideal Hollywood has ever put together.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 19, 2022

From the very beginning “Avengers: Endgame” feels like something special, something unique, something unlike anything we’ve seen before. And even in its missteps it never loses that sense of spectacle and grandeur.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 19, 2022

Who could have anticipated that Marvel Studios and Disney would release a three-hour extravaganza whose exquisite character-focused scenes outshine the FX-driven action?

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 3, 2022

Eleven years of Universe building, and this is the crescendo. It really pays off, I've never seen anything quite like it.

Full Review | Feb 22, 2022

Avengers: Endgame broke me, put me back together, and decided to cut me again in one of the most impactful cinematic experiences of all time.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 18, 2022

For me, it didn't fulfill the promise of Infinity War, but it did fulfill the promise of the previous twenty movies.

Full Review | Sep 30, 2021

I'm just grateful to have the privilege to watch this along with the rest of the world. It's not perfect, but it has been one hell of a ride.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Sep 4, 2021

Here's the other really neat thing about Endgame: it made me think of priorities in life and what or who is worth sacrificing for, especially loved ones...

Full Review | Aug 13, 2021

The true superteam event releases marked something slightly different and spectacular...End Game over the original Guardians by a hair...

Full Review | Jul 28, 2021

This goes beyond the usual scale.

Full Review | Jul 23, 2021

A film that somehow manages to be as epic as fans hope and as dramatic as the MCU deserves.

Full Review | Jul 13, 2021

Films don't come any huger than this: the closing chapter to an 11-year saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, told across some 22 movies. And by the end of its three-hour runtime, there will definitely be tears.

Full Review | May 11, 2021

There really is very little that could be improved about Endgame. There's certainly no more that could be thrown at it.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 29, 2021

So much of the art form is about storytelling, and bringing so many side stories and characters to a satisfying conclusion is tough, and the film blended a (rather) unpredictable plot with emotional character beats deftly...

Full Review | Apr 14, 2021

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‘avengers: endgame’: film review.

Marvel Studios and Disney's three-hour epic sendoff 'Avengers: Endgame' reunites the franchise's mightiest superheroes to battle Josh Brolin's Thanos.

By Todd McCarthy

Todd McCarthy

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The closest equivalent to Greek mythology the modern world has devised of late achieves a sense of closure in Avengers: Endgame . A gargantuan film by any standard, this three-hour extravaganza shuffles back into the action numerous significant characters seen in recent Marvel films as it wraps up an epic story in which the survival of the known universe is (once again) at stake. While constantly eventful and a feast for the eyes, it’s also notably more somber than its predecessors. But just when it might seem about to become too grim, Robert Downey Jr. rides to the rescue with an inspired serio-comic performance that reminds you how good he can be.

Avengers: Infinity War, which was released a year ago this week, stormed the planet to take in $2.048 billion at the worldwide box office on its way to becoming the fourth biggest-grossing film of all time. Its three-hour running time notwithstanding, there’s no reason on or off Earth to suspect this one won’t enter the same rarified realm.

Release date: Apr 26, 2019

In case you hadn’t noticed, since last we saw the lantern-jawed mug of Thanos (Josh Brolin), he’s decimated half the population. Endowing him with such power is the complete set of six Infinity Stones he spent the last film accumulating, and Thanos has worked out his own perverse rationale as to why humankind deserves to be put out of its misery rather than just being punished. When Brie Larson’s recently introduced Captain Marvel shows up with the announced intention of knocking off Thanos single-handedly, she needs to be restrained, for Downey’s Iron Man has first dibs on taking out the brooding evil genius.

Easier said than done, however. For an entertainment brand in which hardly anyone ever really and truly dies, a sense of mortality nonetheless hangs over quite a few of the characters — especially in this saga, in which some confess, in one way or another, to feeling that they’ve come to the end of something. While there are certainly young upstarts like Captain Marvel and the briefly glimpsed Black Panther ready to jump into the fray, veterans including Iron Man, Chris Evans ‘ Captain America and Chris Hemsworth ‘s gone-to-seed Thor (complete with pot belly) seem more than prepared to face their reckonings, come what may.

Nonetheless, it’s an amiable brand of melancholy that pervades the film, one that scarcely gets in the way of the enthusiasm and excitement that Marvel adventures almost always deliver in some measure or another. The feeling of finality and potential farewell is sometimes suggested quietly just in the way certain moments are lingered over, conveying the fatalistic sense that this might well be the last time around the block for some of these characters. At the rate it’s going, Marvel will be around for the better part of forever, but this will likely be the studio swan song for a number of the castmembers.

The major characters, most of whom have had multiple individual films centered on and in some instances named after them, are faced with the all-but-imponderable challenge of how to undo Thanos’ success in collecting the all-powerful stones. It’s one of the signal successes of the script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely that they concoct a method for doing so (stemming from some of the Marvel characters’ special relationships with the Quantum Realm) that even sounds half-plausible in context; the brain trust centered around Tony Stark/Iron Man comes up with the clever, if perhaps not entirely original, idea of a “time heist” (the time bandits, anyone?). If flawlessly executed, this looks to be the only way of extricating the stones from Thanos’ otherwise iron grip on the dire-looking future of the universe.

Although there’s loads of action and confrontations, what’s distinctive here in contrast to most of the earlier Marvel films are the moments of doubt, regret and uncertainty, along with the desire of some characters to move on. Granted, this is almost always undercut, and/or cut short, by some emergency that pulls them right back in, and decisive action always remains paramount.

But there is growth here. Whereas Downey’s fast-talking quips and occasional rudeness became increasingly callow and off-putting in his Iron Man outings, Tony Stark in this movie, at last, seems more human and dimensional. Thor and Captain America are experiencing identity issues. And the most unexpected comic relief may come from Mark Ruffalo ‘s Bruce Banner, a very large man with a greenish-gray hue to his skin who dwarfs everyone around him and is often called upon to do the real dirty work due to his size. Perhaps most notably in the moments when this veteran superhero is reassessing his powers, Ruffalo’s highly amusing performance reveals a frank and unusual awareness of his character’s acceptance of self in an action-spectacle context.

The Political Avenger: Chris Evans Takes on Trump, Tom Brady, Anxiety and Those Retirement Rumors

Production company: Marvel Studios Distributor: Disney Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson , Jeremy Renner, Brie Larson, Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow , Jon Favreau, Benedict Wong, Tessa Thompson, Josh Brolin, Tilda Swinton, Robert Redford Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Screenwriters: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely Producer: Kevin Feige Executive producers: Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Michael Grillo, Trinh Tran, Jon Favreau, James Gunn, Stan Lee Director of photography: Trent Opaloch Production designer: Charles Wood Costume designer: Judianna Makovsky Editors: Jeffrey Ford, Matthew Schmidt Music: Alan Silvestri Visual effects supervisor: Dan DeLeeuw Casting: Sarah Finn

Rated PG-13, 182 minutes

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Avengers: Endgame goes out with an epic, superhero-stacked bang: EW review

The Avengers are dead. Long live the Avengers . For the millions who watched half the Marvel universe vaporize onscreen in the final moments of 2018's Infinity War — whole standalone franchises reduced to swirling ash with a sweep of ubervillain Thanos' meaty paw — there had to be one last sequel to set it right.

Nearly a year to the day, Endgame returns with the promise of many things: revenge, redemption, a runtime that defies the limits of most streetside parking meters. And the movie largely delivers, splashing its ambitious three-hour narrative across a sprawling canvas of characters, eras, and not-quite-insurmountable challenges.

As the story opens, though, Infinity 's surviving superheroes hardly seem up to the task. Tony Stark ( Robert Downey Jr. ) has cocooned himself in a remote country cabin; Black Widow ( Scarlett Johansson ) is staring into space and eating sad peanut butter sandwiches; Thor ( Chris Hemsworth ) spends his days drinking, a beer-gutted agoraphobe in a bathrobe.

Even Captain Marvel ( Brie Larson ) has other galaxies to worry about. But there is an Ant-Man with a plan: Paul Rudd 's ageless, shrinkable Scott Lang may have the seeds of a time machine that would allow the crew to go back and gather the Infinity Stones that triggered the original, terrible snap.

That means one more chance to see Chris Evans ' Captain America and Jeremy Renner 's Hawkeye do the things they do with shields and arrows and thousand-yard stares. But also to witness a Hulk ( Mark Ruffalo ) who has learned to own his oversize power (he willingly takes group selfies and wears shawl-collared cardigans now!); to follow along as Stark and Thor make some kind of peace with their pasts; to bask in the banter of bounty-hunting space raccoons and dry-witted billionaires.

Thanos, voiced by Josh Brolin , is still a formidable antihero, with his ominous proclamations — "I. Am. Inevitable ," he intones more than once — and a chin furrowed like wide-wale corduroy. And oh, the cameos; sibling directors Joe and Anthony Russo , veterans of the MCU, max out their Rolodex in nearly every scene, though half of the A-list appearances are over before the audience's happy gasp of surprise even fades.

With nothing less than the fate of the free world (or at least approximately 50% of it) at stake, there's an expected urgency to it all, but an underlying melancholy too — not just for everything that's been lost, but for what won't be coming back. After 11 years, 22 films, and uncountable post-credit Easter eggs , the endgame of an era has finally come. B+

Avengers: Endgame

Don Cheadle, Robert Downey Jr., Josh Brolin, Bradley Cooper, Chris Evans, Sean Gunn, Scarlett Johansson, Brie Larson, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Danai Gurira, and Karen Gillan in Avengers: Endgame (2019)

After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to reverse Thanos' action... Read all After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to reverse Thanos' actions and restore balance to the universe. After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to reverse Thanos' actions and restore balance to the universe.

Anthony Russo
Christopher Markus
Stephen McFeely
Robert Downey Jr.
Chris Evans
Mark Ruffalo
9.5K User reviews
530 Critic reviews
78 Metascore
70 wins & 133 nominations total

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Tony Stark …

Steve Rogers …

Bruce Banner …

Natasha Romanoff …

Clint Barton …

James Rhodes …

Scott Lang …

Doctor Strange

T'Challa …

Carol Danvers …

Peter Parker …

Hope Van Dyne …

Wanda Maximoff …
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Trivia When Avengers: Endgame (2019) passed Titanic (1997) 's box office total, James Cameron sent a congratulatory message to Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios on dethroning his film - with a photo of the Avengers 'A' being the iceberg that sinks the Titanic.
Goofs (at around 2h 20 mins) Scott is in the van trying a jump start, we then cut away and he is seen in the background battling a flying monster.

Natasha Romanoff : If we don't get that stone, billions of people stay dead.

Clint Barton : Then I guess we both know who it's got to be.

Natasha Romanoff : I guess we do.

Clint Barton : I'm starting to think we mean different people here, Natasha.

Natasha Romanoff : For the last five years I've been trying to do one thing, get to right here. That's all it's been about. Bringing everybody back.

Clint Barton : Oh, don't you get all decent on me now.

Natasha Romanoff : What, you think I want to do it? I'm trying to save *your* life, you idiot.

Clint Barton : Yeah, well, I don't want you to, how's that? Natasha, you know what I've done. You know what I've become.

Natasha Romanoff : Well, I don't judge people on their worst mistakes.

Clint Barton : Maybe you should.

Natasha Romanoff : You didn't.

Clint Barton : You're a pain in my ass, you know that?

[they lean their heads together affectionately]

Clint Barton : Okay. You win.

Clint Barton : [he suddenly throws her down] Tell my family I love them.

Natasha Romanoff : [she pushes him off and tasers him] Tell them yourself.

Crazy credits When the Marvel logo appears at the end of the closing credits, the sound of a hammer hitting metal can be heard several times (this is the sound of Tony Stark forging his suit in Iron Man (2008) , setting in motion the Marvel Cinematic Universe).
Alternate versions In India, all profanity has been muted from the film and the subtitles.
Connections Edited from The Avengers (2012)
Soundtracks Dear Mr. Fantasy Written by Steve Winwood , Jim Capaldi , and Chris Wood Performed by Traffic Courtesy of Island Records Ltd. Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User reviews 9.5K

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Apr 25, 2019
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April 26, 2019 (United States)
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$356,000,000 (estimated)
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Apr 28, 2019
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Runtime 3 hours 1 minute
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Avengers: Endgame Review

25 Apr 2019

Avengers: Endgame

Last year’s Avengers: Infinity War was as finely calibrated a piece of action cinema as you’re ever likely to see, with a vast host of characters taking their turn upon the stage. There, each one generally did something awesome during their moment in the spotlight and passed the metaphorical baton gracefully to the next comer. You might expect more of the same in the Endgame that now follows, but this time Joe and Anthony Russo have delivered a stranger, scrappier beast. This deals with the messy business of emotional fallout and character development. The trick is that it does so in a way that’s equally satisfying – and that the action, when it comes, is less precise but far more impactful.

Marvel fans won’t be surprised to learn that most of the clips you’ve glimpsed in the trailer come in the first 15 minutes of the movie and were given to you a little out of context. But virtually everything that you haven’t seen in that 15 minutes will surprise you, and that’s just the prelude. This entire first act is primarily about coping with grief and loss, and the many different forms that takes. All five stages of grief are here somewhere, though no-one has made it all the way through depression to complete acceptance. As Steve Rogers ( Chris Evans ) said even in the trailers, “Some people move on. But not us.”

Nothing is safe until everything is safe; nothing is over until it’s really, completely over.

They’re struggling – even those whose lives and families were ostensibly left untouched. Steve may run to a returning Tony’s ( Robert Downey Jr. ) side, both united in failure, but there’s still bad blood between them, and Steve’s attempts to hold up everyone else’s morale are clearly paper-thin covers for his own vast despair. Rocket ( Bradley Cooper ) and Thor ( Chris Hemsworth ) may still crack wise, but they’re barely functional without the support networks that once sustained them. And Hawkeye ( Jeremy Renner ) is taking out his fury at the universe, and at an unreachable Thanos, on any criminal who had the temerity to survive when his family did not. There’s alcoholism, depression, drastic lifestyle changes and simple avoidance of things too painful to face.

So yes, expect metaphorical gut punches galore in this early section, before they come up with a plan that just might work to put things right and deliver a satisfying gut punch to the purple bastard who ruined the universe. But it’s surprisingly funny even in its darkest moments. “I get emails from a raccoon so nothing seems crazy anymore,” says Natasha ( Scarlett Johansson ) wryly. Tony and Rhodey ( Don Cheadle ) snark dependably, and Thor delivers a piece of, er, call it physical comedy that subverts expectation brilliantly and offers one of the biggest laughs of the entire franchise.

If the theme of the last film was, “We don’t trade lives, Vision,” this one is all about responsibility, and self-sacrifice, and being willing to do “whatever it takes” to win the day. It’s a battle between the past and future, and an argument about which one we should do more to protect. Here, nothing is safe until everything is safe; nothing is over until it’s really, completely over.

This is not just about getting the gang back together, but taking the time to share knowledge, form a plan and work as a team in order to do some actual avenging for once. It’s a long film, but it doesn’t feel it even with all these talky scenes. We get a steady stream of returning characters – and not only heroes – who ensure your interest never has a chance to wane: the cast of this film is an indie director’s fever dream, an embarrassment of riches that is well invested at key moments. Inevitably a few characters are underserved, with Rocket, Okoye ( Danai Gurira ) and maybe even Natasha short a scene or two while others get far more than before, but it’s hard to see what else could have been cut without losing something important. Cap, in particular, becomes the heart of this film in a big way. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely came up through his films and let the love show here, though to be fair, this is a film that trips back through characters, moments and lines from the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe back catalogue.

Then there is the action. There are a few feints early on that skew far from the expected template, but the big brawl that finishes – that had to finish this – is one for the ages. The action sometimes moves a little too fast to really grasp, but there’s so much to entertain that it seems unfair to complain. It’s punctuated by moments of pure, giddy delight that put Thor’s arrival in Wakanda into the shade, and moments of emotion that hit hard; if this is fan service (okay, it’s definitely fan service) it’s exceptionally well deployed. Except, maybe, for one nod to grrrl power that is uncharacteristically clumsy.

That moment doesn’t drag it down for long; there’s too much else happening that is awesome. Sure, there’s a touch of Return Of The King syndrome creeping in at the end. Sure, the plot has a particular breed of logic hole that you could drive a bus through. You won’t care. We’re never going to object to another five minutes in the company of this company.

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‘Avengers: Endgame’ Review: The MCU’s Long Goodbye Is an Emotional Wipeout

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Thanos demands my silence. So if you expect a lot of specific “who lives, who dies” spoilers in this review, snap out of it. However, it is fair to say that Avengers: Endgame, directed by the Russo brothers — Anthony and Joseph — with a fan’s reverence for all that came before, is truly epic and thunderously exciting. You probably won’t care that at three hours, it’s bloated, uneven and all over the place, flitting from character to character like a bird that doesn’t know where to land. And yet the movie hits you like a shot in the heart, providing a satisfying closure even when its hard to believe that Marvel will ever really kill a franchise that’s amassed $19 billion at the global box office. Of the 22 films in the MCU that began in 2008 with Iron Man, Endgame is the most personal yet — an emotional wipeout that knows intimacy is its real superpower.

Avengers: Endgame and the State of the Modern Superhero

With 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War as our source, what we grasp going in is that Thanos (a superb Josh Brolin giving tragic dimension to a CGI villain) has decimated half of all living creatures in the universe. Only six of the original Avengers remain: Thor ( Chris Hemsworth ), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow ( Scarlett Johansson ), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Steve Rogers/Captain America ( Chris Evans ) and Bruce Banner/Hulk ( Mark Ruffalo ). Also in play are James Rhodes/War Machine ( Don Cheadle ), Rocket the space raccoon (hilariously growled by Bradley Cooper), Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and Nebula (the sublime Karen Gillan), the supervillain’s reformed blue-meanie daughter. Their mission impossible, and there’s no question that they’ll choose to accept it, is to avenge the dead by destroying Thanos, bring back the six Infinity Stones that hold the key to ultimate control and just maybe find a way to restore a semblance of order.

With Infinity War, the Russos left audiences with their mouths open in shock as beloved characters were reduced to dust and evil emerged triumphant. Who does that? With Endgame, from an original script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the filmmakers take you places you can’t possibly see coming regarding who dies and who lives to tell their story. Don’t expect a typical happy ending. Just prepare to be wowed.

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For a movie bursting with action and culminating in a one-for-the-time capsule showdown, Endgame starts on a quietly reflective note. No Avenger is left unbroken by the devastation that ensued when Thanos snapped his fingers and half the world turned to dust. (Some mild plot spoilers ahead.) The movie jumps ahead five years after that moment, with our superheroes are empty shells forced to reflect on their failures. Tragedy has set Hawkeye adrift. Iron Man has retreated into the cocoon of family life with wife Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Thor has lost his home on Asgard. Hulk has learned to subdue his baser instincts. And Black Widow wonders if any sense can be made of it all. That’s when Ant-Man (Paul Rudd, amiable as ever) shows up, fresh from the Quantum Realm, with an idea for a “time heist.” You don’t have to make jokes about the clichéd time travel plot — the film is ready, willing and able to make its own, with Back to the Future coming in for a serious ribbing.

The Russos make sure there are lots of intentional giggles, especially when Cap is told that his uniform “does nothing for your ass” or Thor lards up with bellyfat or Hulk just stands there like a big green machine. Cheers to Ruffalo and Hemsworth for getting the most laughs without sacrificing character. Downey lowers Stark’s snark quotient to create something genuinely moving. His young daughter measures her devotion to him in multiples. “I love you 3000,” she says. Fans will surely feel the same.

Audiences affection for these Avengers carries the film over its rough spots. Some characters get their due (let’s hear it for the the women of Wakanda!) , while others stay on the outside looking in. A few supporting characters who show up for the big third-act battle have big moments that feel unearned. Also, it seems like Endgame has at least six endings, when the first one handily gets the job done.

Still, this long goodbye gets to you. It’s not an ardent and artful game-changer like Black Panther ; there probably isn’t a Best Picture Oscar nomination in its future. So what? You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll thrill to the action fireworks. You’ll love it 3000. And not for a minute will you believe it’s really a farewell.

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<i>Avengers: Endgame</i> Is a Good — And Sometimes Great — End to Marvel’s First Decade

Avengers: Endgame Is a Good — And Sometimes Great — End to Marvel’s First Decade

Avengers: Endgame —the 22nd movie to emerge from the Marvel Cinematic Universe birth canal and the capper to the two-part saga that began with last year’s Avengers: Infinity War —makes more sense as an event than as a movie. The film has been meticulously crafted for people who care deeply about these characters, and it’s likely most of those viewers will leave the theater satisfied. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo (also the directors of Avengers: Infinity War, as well as two of the Captain America films) and their team of writers have ensured, with machinelike precision, that each Avenger gets his or her proper allotment of sensitive moments, as well as heroic ones. Once in a while, Endgame is enjoyable on its own terms, though mostly, you’ll be better off if you have at least a rough working knowledge of the MCU movies that have preceded it. It’s an entertainment designed to please many, many people and disappoint as few as possible, extravagant without necessarily having a vision beyond its desire not to put a foot wrong. It’s bold in the safest possible way.

In other words, as movies that are part of multi-billion-dollar franchises go, Avengers: Endgame is good enough. I must note here that I have little invested in the Marvel movies as the result of any attachment to Marvel comics. But I do care about the work of the actors who appear in them, performers like Chris Evans and Scarlet Johansson, Chadwick Boseman and Robert Downey Jr., Zoe Saldana and Jeremy Renner. All of these people have been terrific in MCU movies, even when they could easily get by with being less than terrific. Watching Endgame, I realized that I do care about Marvel characters because these actors have made me care.

The skill those actors—along with some I haven’t mentioned, like Tessa Thompson and Mark Ruffalo and Benedict Cumberbatch—bring to the Marvel movies in general, and to Avengers: Endgame specifically, only makes me wish these movies were breezier and more inventive, and less obsessed with the high-stakes, big-money fan-pleasing game. But you can’t have everything, and Endgame at least gives these actors something to work with. (Minor-to-moderate spoilers follow, so if you want to experience Endgame with the naïve blankness of a tadpole freshly launched into the pond, please stop reading here.)

Endgame opens with an unnerving, gracefully filmed prologue involving Renner’s Clint Barton, Hawkeye when in his superhero guise. He’s enjoying an outdoor picnic with his family when it becomes clear that what we’re seeing is a moment connected to the tail end of Infinity War: The instant supervillain Thanos (Josh Brolin) snapped his fingers—after having captured the last of those six all-powerful nuggets known as the Infinity Stones —and destroyed exactly half the world’s population , leaving the other half to grieve and remember. (It’s more cruel, when you think about it, to destroy half the world than all of it.) This megalomaniacal act was Thanos’s way of cleansing what he viewed as a corrupt universe. But Hawkeye, having retreated from Avengers duty to be a family man, wasn’t around to witness Thanos’s big finale—and, as Endgame begins, he doesn’t yet know that half his friends have turned to dust. And so, in this moment, we know what’s going to happen before Hawkeye does: He turns away from his family for just a millisecond, and in a blink, they’re gone.

Next we see the other remaining Avengers pulling themselves together after the tragedy—or, in the case of Scott Lang/Antman (Paul Rudd), just waking up after a Quantum Realm-induced nap . Lang quickly gets up to speed on what he missed, and comes up with the germ of a plan: Might the Avengers go back in time to foil Thanos’s plan of half-destruction? Lang introduces his idea to remaining Avengers Steve Rogers/Captain America (Evans), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Johansson) and James Rhodes/War Machine (Cheadle). They bring this spark of an idea to the guy who might be able to make it work, Downey’s Tony Stark/Iron Man, who barely survived Thanos’s destructathon. First Stark says it’s impossible; then he changes his mind—but he also worries that if the scheme doesn’t work, he’ll lose all he’s gained in what has for him become a bittersweet time, an era during which he’s mourning his lost friends but also starting a new life for himself.

The plan to turn back time is less a major plot point than a mechanism to keep the story clicking, and the middle section—in which the Avengers break into groups to travel to specific places and years where they can grab one Infinity Stone or another before Thanos can get his dirty mitts on any of them—is the movie’s finest. Avengers: Endgame is a better movie than Avengers: Infinity War in one important sense: It relies less on milking tears out of us (for characters who have “died” but who we know will come back again—they’re too valuable to the franchise to be gone for good) than on focusing on what each of these characters might mean to us, given our history with them. The mid-section of Endgame shows the Avengers actors at their best. Chris Hemsworth, as a Thor who has slid into a state of pot-bellied depression post-Thanos, gets a chance to reunite with his long-dead mother, Frigga (Rene Russo), in the kingdom of his birth, Asgard. He greets her tentatively, almost shyly, nearly dumbfounded by the gift of seeing her again even for a few moments; she discreetly asks about his funky eye. The tenderness between them is lush and quiet, underscoring what’s most valuable about Endgame: There is only one gargantuan, booming fight scene, and it’s not the centerpiece of the movie. It’s as if the Russo brothers have finally acknowledged that bigger, noisier battles amount to less rather than more. At least we can hope.

Endgame does give us some arresting visuals: Thompson’s Valkyrie riding on a winged horse, anyone? But generally, the actors are Endgame ’s finest special effect. Though we’re made to wait for the entrance of Boseman’s T’Challa/Black Panther, it’s worth it: He coasts into the movie on a regal cloud. And Robert Downey, after playing Tony Stark/Iron Man for perhaps too many years, snaps back into form. In the 2008 Iron Man, Downey brought a kind of frazzled elegance to the role of Stark—his nervous energy seemed to spark from his fingertips, as if it were too much for his body to contain. In the years since, his Iron Man performances have become more brittle, more reliant on tics. But in Endgame, Stark’s moments of doubt feel lived-in—Downey’s performance is alive with prickly uncertainty. Even when Endgame hits its generally predictable beats, you can still count on the actors to shift the mood into slightly uncomfortable emotional territory.

The Russos and their writers clearly took pains to give nearly each character a gratifying arc, and a proper—if not necessarily soft—place to land. That must have been a lot of work, and a few of the Avengers get short shrift: The ever-so-powerful Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) drops out of the movie for a long stretch, eventually returning with…a short haircut. Some arc.

avengers-endgame-black-widow-captain-america

But the Russos more than make up for that with the discreet, wistful coda they give Steve Rogers/Captain America. It’s the movie’s single most gorgeous element, perfectly fitting for a guy who entered a 70-year sleep right after finding the love of his life. Evans’ Captain America has always been, physically speaking, the beefiest of all the Avengers, as sturdy and wholesome as the “after” picture in a Charles Atlas ad. Yet Evans has also always been one of the most understated actors in the franchise. As Steve, Evans’ smile is easy, friendly, in a stock all-American way. But there’s never been any swagger behind it. It’s the smile of a guy who’s lost something valuable, whose view of the future is perpetually tinted with the color of what he left behind. Avengers: Endgame isn’t a great movie, but there are flashes of greatness in it, and quite a few of them belong to Evans. His Captain America rewards us with a revelation and escapes with a secret. The best thing in Avengers: Endgame is everything he doesn’t say.

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Avengers: Endgame First Reviews: Best Marvel Movie Ever, Say Some

The first reviews of marvel's superhero extravaganza say it fulfills a decade's worth of promises with wit, heart, and action like we've never seen before..

TAGGED AS: MCU , Superheroes

The initial reactions to Avengers: Endgame following the first screenings were extremely positive. But now critics have had time to process what they saw, and well, they’re still mostly raving about the 22nd entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — it’s currently Certified Fresh at 97%. Of course, there are some quibbles here and there, mainly about the length. Also, the long-form responses to the Avengers: Infinity War follow-up have some extra thoughts to share regarding Endgame ’s best moments, as well as the movie’s MVP. Basically, just icing on the cake to get you even more hyped for this thing.

Here’s what the critics are saying about Avengers: Endgame :

How does it compare to Avengers: Infinity War ?

Endgame is a different type of film than Infinity War … there are actually moments of calm, where the audience can catch its breath. – Charles Barfield, The Playlist

Infinity War floundered, it seems, so Endgame could soar. – Angie Han, Mashable

Where Infinity War had trouble finding time for characters, Endgame is about nothing but character work. – Susana Polo, Polygon

The Russo Brothers were able to best themselves yet again. – Dorian Parks, Geeks of Color

There’s something considerably less elegant to the storytelling this time around. – Peter Debruge, Variety

Is it the best Marvel movie yet?

Avengers: Endgame is everything you’ve ever dreamed a Marvel movie could be…You will not be let down. – Germain Lussier, io9

One of the most ambitious, entertaining, emotional, and stunning blockbusters we’ve ever seen, and the best film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon thus far. – Eric Eisenberg, Cinema Blend

Avengers: Endgame is not the best Marvel movie ever made…But it is the most Marvel movie ever made, and there’s something incredible about that. – Angie Han, Mashable

Avengers: Endgame is the most “Marvel” movie in Marvel Cinematic Universe history. – Charles Barfield, The Playlist

Avengers: Endgame is, without a doubt, the most confusing and convoluted of any of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, yet it’s also unbelievably satisfying. – Mike Ryan, Uproxx

Avengers: Endgame is now my favorite MCU movie and is probably my favorite comic book movie to date. – Dorian Parks, Geeks of Color

It’s not the best of anything in terms of the Marvel franchise… Avengers: Endgame is a merely okay MCU movie. – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

(Photo by @ Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, @ Marvel)

Should we be surprised at this?

Whatever you think Endgame will be, it will still confound and amaze and thrill you in ways that is hard to imagine. – Mark Daniell, Toronto Sun

One of the nicest surprises of Endgame is how fun it is… So much so that the three-hour run time seems to fly by. – Angie Han, Mashable

There are things in Endgame you never could have guessed would come back to light, but they do, and it’s glorious . – Germain Lussier, io9

Endgame is truly a masterful piece of storytelling, which both goes exactly where you expect it to, and not at all. – Anne Cohen, Refinery29

How busy is the movie?

The Russos juggle the tones with balletic finesse. – Eric Kohn, IndieWire

The film is sometimes juggling five or six stories simultaneously, but the Russos and their editors never let the audience get too far from one or the other. – Germain Lussier, io9

It’s strangely sentimental for a movie that features the biggest all-out superhero fight I can ever remember seeing. – Mike Ryan, Uproxx

How is the action?

The fight scenes that do take place are epic… seeing the epic battle in the third act makes the last decade worth it. – Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

The action sequences were choreographed and shot so beautifully. Without spoiling anything, you will need to be prepared for the third act. – Dorian Parks, Geeks of Color

Are we going to cr y ?

As emotionally affecting as any Marvel movie has ever been… a genuinely moving drama. – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

Endgame focuses on the original Avengers…it’s immensely gratifying and emotional to see them struggle on a plethora of levels. – Germain Lussier, io9

How satisf y ing is it as a finale?

Endgame does pull off the feat of feeling remarkably like a finale, and even the most casual fan may feel the emotional tug of those moments. – Don Kaye, Den of Geek

As a Part 2, Endgame is a hugely successful ending to a story that began a year ago but truly dates back a decade. – Charles Barfield, The Playlist

[It’s] a moment to stop and look back in amazement (or terror) at what the MCU has pulled off… Endgame is Marvel’s crowning achievement. – Angie Han, Mashable

How lost will we be if we haven’t seen all 21 previous movies?

There’s no shaking the fact that Endgame is very much a Part 2 (or Part 22, honestly)… not for MCU newbies… casual fans need not apply… If you’re not someone that knows every character by name, you’re in for a confusing three-hour film. – Charles Barfield, The Playlist

My daughter hasn’t seen very many of these and only had a few in-movie questions… it works on its own terms and unquestionably sticks the landing. – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

This is a film designed for fans… Newcomers will likely find themselves totally lost in this tangle of characters and relationships and mythologies. – Angie Han, Mashable

It does feel like a wonderful gift to all those who have spent the last decade-plus emotionally engaging with the lives and adventures of these characters. – Eric Eisenberg, Cinema Blend

(Photo by )

Can y ou give me some comparative context?

Newcomers to the series may as well be watching a Transformers movie. – Eric Kohn, IndieWire

While there is a big third-act action sequence, it’s (despite some grand fan service) closer in structure and visuals to Ready Player One than The Two Towers . – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

Avengers: Endgame feels like the last scene of Titanic with everyone back on the ship, applauding. And, you know what? I’m okay with that. – Mike Ryan, Uproxx

Who is the movie’s MVP ?

From a performance standpoint, Chris Hemsworth, for the second film in a row, delivers the best outing of the large ensemble. – Clayton Davis, AwardsCircuit.com

Hemsworth especially has quickly become, due to Thor: Ragnarok and the last two of these Avengers flicks, a subtle MVP of the franchise. – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

Hemsworth has inexplicably become the MVP of this franchise, able to balance big, broad comedy with soul-searching pathos. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

Are there any big criticisms?

Its biggest fault, however nitpicky, is that it doesn’t really confront or advance any of the big philosophical questions that have been running through the saga from the beginning. – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

I feel that Marvel’s secret weapon [Captain Marvel] is underused. – Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

Has a sitcom episode like feel to it that is reminiscent of a ‘clip show’ – where the viewers get excerpts and highlights from previous episodes of the series. – Clayton Davis, AwardsCircuit.com

Will there ever be anything like this movie again?

One can only hope that the next 10 years of Marvel storytelling — which will feature new heroes and villains — comes close to this. – Mark Daniell, Toronto Sun

Avengers: Endgame opens everywhere on April 26.

Avengers: Endgame (2019) 94%

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Avengers: Endgame Review – A Brilliant MCU Finale

Part of the journey is the end. And what a journey it's been to the thrilling, moving Avengers: Endgame.

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After 11 years and 22 films, the ongoing saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come to a turning point. Avengers: Endgame serves not just as the conclusion to the story started last April in Avengers: Infinity War , but it also works to wrap up character arcs and story threads that began seven, eight, or even 10 years ago. That it does so successfully, in a massive, incredibly entertaining epic that is as emotional as it is spectacular, is due to the craft, world-building, and devotion to character empathy and development that has marked the best efforts of this franchise.

As one might expect, there is no easy way to summarize or explain the plot without delving into spoilers, and make no mistake, there are spoilers around almost every corner. But the gist of the story is simple enough and pretty much accurate to what has been shown in the trailers: after Thanos (Josh Brolin) has cut the population of the universe in half with a snap of the Infinity Gauntlet , the surviving Avengers — the original six plus a few remaining allies — immediately deploy a plan to find the Mad Titan, wrest the Gauntlet from him, and undo his monstrous actions.

Naturally, more than a few obstacles are thrown in the path of our heroes, forcing them not just to reconsider their options but to re-examine the choices they’ve made along the way and the paths their lives are taking now. The most surprising thing about Avengers: Endgame is its structure: unlike Infinity War , which sped along on a constant stream of high-octane action sequences , Endgame ’s first hour contains few pyrotechnics by comparison, and it’s a testament to how involved we’ve become with these characters that the viewer doesn’t care and the time flies by anyway (except for the first few scenes, as the picture starts up, the movie does not feel like three hours at all).

Those who were disappointed that some of the original Avengers were either short-changed (or missing entirely) in Infinity War won’t have any complaints here. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson), Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) are front and center, with each of them facing decisions and actions that in some cases have roots going back to their very first screen appearances. Also playing important roles are Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Nebula (Karen Gillan), while Brolin’s Thanos is as menacing and imposing as ever — if a tad less complex than he was in Infinity War .

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That and a few other flaws do take a little of the gloss off this otherwise sumptuous and exhilarating adventure. While the pacing is fine for most of the movie, a handful of sequences feel a bit rushed; one in particular, a real crossroads moment involving two characters, mirrors a similar scene in Infinity War but doesn’t seem to get the same space to breathe and be as emotionally impactful as it should. A few developments for certain characters happen offscreen but could have perhaps benefited from a little more exploration. And some of the mechanics of the plot, without getting into spoiler territory, may benefit from a second viewing if they hold up at all (but given the nature of the story, that material was always going to be tricky anyway, a point that the film even sort of acknowledges).

As for the common objection that one hears from critics of the MCU — that the viewer will be lost if they’re not up on a good chunk of the previous movies — the only answer to that now is “too bad.” Perhaps more than any other MCU film, it will be pretty damn hard to walk cold into Endgame and fully grasp what’s happening — not just in its relation to Infinity War , but with regards to the many callbacks to earlier moments in the other 21 movies. But frankly, if you’re walking into this movie without having seen “enough” of the others or at least being versed in what has come before, then what the hell are you doing there? After 11 years, Marvel Studios has earned the right to operate on its own terms, and is long past the point of coddling the paying customer.

Avengers: Endgame is the pinnacle of that, a three-hour celebration of everything that has come before and a deep dive into all-out fan service that doesn’t feel forced. Sure, there are little in-jokes and references (to both earlier movies and the comics themselves) that are going to fly over some viewers’ heads, but the overall warmth, humor, and emotional connection that has helped almost all these movies work so well over the past decade also go a long way here. With the sense of finality that pervades the movie, there are also moments that will have fans on the edge of their seats, expecting the worst — and in some cases getting it.

Avengers: Endgame – Complete Marvel Easter Eggs and MCU Reference Guide

The final third of Endgame is simply overpowering, a senses-filling extravaganza that pays off the build of the first two hours and fully embraces the comic book origins of the MCU in a way that surpasses the visual cues of the films that have come before. By the same token, the movie opens the floodgates once and for all in the MCU in terms of what kinds of stories can be told, and how: nothing is ever going to be too weird or cosmic or “out there” again. Marvel’s careful, gradual cultivation of the many bizarre corners and aspects of its realm has now allowed the studio to make almost whatever movie it wants to.

Kudos are due to screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely for their (in this writer’s opinion, underrated) ability to juggle a multitude of characters and plot strands while keeping their eyes squarely on the characters and how their actions drive the story, and to directors Anthony and Joe Russo for putting it all on the screen in an often beautiful and panoramic vista that bounces from images of almost poetic power to searing explosions of comic book insanity. After four movies in a row, one almost wishes this quartet would keep hanging around the MCU. Overseeing them and their always magnificent cast is Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, who has shepherded this universe to the screen in a way many didn’t think possible, and seen it through to this culminating moment with few missteps.

Of course, more Marvel movies are coming . And some of the many characters in Avengers: Endgame will appear in them. But even for a franchise that seems comfortably able to go on and on as long as the audience keeps showing up , Endgame does pull off the feat of feeling remarkably like a finale, and even the most casual fan may feel the emotional tug of those moments. For long-term, fully invested Marvel fans, Endgame will be both devastating and life-affirming, a story of sacrifice, memory, guilt, and loss that is also a mind-bending superhero blockbuster and a poignant exploration of what it means to be a hero. As Iron Man himself says, part of the journey is the end…but the end is also a new beginning.

Avengers: Endgame is out in theaters.

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Don Kaye is a Los Angeles-based entertainment journalist and associate editor of Den of Geek . Other current and past outlets include Syfy, United Stations Radio Networks, Fandango, MSN, RollingStone.com and many more. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @donkaye

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Avengers: Endgame Review: Time Is on Their Side

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There is nothing more impermeable than time. It's fixed, constant. It may be a human construct, but it is one humanity has built atomic clocks to perfect; there is no stopping its ever-forward march. Except in sci-fi. And comic books. In those worlds, it's fluid. There are rules about not killing Hitler or betting on the World Series, but other than that, the structures of time can be bent.

This, more than anything, is the core of Avengers: Endgame. Yes, there is—as most fans expected—some time travel. (More on that later, in the spoiler-y paragraphs below .) But its deeper narrative follows a thread about the years people have devoted to Marvel heroes, the nostalgia those fans already have for them, and what the future will look like as they evolve. Luckily, in comic-book stories, the future is just as malleable as the past.

First, here's what you need to know: Avengers: Endgame picks up where Infinity War left off. Thanos has wiped out half of the universe's population, and the remaining heroes (Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Rocket Raccoon, and the newly recruited Captain Marvel ) are trying to un-snap his fingers. The other thing to note: Avengers: Endgame is very good. No movie could have fully encompassed everything that happened in the preceding 10 years and 21 films, but it is the best possible effort at trying to achieve that goal. It's nearly three hours, and none of them feel wasted. More than that, it's exactly what fans need.

What Marvel fans, or anyone, needs in 2019 is a tricky proposition—one that plays out twofold in Endgame , with a double-helix of a plot that constantly works on two levels. First, there's the obvious: Everyone needs closure, needs to see if the Avengers can pull off saving the universe one more time. Second, they need to be rewarded for the decade-plus they've spent with these characters, the effort they've put into seeing every film.

Endgame achieves this using one of the oldest tricks in the cinematic playbook: time travel. As everyone who noticed that Doctor Strange, Wong, and Ant-Man were largely unaccounted for at the end of Infinity War predicted, there is only one way to press Undo on what Thanos did: pull a Cher and turn back time. Though, they don't just rewind what happened and stop it. Instead, they find a more permanent solution that involves going back to retrieve the Infinity Stones before Thanos got his big purple hands on them and using their power to reverse the damage.

This review won’t reveal if this plan succeeds at defeating Thanos, but it will say that it’s a wonderful ride and a narrative tool that provides a chance for the Avengers and their posse to revisit a large chunk of the movies in the franchise. It’s a trip that, in the best ways possible, feels like a band reuniting for a greatest-hits tour, one where the songs gets played by a frontman or frontwoman who wasn’t on the original track—some Traveling Wilburys covering a George Harrison track, Jay-Z and Nas ending their beef to perform “Dead Presidents,” and Beyoncé reuniting Destiny’s Child at Coachella all rolled into one. (In this case, it’s more like “Rocket goes to Asgard” and extended beats of Bruce Banner explaining science to The Ancient One.) It’s a service to every fan who remembers those early films fondly, and a final tug on the threads that have held the franchise together since the beginning.

This kind of nostalgia is delicate, though. It’s tempting to want to go back to the first arc in these heroes’ journeys, the origin stories when they were ascending. It might even be tempting to just go back to 2008, before Mueller reports and Harvey Weinstein investigations and Michael Jackson documentaries, when it seemed easier to believe in heroes in general. That’s impossible, and foolhardy. Longing for those days is akin to longing for a time of ignorance, a time when all the superhero movies were led by white dudes. Everything has changed, and while revisiting days of future past is fun, time (in our world) only moves forward, and the future is more important than what’s come before. Or, to borrow a phrase from Tony Stark, “That’s the hero game—part of the journey is the end.”

Acknowledging this reality is Endgame ’s strongest suit. Because while it spends a fair amount of its second act playing to its base (with some excellent surprise cameos), it spends its final third establishing its new world order. In one of the film’s most telling moments, Captain Marvel—sporting a haircut sure to be the toast of Lesbian Twitter for months—charges into battle flanked by the franchise’s women heroes, the MCU’s version of a Time’s Up meeting ( remember this? ). Marvel’s Phase 4 is still fairly uncertain, but if Endgame has any takeaway it’s that the future is female. And less white. And at least a little bit queer.

Avengers: Endgame could become the biggest movie the world has ever seen: It may make nearly $1 billion in one weekend . Theaters are staying open around the clock to keep up with demand. It’s the culmination of 11 years and 21 films—an unprecedented feat that may never be repeated. The only thing that may come close is December’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker , which will be the ninth film in a nostalgia-filled franchise spanning more than four decades. That film, too, will see the reins handed over to a new generation of heroes, folks whose chance to lead is long overdue. Endgame is a beautiful, massive finale—and it paves the way for all the warriors to come. It’s about time.

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‘Avengers: Endgame’ Reviews: What the Critics Are Saying

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It’s been a long year for Marvel fans since the release of “ Avengers: Infinity War ,” but the wait is nearly over. The finale to the Infinity Saga is here, and while most diehard fans will know to avoid them for fear of spoilers, early reviews are mostly positive.

Last year’s “Infinity War” took home an 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed more than $2 billion at the worldwide, becoming 2018’s highest-grossing film and the fastest-ever to reach $1 billion and $1.5 billion. This year’s earlier MCU entry and the first with a female lead, “Captain Marvel,” received a 78% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but controversy erupted as some users purposely gave it poor reviews.

Variety’s Peter Debruge said, “If ‘Infinity War’ was billed as a must-see event for all moviegoers, whether or not they’d attended a single Marvel movie prior, then ‘Endgame’ is the ultimate fan-service follow-up, so densely packed with payoffs to relationships established in the previous films that it all but demands that audiences put in the homework of watching (or rewatching) a dozen earlier movies to appreciate the sense of closure it offers the series’ most popular characters.”

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With the first batch of reviews rolling in, “ Avengers: Endgame ” stands at 98% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

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Here are what other critics are saying:

Los Angeles Times’ Justin Chang:

“The mass slaughter at the end of ‘Infinity War’ felt both colossal and weightless, insofar as you knew it was little more than an epic tease. But the deaths that transpire here are all the more poignant for feeling both carefully considered and genuinely irreversible. To these faintly moistened eyes, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ achieves and earns its climactic surge of feeling, even as it falls just short of real catharsis.”

Mashable’s Angie Han:

“Its magic does require some prior buy-in. This is a film designed for fans, stuffed as it is with callbacks, cameos, and Easter eggs. Certain arcs come full circle after years and years; others are revisited and refashioned into something different. Newcomers will likely find themselves totally lost in this tangle of characters and relationships and mythologies. Those who’ve been following along for a while now, though, will find much to cheer, cry, or swoon over. At both the screenings I attended, the audience reactions were so loud at certain points that entire lines of dialogue were swallowed up. Which is probably just fine with Marvel: all the more reason for fans to go back and see it a second time.”

The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw :

“‘Avengers: Endgame’ is of course entirely preposterous and, yes, the central plot device here does not, in itself, deliver the shock of the new. But the sheer enjoyment and fun that it delivers, the pure exotic spectacle, are irresistible, as is its insouciant way of combining the serious and the comic. Without the comedy, the drama would not be palatable. Yet without the earnest, almost childlike belief in the seriousness of what is at stake, the funny stuff would not work either. As an artificial creation, the Avengers have been triumphant, and as entertainment, they have been unconquerable.”

Entertainment Weekly’s Leah Greenblatt:

“With the stakes being no less than the fate of the world (or at least approximately 50% of it), there’s an expected urgency to it all, but an underlying melancholy, too — not just for everything that’s been lost, but for what won’t be coming back. After seven years, four films, and uncountable post-credit Easter eggs, the endgame of an era has finally come.”

The New York Times’ A.O Scott:

“Still, ‘Endgame’ is a monument to adequacy, a fitting capstone to an enterprise that figured out how to be good enough for enough people enough of the time. Not that it’s really over, of course: Disney and Marvel are still working out new wrinkles in the time-money continuum. But the Russos do provide the sense of an ending, a chance to appreciate what has been done before the timelines reset and we all get back to work. The story, which involves time travel, allows for some greatest-hits nostalgic flourishes, and the denouement is like the encore at the big concert when all the musicians come out and link arms and sing something like “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” You didn’t think it would get to you, but it does.”

CNN’s Brian Lowry:

“Even with the interlocking nature of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ‘Endgame’ feels like a triumph of narrative engineering — weaving in enough callbacks to earlier movies to delight even the nerdiest patrons. The tone also underscores the extent to which the studio has preserved the comics’ spirit, while translating them to the screen in a manner unimaginable when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created them.”

Polygon’s Susana Polo:

“‘Avengers: Endgame’ is a heist movie, and it’s written like one. We know in our comics-trained hearts that our heroes are going to win this one, but a surprisingly tight script does some frankly ingenious problem-solving to raise the stakes over and over again. That logic opens up emotional possibilities for our heroes like no other genre of story can, and while the thrust of the plot is about cosmic rocks, it is hung on a framework of character development and payoff. And there’s nothing Endgame sets up that it doesn’t pay off.”

Vox’s Alex Abad-Santos :

“So it’s special that Marvel manages to achieve the seemingly impossible in ‘Endgame’: creating a movie steeped in years of lore that still manages to recapture the excitement of watching your very first Marvel experience. ‘Endgame’ is a celebration of, and goodbye to, the superheroes that many of us have grown a decade older with. It’s an earnest reminder of these heroes’ ability to reflect our own feelings about what they stand for and the emotions we share with them.”

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Avengers: Endgame Is More Clever Than It Needed to Be

Even at three-plus hours, the gargantuan Avengers: Endgame is light on its feet and more freely inventive than it needed to be. Given the year-long wait, its audience — Pavlovian dogs, myself ( woof !) included — would have salivated over less. It’s better than Avengers: Infinity War , which was better than Avengers: Age of Ultron ; and it is , for a change, conclusive. My 16-year-old daughter regretted having put on mascara prior to the screening because, by the end, it was all over her face. Even in Franchise-Tent-Pole-Universe land, some superheroism is finite.

A spoiler-free review of such a secrecy-shrouded blockbuster would consist of a star rating (or, shudder , a grade) as well as a cautious dramatis personae — though even here there might be trouble, given that Marvel doesn’t want you to know every character who’ll pop up and in what context. Recounting the very premise is problematic, beyond the heroes’ obvious determination to reverse-disintegrate (re-integrate?) the 50 percent of the galaxy wiped out in Avengers: Infinity War by the Malthusian colossus Thanos. What form will their improbable quest take — and which characters will lead the charge? At this early stage, I must resist the temptation even to hint at momentous events. Although it was nearly 50 years ago, I remember the childhood friend who emerged from The Poseidon Adventure and yelled to everyone in the long line, “Shelley Winters dies!” Nowadays he’d need to go into Witness Protection. Inevitably I’ll tell you things you don’t know but promise not to tell you that Shelley Winters dies.

The beginning of Avengers: Endgame reminds you that Marvel is run by very clever people — or at least people who know enough to hire very clever people. Tonally, they change course frequently. Avengers: Infinity War ended with a noisy and tumultuous super-battle, so Avengers: Endgame begins with something quiet and down to earth: You could almost be watching a “real” movie. Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) is teaching his daughter how to line up and shoot an arrow. Tending the grill, his wife asks if they want mustard or mayonnaise on their hot dogs and father and daughter bond over the ridiculousness of mayonnaise on a hot dog. Their little son calls for ketchup. And then — poof — Barton is alone. The music comes in so softly that you barely hear it over the flickering Marvel panels. Tony Stark/Ironman (Robert Downey Jr.) is discovered floating in a ship in space, his oxygen dwindling, his only company that reformed “blue meanie” Nebula (Karen Gillan). Downey looks gaunt, ravaged, his face finally denuded of all baby fat. (I would fear for the actor’s nutrition, but the credits include the name of his private chef as well as Chris Hemsworth’s. I don’t mean to mock them — though I applaud their co-stars for making do with craft services — but I’m constantly amazed by how detailed closing credits have become.) A close-up of Downey lasts a while, the directors (Anthony Russo and Joe Russo) stopping time the way the makers of the last Game of Thrones installment did — mercifully forestalling the horrors to come.

Earth a la Thanos is full of fascinating contradictions that the Russos don’t fully explore. For example, Tony Stark no longer lives in a high-tech fortress. He lives in the woods. He grows things. His now-wife, Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow), reads magazines about composting, perhaps the latest iteration of Goop featuring designer worms. We’re told that fewer people means fewer ships means cleaner water. Far, far away, Thanos (Josh Brolin plus CGI) has a little farm himself. A Malthusian who believed the galaxy would be better off with a fraction of the inhabitants, he is apparently a Luddite, too.

The surviving Avengers — the core group of Ironman, Hawk, Thor (Hemsworth), Natasha/Black Widow (Scarlett Johannsen), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle), plus Rocket the space raccoon (the wiseass voice of Bradley Cooper), Nebula, and recent arrival Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) — are discovered some time later, in mourning. Serious mourning. No self-respecting superhero could live with that level of failure. The rift between Iron and Cap has gotten uglier. Beginning with Captain America: Civil War , one of them came down on the side of civil liberties and the other on the side of security at all costs — though I keep getting mixed up which is which. (Oh, now I remember: Cap is for civil liberties and Iron for security at all costs, though this still strikes as off given that Stark is a free-market inventor and Rogers a consummate soldier.) Downey’s Stark is fed up, tired, eager to leave the field and start a family. It falls to the Widow — in her mopey, desultory way — to keep the Avengers going. (I will always be Johannsen’s number one fan but I do miss the witty and agile Widow of the first Avengers movie.)

Thor and Hulk are different from what you remember. (Is this a spoiler? I can’t tell anymore.) Thor is fat, hairy, and alcoholic — the Internet, taking its cue from a Stark wisecrack, has already dubbed him Lebowski Thor. This is welcome, given that the Avengers have a ramrod hero in Captain America and Hemsworth is livelier when he’s self-parodic, as in the game-changing Thor: Ragnarok . The new Hulk strikes me as more problematic. Ruffalo is charming and funny and the damnedest sight but the Hulk was born — like the archetypal werewolf, Mr. Hyde — from the idea that humans’ dual natures cannot be reconciled. A medium-sized, rational Hulk is what all of us strive to be, really, as we learn to adopt more mature defense mechanisms. But without an internal struggle, Banner ceases to function as a dramatic character, let alone a dangerous one.

The happiest surprise (that’s a spoiler phrase right there!) is that writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have shaped Avengers: Endgame as a time-travel heist picture. The nature of the quantum realm is more sophisticated than in, say, Back to the Future (which gets a razzing, Stark preferring the theories of Planck and contemporary egghead David Deutsch), but the film echoes Robert Zemeckis’s farce in how characters encounter their former selves from previous films. (They beat themselves up emotionally and literally.) Not to endorse Thanos’s homicidal ideology, but fewer people in the movie means richer, more fertile scenes. Evans bears his emotional weight with eloquence, Cooper’s rat-tat-tat delivery is gangbusters, Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang/Ant-Man has the kind of crack timing that doesn’t just get laughs but moves the plot along lickety-split, and even Paltrow rises to the occasion, transcending her goopy baggage. Gillan is outright marvelous, her near-monotonic rasp carrying just enough half-tones to make you feel Nebula’s inner struggle, her patchwork Borg-like physiognomy the closest thing in the film to Greek mythology. This Nebula is the dramatic equal of her father, Thanos, rendered brilliant by an army of artists and sound designers. But it’s Brolin who gives him the voice — and soul — of a philosopher gone rancid. He embodies the Dark Side better than many of his Star Wars counterparts.

For all the hoopla of her entry, Larsen’s Captain Marvel brings little to the party — perhaps, to be fair, because it’s really not her party. I missed Benedict Cumberbatch’s high style but not Chris Pratt’s stumblebum antics (what there is of Pratt is enough). Two supporting actors return with their faces de-aged by computers. It works out okay for one of them, but the other is the stuff of nightmares: His head looks melted out of shape, like a Star Trek teleportation accident. There is, as you’d expect, a colossal battle sequence but I wouldn’t dream of telling you who pops up and when, except to say that the Women of Marvel get a mighty, crowd-pleasing shot. I’ll also say that this is the sort of war film in which the good die well and not at the hands of enemies. Leonard Nimoy’s Mr. Spock would nod with approval — and even find his human side stirred.

In the days to come, the components of Avengers: Endgame will be analyzed and its “Easter eggs” enumerated. Its actors will give interviews meant to seem giddily spontaneous but (to one degree or another) shaped by highly-paid publicists at the behest of corporate masters. Although it will need to make room in the collective psyche for Sunday’s “Battle of the Dead” on Game of Thrones , Avengers: Endgame and the blockbuster HBO show will together reinforce the idea that mass hypnosis is possible even in our supposedly fractious and polyphonic pop culture. I regret this on many levels but am not so hypocritical as to tell you I’ve risen above it. I had a good time and my daughter had a great one.

That said, this kind of success is always a mixed blessing. How soon before Disney stockholders will ask, “When’s the next HUGE one?” I hope not for a long while.

[SPOILER ADDENDUM: DO NOT READ BEFORE SEEING THE FILM. My daughter wondered about the effect of 50 percent of humanity returning five years after they’ve disintegrated as opposed to, well, not disintegrating in the first place. What about the people who did, indeed, “move on with their lives”? They have new relationships, kids, houses maybe… It’s bound to be an emotional shitstorm that dwarfs anything Thanos could come up with. A TV series, maybe?]

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Movie Review: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Dan Gunderman
Movie Reviews
--> April 28, 2019

Avengers: Endgame brings the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) third phase to a close in splendid fashion, designating much of its three-hour runtime to character arcs and the wider narrative, versus intergalactic fireworks and fisticuffs. In fact, Anthony and Joe Russo’s finale is an intelligent film, introducing novel MCU concepts, “hard” science and a supervillain worthy of the title.

Thanos’ (Josh Brolin, “ Sicario: Day of the Soldado ”) lengthy, universe-defying quest to seize and defend the six Infinity Stones meets the ultimate test in Avengers: Endgame , thanks in part to the grit and determination of the universe’s remaining superheroes — a slimmed-down, but nonetheless dogged, group of Avengers including Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans, “ Captain America: Civil War ”), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr., “ The Judge ”), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson, “ Rough Night ”), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, “ Now You See Me 2 ”), Thor (Chris Hemsworth, “ Bad Times at the El Royale ”), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner, “ Wind River ”), James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle, “ The Guard ”), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper, “ A Star Is Born ”), Nebula (Karen Gillan, “ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ”) and others — including the timely comedic relief of Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd, “ Ant-Man and the Wasp ”).

The hype leading up to the movie set the bar quite high, but the Russo brothers do not disappoint, elevating the Phase One heroes to be the true problem-solvers in the film, the fourth “Avengers” installment, while also subtly building its cinematic universe, tying up loose ends and looking to the future — for a wildly different group of heroes to descend on the Avengers compound. The Russos bring seismic scope and magnitude to their films, and Avengers: Endgame sticks to that script, moving across time and space and calling out some of the best cinematic moments of the past decade. Where it stands alone, however, is its introduction to an entirely new component of superhero-science.

In the film, when — by happenstance — Ant-Man emerges from the quantum realm, realizing five years have elapsed (only hours for him), he suddenly endeavors to utilize the realm and the remaining Pym Particles to manipulate time and space and erase Thanos’ wrongdoings. As the only initial proponent of this “Time Heist,” Ant-Man must convince the Avengers’ scientists, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, of its potential, while Black Widow attempts to restore order and keep remaining heroes posted at various locales throughout the universe. Ultimately, the heroes must unite for one final stand against Thanos and his time-bending, soul-crushing snap of the fingers. Leave it to original heroes like Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor to track the villainous Thanos, wield the slickest weapons and attempt to erase five tortuous years.

Cinematography from Trent Opaloch (“ District 9 ”), behind a Marvel Studios-sized budget, makes the endeavor a treat on the eyes — of similar ilk to darker sci-fi narratives, earthly mysteries and immersive fantasy. The superhero genre lives in a unique pocket of cinematic space, utilizing elements of numerous genres, and Opaloch’s eye certainly helps enliven the story.

And with a screenplay from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who have credits on six other MCU films, and the careful direction of the Russo brothers, Avengers: Endgame is truly a masterclass in high-concept storytelling, bringing a series of epic scale to a fixed conclusion — with dramatic and comedic flair. Luckily, Markus and McFeely offer Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the rest of the original six a lion’s share of the dialogue, a proper homage to the characters that set the stage for every subsequent Marvel film; couple that with superb acting from Downey Jr., Evans and Hemsworth, and a genre classic is born.

Where “ Avengers: Infinity War ” functions as a bridge to Avengers: Endgame , with rousing battle scenes and a fair amount of exposition, the latter offers twists and turns, and brings other subtleties to the characters that fans have grown to worship. Cutting between invasion scenes, space flight, the Avengers’ lab and drab tracking shots of a nearly barren Earth, Avengers: Endgame is a film for the ages, all thanks, truly, to the minds of the late Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Tagged: comic book adaptation , Earth , sequel , space , superheroes , team , villain

Dan is an author, film critic and media professional. He is a former staff writer for the N.Y. Daily News, where he served as a film/TV reviewer with a "Top Critic" designation on Rotten Tomatoes. His debut historical fiction novel, "Synod," was published by an independent press in Jan. 2018, receiving praise among indie book reviewers. His research interests include English, military and political history.

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Marvel's Female Avengers Cast (As We Know It)

Robert downey jr.'s doctor doom casting may be eclipsing avengers 6's biggest mcu return, the reason the mcu spider-man trilogy director won’t be returning for spider-man 4 makes me so nervous about the hero’s future.

The MCU 's upcoming multiversal crossovers Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars need to avoid a team-up mistake from Avengers: Endgame . One of the most exciting parts about a vast cinematic universe like the MCU is the concept of franchise-wide crossovers, which bring together characters introduced across various individual installments. All Avengers movies so far have been wildly successful, and both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are two of the MCU's most anticipated releases in the Multiverse Saga's slate due to their star-studded cast and ambitious premises.

Following Jonathan Majors' firing from Marvel and Robert Downey Jr.'s casting as Doctor Doom , little is still known about Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars ' multiversal plots. However, it's almost a given that both movies will feature large casts of characters, both local to the MCU's main timeline and hailing from other universes. Characters such as Spider-Man: No Way Home 's multiversal Spider-Men, Deadpool & Wolverine 's multiversal survivor team, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ' off-screen heroes could team up to confront Doctor Doom in Phase 6.

Multiversal Avengers Scenes Must Avoid Repeating Endgame’s Awkward A-Force Team-Up

Avengers: endgame's controversial team-up scene came out of nowhere during the final battle.

MCU's female heroes coming together during the Battle of Earth in Avengers Endgame

Avengers: Endgame 's "portals" scene is undeniably one of the most exciting action sequences in Marvel movie history, as most of the MCU's heroes show up to fight Thanos and his army together. However, Avengers: Endgame 's packed final battle has been criticized for its unexpected female Avengers team-up moment, which may have seemed impressive at first, but raised many questions on repeated viewings. Avengers: Endgame 's female Avengers scene has no narrative explanation, as almost none of the female heroes know each other or have any strategic reason to join forces while they're busy fighting Thanos' army somewhere else on the battlefield.

Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel and She-Hulk as female superheroes in the MCU

Marvel Studios has introduced many female superheroes over the years, any number of whom could join forces to form the MCU's female Avengers team.

The same could happen to a multiversal team of Avengers in Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars , where famous heroes from alternate realities are expected to assemble. A team-up scene featuring Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, and possibly Eric Bana's Hulk or the 2005 Fantastic Four would be a natural evolution of the Avengers' MCU team-up scenes. But if these heroes immediately seek each other as soon as they return, they would raise the same questions as Avengers: Endgame 's female Avengers.

The MCU's Multiversal Avengers Need More Screen Time Than Endgame’s Heroes

Avengers: doomsday and secret wars need a different plot structure than infinity war and endgame.

Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars ' surprise characters and cameos might team up similarly to Avengers: Endgame 's final team of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. However, Phase 6's final MCU crossovers need to assemble their Avengers teams differently this time. Avengers: Endgame was able to focus on a core team because every main character had already starred in multiple MCU installments beforehand. Since neither the Earth-616 Avengers nor the MCU's returning multiversal heroes have appeared in the MCU in a long while — let alone together — Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars needs to distribute their runtime more evenly and have more main characters than any previous MCU crossover.

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Avengers: Endgame movie review (2019)
A spoiler-free review of the epic conclusion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, featuring a tighter and more focused group of superheroes. The film rewards fans with nostalgia, spectacle, and satisfying conclusions, but also feels like a product rather than a piece of art.
Avengers: Endgame
Watch the trailer, read critics reviews, and find out where to stream or buy Avengers: Endgame, the epic conclusion of Marvel's Infinity Saga. The movie was released in 2019 and is rated PG-13 for ...
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Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Captain America and other stars settle scores, tie up loose ends and take a long victory lap in the final chapter of this cycle.
Avengers: Endgame spoiler-packed review -- so close to being perfect
A detailed analysis of the MCU's epic finale, with no spoilers for the first half of the film. Find out how the heroes face Thanos, time travel, and their own fates in this spoiler-filled review.
Avengers: Endgame Review
IGN's Laura Prudom praises Endgame as a Marvel masterpiece that rewards fans with epic scale, emotional depth, and character moments. She warns that the less you know going in, the more you'll ...
'Avengers: Endgame' Review: Marvel's Surviving Superheroes ...
A spoiler-filled review of the Marvel blockbuster that concludes the Infinity Saga. The film is a fan-facing three-hour follow-up that rewards loyalty to the MCU, but also relies on time travel as ...
Avengers: Endgame
Read critics' and audience's opinions on the Marvel blockbuster Avengers: Endgame, the culmination of 11 years of the MCU. See the ratings, scores, and full reviews from various sources and platforms.
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A gargantuan film by any standard, this three-hour extravaganza shuffles back into the action numerous significant characters seen in recent Marvel films as it wraps up an epic story in which the ...
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The Marvel franchise goes out with a superhero-stacked bang in this three-hour sequel that brings back half the universe. Read EW's spoiler-free review of the film that reunites the Avengers and ...
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Avengers: Endgame is a 2019 action adventure drama film about the Avengers trying to reverse Thanos' actions and restore balance to the universe. The IMDb page has cast and crew information, user and critic reviews, trivia, goofs, quotes, and more.
Avengers: Endgame
Metacritic gives Avengers: Endgame a generally favorable score of 78 based on 57 critic reviews and a user score of 7.9 based on 5,942 ratings. The film is a Marvel Studios' grand conclusion to twenty-two films, featuring the remaining Avengers taking one final stand against Thanos.
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A satisfying and emotional conclusion to the Infinity Saga, with a lot of action, humor and fan service. The film deals with the fallout of Thanos' snap, the characters' grief and responsibility ...
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A spoiler-free review of the culmination of a decade of blockbuster filmmaking, with a dozen subplots and familiar faces from over 20 other movies. The film rewards fans with a satisfying end to a chapter of blockbuster history, but also feels like a product more than a piece of art.
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Read what critics are saying about the 22nd Marvel movie, which is Certified Fresh at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Find out how Endgame compares to Infinity War, which characters shine, and what makes it the best or worst MCU film ever.
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A three-hour epic that wraps up 11 years and 22 films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with emotional, spectacular, and fan-service moments. Read the full review of Avengers: Endgame, the ...
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And at least a little bit queer. Avengers: Endgame could become the biggest movie the world has ever seen: It may make nearly $1 billion in one weekend. Theaters are staying open around the clock ...
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To these faintly moistened eyes, 'Avengers: Endgame' achieves and earns its climactic surge of feeling, even as it falls just short of real catharsis.". Mashable's Angie Han: "Its magic ...
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David Edelstein praises the Marvel blockbuster for its cleverness, inventiveness, and emotional impact. He reveals some plot details and character changes, but avoids major spoilers.
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IGN. Avengers: Endgame is easily the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most ambitious, emotional, and affecting film to date, somehow managing to tie up more than a decade of storytelling in a confident (and mostly coherent) climax - a hurdle that many other blockbuster franchises have stumbled over in their final runs.
Avengers: Endgame Movie Review
Avengers: Infinity War undoubtedly struggled under the weight of balancing so many characters. With half the universe gone, Endgame is able to focus on the original six Avengers, who are the true center of the MCU (at least, so far). The film remarkably balances its character arcs so well it's as if each hero gets a solo movie in Avengers: Endgame.
Movie Review: Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Poo-Review Ratings. Avengers: Endgame brings the Marvel Cinematic Universe's (MCU) third phase to a close in splendid fashion, designating much of its three-hour runtime to character arcs and the wider narrative, versus intergalactic fireworks and fisticuffs. In fact, Anthony and Joe Russo's finale is an intelligent film, introducing novel ...
Next Avengers Movies Must Avoid Repeating A Notorious Endgame Team-Up
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars' surprise characters and cameos might team up similarly to Avengers: Endgame's final team of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.However, Phase 6's final MCU crossovers need to assemble their Avengers teams differently this time. Avengers: Endgame was able to focus on a core team because every main character had already starred in multiple MCU installments ...

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