After ten long-enthralling years, the first epic saga of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe has been completed with the end of Avengers: Endgame. Initially following a mere two days of the events of Infinity War, the Avengers soon find themselves on a five year journey to correct Thanos’ deletion of 50% of the entire galaxy’s population. With the little resources and even smaller number of allies they have remaining they go across a trip through time and space to undo the tragedy that was done.

Avengers: Endgame is a 2019 superhero assemble film, it is produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is currently in theaters worldwide.

Editor’s Note: This review contains near complete to complete spoilers for Avengers: Endgame. 

Since 2008 when Marvel went independent in film for their IP after years of selling licenses out to multiple film studios, their epic catalog of now twenty-two movies have been lauded as some of if not the greatest comic book adaptations of all time. This was due in part to it’s near comic book accuracy (with licensing and rights being able), writing, tone, and several other factors that have given Marvel Studios the decade long credibility it’s rightfully deserved. With Fantastic Four and X-Men back under the film umbrella, the MCU will only continue to improve with time as a new age begins in Phase 4.

THE GOOD: Avengers: Endgame is the capping off point of a long journey started by Nick Fury, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Thor, and Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff. For ten years The Avengers build a force of allies made up of friend and former foe to battle it out against evils from all circles of life from the down to Earth to the supernatural. Only for a mad titan in Thanos to rip nearly everything away from them in his quest for the Infinity Stones. Continuing almost immediately where Infinity War left off (2 days in fact) Captain America, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Rocket Raccoon, Nebula, Thor, Bruce Banner, and War Machine go off on a search and destroy mission to find Thanos in an attempt to undo the erasure of 50% of the universe’s population. 

Having learned that the “snap” could not be undone, the Avengers along with everyone else within the universe were forced to live out the rest of their days with most of their loved ones gone. Thinly spread the superhero group used what little remaining forces they could to aide Earth and the remainder of the galaxy in dealing with villains and natural & supernatural disasters five years after their encounter with Thanos. Tony Stark (who along with Nebula was earlier rescued by Captain Marvel while stranded in space), has attempted to move on from hero work to successful start a family with Pepper Potts. Now with a daughter to think about he initially turns down an offer to aide in reversing what Thanos had accomplished when Captain America and Black Widow learn that Scott Lang/Ant-Man; originally thought to be dead has come up with a plan to use time travel. As a back up they go to Bruce Banner, who has embraced his formerly always rampaging Hulk and has made it a better part of himself. Whilst struggling to work with Scott’s plan, The Avengers get aide from Tony who has reworked Scott’s plan to become a reality. 

Time traveling between the years 2012-2014 The Avengers search for the Infinity Stones; three of which are on Earth in New York City, while the remaining three are off world. This leads the group into separate teams four: War Machine/Nebula, Rocket/Thor, Captain America/Iron Man/Ant-Man/Hulk, and Hawkeye/Black Widow spread throughout time and space. Hulk goes solo for the Time Stone, while Cap, Tony, and Scott split up for the Mind &Spirit Stones respectively. Meanwhile, War Machine and Nebula along with Hawkeye and Black Widow & Thor and Rocket are off world for the Power, Soul, and Space stones. Though there were some difficulties including Black Widow sacrificing herself for the Soul stone, the group were nonetheless able to obtain all six and begin work on their own Infinity Gauntlet, Thor also retrieves Mjolnir from the past. Banner volunteer’s to perform the snap due to being previously exposed to gamma radiation of which the stones contain most of. Unfortunately Thanos, Nebula, and Gamora from 2014 learn of their time traveling antics and intervene, with 2014 Nebula successfully infiltrating the Avengers as a double agent for Thanos. Thanos crosses over to the present, but present Nebula is able to convince 2014 Gamora to help the Avengers stop Thanos as he destroys The Avengers HQ nearly killing everyone. 

Leaving the group in scrambles after his attack Thanos sits in wait as Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man face him. As the trio are nearly defeated, with Thor almost being killed Capt. wields Mjolnir (delightfully shocking Thor) and gives the battle a slight edge in his favor. Despite being in control of the hammer, Rogers’ shield is halfway destroyed by Thanos and is about to be killed, when suddenly Sam Roberts’ voice is heard on the coms link. Dr. Strange opens portals to bring back several heroes onto the battlefield, revealing that Banner had successfully revived all who was previously snapped away by Thanos. A rematch of the Infinity War ensues after taking a beating from Scarlet Witch, Thanos once again gains the upper-hand by having his ship fire a continuous barrage of missiles onto the battlefield. As all seems lost Captain Marvel returns to Earth’s atmosphere having been off world aiding other planets. She destroys Thanos’ ship as Spider-Man races to bring the gauntlet to Ant-Man & Wasp. 

Captain Marvel gets the gauntlet to the halfway point, but faces off one on one against Thanos who defeats her with the Power Stone. Thanos goes after the gauntlet but is stopped by Iron Man. The two vie for control of the gauntlet, with Iron Man gaining control and sacrificing his life for the snap to erase Thanos and his forces from existence. After a funeral for Tony, every returns to their normal lives from the previous five years. Captain America is tasked with bringing the Infinity Stones back to their respective place in time, while Thor decides to tag along with the Guardians of the Galaxy leaving Valkyrie as Queen of New Asgard. Steve returns to the present day as an elderly man revealing to Banner, Sam, and Bucky that he went back to his own time to live out the remainder of his life with Agent Peggy Carter. Officially retiring as Captain America, Steve Rogers hands Sam Roberts; the former Falcon his shield and the title as the second Captain America. 

After a decade of movies, short films, and a TV spinoff in Agents of Shield, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 22-film+ epic closes at the expense of three original Avengers. While some would say that the film isn’t too superior to the previous ‘Infinity War’ in terms of darkness and severity, it still manages to tie up some loose ends. A few of which were ongoing within the MCU. As always actor performances were top form, some of my personal standout performances were Nebula (Karen Gillian), Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper). Action sequences were some of the best we’ve since in the MCU from Capt vs Capt to the climactic ending battle. 

THE BAD: Despite many characters being brought back the core focus is set on the initial central cast of characters outside of some oddball scenes with Peter Parker/Spider-Man and a few choice others. The film isn’t as dark as Infinity War even with the few permanent (for now) deaths and losses. The stakes never really quite seem to be as high, but it’s a comic book film so it’s only natural for the heroes to come out on top in the end. 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: With Spider-Man: Far From Home right around the corner, the penultimate finale to the three phase-long “Infinity Sage” gives us our first look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s future, as well as some endings for a few of it’s initial heroes. Everyone won’t like every character’s direction, but the amount of dedication, passion, and love that Kevin Feige and his team involved will have any Marvel fan leaving theaters satisfied. Otaku Dome gives Avengers: Endgame a 95 out of 100.