Warning: This article does contain spoilers.
Honestly, I do not even know where to start when it comes to how epic this movie was. It has everything you could possibly ask for in an epic finale of a superhero series. With a balanced diet of fighting scenes, comedic characters, unexpected turns and an epic final battle, Marvel ended this 10-year grind on a high note. Between the use of time travel, the unexpected twists and the cliffhanger ending, it really leaves you wondering what more could Marvel have in store for Phase 4.
In terms of time travel, I feel like we all can say that we had an inkling that it was coming.
I mean the Marvel Universe had everything else in the book. Magical beings, intergalactic villains, stones that control different facets of the space-time continuum. Yeah, sounds pretty wild, but time travel was definitely icing on the cake.
At the end of "Avengers: Infinity War," we were left with the sour taste in our mouth as we saw the heroes lose for the first time ever. As a result, we lost some fan favorites like Black Panther and Spider-Man to the Thanos snap and were left wondering, "Well what the hell are they supposed to do now?" We knew that the Avengers could not just go out like that, but you could not help but to wonder what they could possibly do to beat Thanos after spending the last 20 minutes of the movie watching them getting waxed one after another.
Then it came to us. Time travel. Not only did the Avengers go back in time to re-obtain the Infinity Stones before Thanos, but Marvel also gave us a recap of all the great scenes from the movies that got us to this point in the series. The epic fight against Loki, the elevator fight between Captain America and the Hydra agents, and so many more were recreated in "Endgame." The time travel was a great little wrinkle to help with the plot while also triggering the nostalgia of some great Marvel moments over the years.
When it comes to the unexpected twists and the ending, they sort of go hand in hand.
For starters, did anybody in their right mind imagine that the Avengers were going to be able to find and kill Thanos within the first 20 minutes of the movie? I was shook. We were all wondering "Is that it?" A three-hour movie with no bad guy? All that build up only to killed so quickly - I could not believe it.
Then we're told that five years pass before the Avengers even found a chance to bring everyone back and win against Thanos.
In five years, Thor gets fat, Hawkeye turns into a damn Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle with no filter, and Bruce Banner fuses with Hulk completely to the point that he looks like an accountant that does Brick Body workouts 12 times a day. Also, Scott Lang manages to escape the quantum realm.
The character dynamics and how everyone changed showed us the progression in their characterization. The fight with Thanos in "Infinity War" was jarring - after winning so many battles, the Avengers had finally run into an enemy that is not as simple to defeat.
With all of that, the most important take away is the ending.
Iron Man is dead, Black Widow is dead, and Captain America looks like he needs to be in a retirement home. So what does that leave for the future of Marvel? Who will be the new Avengers? Is there really a bad guy more evil or stronger than Thanos? Where could the plot possibly go? We might have a black Captain America, Spiderman might be a lead Avenger, and Captain Marvel might actually play a prominent role in future Marvel movies.
There is so much to take away from such a great movie and even more questions needing answers. Phase 4 of the Marvel Universe has their work cut out for them if they plan on outdoing a 10-year long series that can easily be considered a classic.
