Today we’re going to talk about the movie Avengers: Endgame. There are spoilers ahead so head’s up.

Otherwise:

Hit the jump, and let’s discuss.

Frontline

In the Marvel Comics (printed version of) Civil War, there were these comics called “Frontline.” Essentially, instead of watching the Hulk punch a five-story monster, we would see what it’s like to live in the neighborhood of a giant fight. Or maybe we see a student have his homework fly out of his hands because Quicksilver ran by just a little too fast.

I call those types of scenes “Frontline.” (In the DC movies, a perfect example is Bruce Wayne holding a little girl as Superman and Zod eye laser a building in half.)

Avengers: Endgame had a beautiful Frontline scene. At first I thought we were just watching a random scene with Clint / Hawkeye / Jeremy Renner. For the record, there’s a teenage girl that uses a bow and arrow in the comics and people call her “Hawkeye” so my mind was swimming when I saw the scene.

Then I realized why we were watching the scene. Instantly, my heart sank. And, of course, they all got dusted away.

Beautiful scene. Hit me hard. Great way to start a movie.

This is how we connect the viewer to a movie.

One Punch (Wo)Man

I want to talk a bit about power levels. I remember watching and reading things with the X-Men and there are scenes with Gambit. For the record, Gambit was the one who could turn his playing cards pink and they would explode at different times.

So what did I see? Well, I saw one card explode on a small doorknob. I saw one card explode like a distraction (think blinding effect and not mutilating damage). Then one day…I saw Gambit explode the head of a Sentinel. For the record, a Sentinel is twenty feet tall according to their Wiki. It literally stands taller than some houses.

I remember when I first saw that and I was ‘taken out of the moment.’ So which is it? Is it something that can damage a tiny doorknob or is it something that can destroy a ton of metal? The power levels were inconsistent and it made for a frustrating experience for me.

Meanwhile, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we’ve seen Captain Marvel / Carol Danvers / Brie Larson smash right through something the size of the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. Not only that, she was able to take the blasts from multple alien cannons and continue onward like nothing happened. Okay, that’s her entrance in this movie, that’s how strong she is. Fine.

But then she is going toe-to-toe with Thanos? Hold on now. That kind of implies that Thanos is capable of ripping through the giant alien ships as well? We’ve never seen that, but I doubt he could do it. Having said that, Iron Man had a hard time piercing the exoskeleton of the large flying whale, and even Hulk punched it and took it down. No one else is seen puncturing one like it’s nothing.

It was quite a display, and the viewer in me enjoyed the flashy lights, but the writer in me couldn’t help but stop and squint for a second.

That IS America’s Butt

In the comics, Captain America / Steve Rogers dies in what they call Civil War. So when the movie was announced, with the same title, my friends and I were legit wondering if Chris Evans was going to hang it up.

Of course, that didn’t happen. So when the next movie came out, we wondered again. And…again. With a title like Endgame, I theorized that this could be the end for him.

To summarize (for fun really), there have been many films:

• (1) Iron Man
• (2) The Incredible Hulk
• (3) Iron Man 2
• (4) Thor
• (5) Captain America: The First Avenger
• (6) Marvel’s The Avengers
• (7) Iron Man 3
• (8) Thor: The Dark World
• (9) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• (10) Guardians of the Galaxy
• (11) Avengers: Age of Ultron
• (12) Ant-Man
• (13) Captain America: Civil War
• (14) Doctor Strange
• (15) Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2
• (16) Spider-Man Homecoming
• (17) Thor: Ragnarok
• (18) Black Panther
• (19) Avengers: Infinity War
• (20) Ant-Man and the Wasp
• (21) Captain Marvel
• (22) Avengers: Endgame

So again, at some point we theorized that there would be a “new” Captain America at some point. The interesting thing is that, in the comics, both Bucky and Falcon (Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie respectively in the movies) have been Captain America in the comics at one point or another.

Interestingly, it was addressed in the movies. There’s a line of dialogue in the movie that I didn’t understand at the time: “Go on, man” (or whatever it was), when Bucky told Falcon to go speak with the random, unknown man sitting on the bench. We know now that it was Steve Rogers / Captain America / Chris Evans having aged over time.

The passing of the torch was interesting. (There’s a term I call “Direct Dialogue.” It’s when something incredibly blunt is being said.) The very Direct Dialogue of “I’m happy for you” was said by Falcon, which I believe. Then Steve hands him the shield.

There will never be any doubt who the character wanted to wear the shield next. It was a beautiful scene.

In a similar but opposite way, Tony Stark / Iron Man / Robert Downey, Jr. could’ve had similar dialogue, but we didn’t get that. In his ‘final words’ hologram it was clear that he thought it would be silly to do a real will and instead opted to tell his daughter that he loved her “three thousand.”

Very cool writing.

It would have been a mistake to have him say anything else. Not much else to say on that one, but I felt the need to tip the hat with the proper handling of some beloved characters.

Who’s Who

Alright, writers, I have to ask this:

Did you have a moment where you weren’t sure which character was speaking/on screen? If you did, how many times did that happen to you?*

Meanwhile, join me next time for even more Avengers: Endgame material. OooOooh. Haha.

Aloha,
Alvin

*Full disclosure, during the funeral scene, there’s a young man standing towards the back. He isn’t standing next to Captain Marvel, but he was closer to that side than he was near the water. I legit have no idea who that person was. Any thoughts?

P.S. I just ask today’s end question because I am definitely a comic book nerd and I could follow most of what was going on. I have this theory that the average viewer isn’t fully up to speed on the many, many different characters and multiple timelines.