Discussion: Avengers: Endgame (2019) - Spoilers

Spoiler Discussion - Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Now that a week has passed since the mammoth release of Endgame, I feel I can now go into a more-spoilery discussion about the film, and about the general ending to the Infinity Saga.

Disclaimer: Spoilers for Endgame Below!

There are two particular reasons why I so immensely liked Engame. No, it is not perfect at all, but these two elements of the film let me see past the flaws and elevate it to great heights in my eyes. Firstly, is the final battle scene - truly a cornucopia of amazing moments and fan-service. From the appearance and inclusion of almost every hero of the MCU - amazing team-ups and interactions - to a few specific moments, such as Cap's long-anticipated wielding of Thor's hammer and Iron Man's use of the Infinity Gauntlet (with his iconic line), it has to be one of the most epic battle scenes in film history. The second, and even greater, reason why I thought Endgame was so fantastic though, was because it was the perfect conclusions to the stories of Captain America and Iron Man, and there is not a single thing that I would have changed to end the legacies of these two heroes. Let me explain...

Captain America is the epitome of the selfless hero. He exists to stand up to the evils (or 'bullies' as he originally puts it) that permeate our world. This was a quality of Steve Rogers even before he became the 'super-soldier', when he was a scrawny and sickly kid still willing to put up a fight for the good guys that he surely knew he would lose. This selflessness meant that, time and again, Steve was willing to sacrifice himself if it meant that good people would be saved. In his first film, he sacrificed a future (and dance) with Peggy, as well as his own life, in order to get rid of the Tessaract. When he awakes in the future he recognizes this sacrifice - he is a man out of time and he struggles to adapt to this new society - but, nevertheless, he chooses to continue fighting. Further sacrifices are made when he chooses to expose Shield as a terrorist organization, when he could have played it safe and turned a blind eye, and, later, he also sacrifices his relationship with his family, his fellow Avengers including Tony, in order to help his old friend, Bucky. More than any other hero, Steve deserved a happy ending. He willingly put himself through the ringer, continually sacrificing elements of his life that gave him love, comfort and joy, in order to fight. That is why when he finally decided to alter his past at the end of Endgame and live the life with Peggy that he had wanted for so long, it was one of the most bittersweet endings ever for a true hero.

In a similarly bittersweet way, Iron Man also received the ending he wanted - not the death part of course, but everything surrounding it. When we first meet Tony Stark in the first Iron Man film, he is, as he later states, a genius, billionaire, playboy (not yet philanthropist). He lives a lavish life with little-to-no attachments, manufacturing and selling weapons. Soon, Tony changes his purpose and chooses to instead protect the world from such weapons as the ones he once made. Unlike Cap, Tony's arc has been to slowly learn the meaning of selflessness and sacrifice, and in order to do so, he first had to slowly begin bringing people into his life. The first real instance of this is in the first Avengers when Tony seemingly accepts sacrificing himself at the end to send the missile off into space - an act that foreshadows both his confrontation with Thanos as well as his subsequent and real sacrifice. This change of mentality was not easy though and in Iron Man 3, we see Tony's struggle and fall-out from his actions in Avengers. But Tony does change: his relationship with Pepper eventually flourishes, he creates a family for himself in the Avengers, and, later, a surrogate-like son in Peter Parker. Then finally, in Endgame, we find that Tony has taken perhaps the furthest step forward from where he began, and had a daughter, Morgan. Tony has created everything he has ever truly needed for himself, which means that he has finally reached the point where selflessness and sacrifice can have the greatest impact on him. And when the moment does happen, he does not hesitate to put on the Infinity Gauntlet and rid the world of Thanos and a weapon that posed the greatest threat to the universe that has ever been seen, which is what he created Iron Man for in the first place.

It is difficult to see how the MCU will move forward from here, and, at least for myself, it is difficult to see it having the same level of quality and class without the likes of Captain America and Iron Man at the forefront and leading all the others forward. Cap and Iron Man are two of the greatest cinematic heroes of this generation. They have been intertwined from the beginning; their characters forming a perfect dichotomy to the other, and I am just happy that both were able to have the endings that they so deserved. And, for that, I am thankful to Endgame.

Let me know what you think in the comments below!