Avengers: Endgame Isn't About Saving The World — It's About Saying Goodbye

By Nick Kazden


Right after watching half of all life vanish in last summer’s Infinity War, it makes sense that the remaining Avengers are struggling in Endgame. Picking up days soon after Thanos’s infamous snap, this new film serves because the culmination of 10 years worth of Marvel stories, although it’s not really about stopping bad guys: It’s about learning to mention goodbye.


there really are plenty of action-packed sequences while in Endgame, although the moments that resonate the most depict the Avengers, or perhaps common people, attempting to cope with indescribable loss. Right after losing his entire family member, Clint Barton is currently a murderous shell of his former self, while Thor struggles to feel worthy again soon after failing his former friends. The Avengers spent most of their careers believing they could accomplish anything with each other, although Thanos's overwhelming victory forced them to question that pristine vision of themselves.


Part of what makes Endgame such an efficient character study is the quantity of time it spends dissecting how each Avenger moves on — or doesn’t — following Infinity War. As Tony Stark floats in space, with only Nebula for organization, his wish to reconnect with Pepper motivates him to keep searching for solutions, nevertheless that doesn’t stop him from constantly messaging house so that he can mention goodbye one last time. And later, immediately after he’s rescued and the movie jumps five years into the future, it’s his fear of having to mention goodbye to his new life — and young daughter — that initially prevents him from aiding his former teammates in attempting to set things right. Case in point, Tony agrees to help only on the condition that bringing back what the universe lost won’t force him to lose what he's noticed. Since Iron Man, we’ve seen Tony confront A.I. Gone upset, Asgardian tricksters, and aliens intent on destroying the Earth, yet this emotional dilemma is the opening time his fear feels truly relatable, which makes it even harder to lose this beloved character.


Satisfied with his work, Thanos definitely has a role to play here, nevertheless it’s heavily downgraded from Infinity War. The Upset Titan, who pervertedly believes he's a force for good, has taken to calling himself "inevitable." His self-characterization makes sense. Marvel Studios has been building to this confrontation for a decade, nevertheless, at the end of the day, Thanos loses. His conquer and the ultimate restoration of numerous life forms reinforces the somber idea that goodbyes, not giant purple terrorists, are life’s only inevitability. Tony Stark didn’t have to directly mention goodbye to Morgan to save the world, although she ended up saying it to him regardless.


More than probably any other character, the movie goes out of its way to create Captain America mirror on the difficulties of separation. As soon as Steve Rogers originally awoke in the present back in Captain America: The opening Avenger, he’d already been forced to abandon the passion of his life, his best friend, and each person he’s ever known. No matter how well-adjusted he seems, his actions while in Endgame prove that Cap never truly accepted that he had to mention goodbye. An audience therapy leader who tells others to persevere and conquer their emotional trauma, it’s clear as soon as Cap opens his compass and gazes at a picture of his lost love, Peggy Carter, that he’s still working on it himself. In a sense, Captain America is the only character who receives a genuinely happy ending in Endgame, however even his touching exchange with Sam Wilson comes with a degree of melancholic irony. In categorize for Captain America to obtain what he habitually wanted — a full life with Peggy in which he didn’t have give attention to duty — he had to move on from his new life and and all of the companions he made (and noticed) along the way.


Even the foundation of the movie reinforces the idea that Endgame is closing the curtain on this era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As piece of Scott Lang’s Back to the Future II inspired "time-heist" idea to save the day, the Avengers visit key moments from the MCU’s past, not unlike a sitcom clip-show episode right before the big finale. Moments like the attack on New York or Peter Quill dancing through Morag flash on screen; crowds remember just how far they’ve come with each of those characters as they face their fiercest obstacle although. While the Marvel movies are going to continue and new heroes will be introduced, Endgame embodies a sense of sentimentality that feels like parting from an old friend at the end of a very long road.


Superheroes dominate the box office and blanket practically every television network, nevertheless there’s something uniquely personalized about watching this categorize assemble. We’ve grown alongside the Avengers for 10 years, watching them conquer global threats and conflict in a way that makes us empathize with and connect to these struggling heroes. We’re not just observing them kick butt from afar, we’ve had a front-seat view into their entire lives. In a way, that relationship makes Endgame even more special. Just like the remaining Avengers have to carry on without some of their former allies, we also have to stand tall without the continued guidance of some of Marvel’s finest.


Yet the outlandish thing about curtain calls is they ultimately lead to the next round of introductions. And no matter how bittersweet the goodbye, fans inevitably won't have to wait also long before saying hello to a new crop of New or Young Avengers who will dictate the next era of the MCU.