WARNING: This Blog WILL contain Spoilers for Avengers Endgame and may contain spoilers for any of the MCU Movies. You have been warned!!
Hello Internet!
I hope all of you have had a wonderful week…er… two weeks since I last talked to you. If you are wondering why uploads have been less frequent than before, I recommend checking out my Weekly Blog talking about how we are “Going Rogue” and how due to work I will be uploading less frequently. I’m going to try and publish things on the schedule that you as the reader and I as the writer have been used to, but it’s not guaranteed. Speaking of which, I should probably mention all the pieces that have been published in the past two weeks, but before I get to that, I want to thank you all! Recently we passed the milestone of 400 Pieces being published on the website with the Writing Prompt Piece: Emergency Meeting of the World Council (#400). Well this past week we hit another milestone. We passed 400 Followers here on WordPress!! Thank you so much for everyone who has followed the website and continue to do so. All the support really means the world to me, especially as I am not able to write as much. Every piece that gets published, gets showered in love and support and it really means so much to me, so thank you for joining this community and thank you for reading my stuff. Now let’s quickly talk about the most recent pieces to be published to the website. Last Friday, April 26th, 2019, I published a Writing Prompt Piece titled “An Almost Perfect Recreation” which is a shorter piece about a man trapped in a room that he somewhat recognizes. It’s like a dream or Déjà Vu, but something seems off about the room. You got to read it to find out more. The other piece I published was a Poem that came out this past Wednesday, May 1st, 2019. It’s a Haiku titled Flowing River and I’ll give you three guesses what’s it about. That’s right. It’s quite literally about a flowing river and the water rushing by. It’s short. It’s simple. But reading it might give you a moment of tranquility.
Now it’s time to talk about something that is 11 years in the making. The latest movie in a long line of spectacular, over-the-top movies all leading to one, final battle between Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and The Mad Titan. That’s right, we’re talking Avengers Endgame. I mean how could I not talk about such an amazing movie which is smashing box office records as I write this. As a Marvel Movie fan and an appreciator of this cultural moment we are living through, it would be a huge missed opportunity not to talk about this movie. If you haven’t seen it and you care even a little bit about Marvel or The Marvel Cinematic Universe, I highly recommend watching the movie before reading further. This Weekly Blog will contain spoilers and you would be doing yourself a big disservice spoiling the movie before you get a chance to see it. I know tickets are still a little hard to come by, but hit an 11 am showing if you have to. No time is a bad time to see this movie.
Also while I’m on the subject, if you are seeing this movie in theaters (or any movie in the theaters) remember that the theater should be a spoiler-free place. It’s quite possible that the people standing in line to buy popcorn are on their way to see the movie you just walked out of, and you don’t want to ruin their experience by talking about the movie’s biggest moments on your way out of the theater. Just wait until you get to your car and then you can talk about the crazy fight scenes or best one-liners in the movie. Also be nice and courteous to the people working at the movie theater. They are working hard to make sure that you have a good movie going experience, so be polite to them while buying your tickets and refreshments, and after the movie, CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF! They are not your parents and they should not have to clean up after you. It’s possible you might drop a few pieces of popcorn on the ground or spill a bit of soda. That’s alright. But it should not look like a hurricane swept through the theater after the credits roll and the lights come on. Just take your trash out. It’s not that hard. Sorry about that rant. Let’s move to Avengers Endgame.
Avengers Endgame was such a spectacular movie that I enjoyed thoroughly. I have seen some compare this movie to a “Greatest Hits Album” and I tend to agree with that. After a slow buildup where The Avengers behead Thanos and then have to just sit through Five long years unable to undo the Snap and return their friends, we get to experience a time heist. Tony Stark figures out time travel through The Quantum Realm and that leads to The Avengers jumping to another, big moments from other Marvel Movies. We have Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, and Ant Man traveling to the 2012 Battle For New York seen in the first Avengers Movie. We see Nebula, War Machine, Hawkeye, and Black Widow traveling into space so Nebula and War Machine can experience the first scene of Guardians of the Galaxy while Hawkeye and Black Widow travel to Vormir to get The Soul Stone. Then finally you have Thor and Rocket traveling to Asgard during Thor: The Dark World (of all movies) to receive The Ether/The Reality Stone. I don’t want to get too much into the minutia of the plot because I’m presuming everyone has seen the movie, but we get moments like Thor talking to his mother, Ant Man complimenting “America’s Ass”, Captain America saying “Hail Hydra” to avoid repeating the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye and Black Widow fighting one another to see who will make the ultimate sacrifice for The Soul Stone. Each part of these journeys has its moments of laughs and action, but watching Black Widow sacrifice herself was a touching, heartfelt moment which really resonated with me. After Captain America and Iron Man travel to the 1970’s, The Grand Master gives The Hulk the Time Stone, and the rest of the Infinity Stones are collected, they all make their way back to Present Day. All except Present Nebula who gets snatched by Past Thanos after learning the two Nebulas (past and present) are linked together. The Avengers bring the five stones together and Hulk snaps, bringing back all the snapped, now in present day. All seems good for a moment, until Thanos shows up. Thanos comes to the present, wages war on the Avengers and absolutely destroys The Avengers Base.
This kicks off the third act where The Avengers must fight off Thanos and his army while keeping The Infinity Stones out of Thanos’ hand. And what a battle this is. Again, I’ll just hit the highlights. Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor all fighting Thanos is a really cool battle. There are moments like Thor charging up Iron Man and of course, Captain America picking up Mjolnir and proving he is worthy to wield the lighting hammer. Even though these three are some of the strongest in their own right, Thanos is an even match, and when Thanos army marches in, all things seem lost. Captain America stands on one side, sheild broken, facing down Thanos and an entire army. But then, things get real crazy. Dr. Strange portals show up and another army marches out to take on Thanos. We have other Avengers like Dr. Strange, Spider-man, Bucky Barnes, Scarlet Witch, and Black Panther alongside The Army of Wakanda, Sorcerers, and Ravengers. More incredible action scenes occur and Captain Marvel swoops down from the sky to kick some serious butt! A plan is hatched to get the infinity stones to Ant Man’s van which holds a portal to the Quantum Realm, but eventually Thanos destroys the van and gets the Infinity Guantlet. He plans to snap again, but instead of wiping out half the universe, he’s going to snap out the entire world and start over. Thanos is about to use the stones, but Iron Man gives one last final effort. He steals the stones and instead Iron Man snaps, wiping out Thanos and the rest of the army. The Avengers has won, but not without a cost. The power of the stones is too much for Iron Man/Tony Stark to handle, and Tony Dies.
Then one of the most powerful scenes happen. They hold Tony Stark’s funeral, and there wasn’t one dry eye in the theater. It was so touching to see them send of the iconic character that started the whole idea of The MCU in this way and I’ll admit, I cried like a baby. Seeing all the people who were touched by Tony Stark and just knowing of the legacy he is leaving behind, was emotional. In some ways it’s silly because it’s a fictional character. I mean Robert Downey Jr is still alive and living his best life. It’s just a movie! But on the other hand this movie symbolizes a closing to a cinematic accomplishment build on the base of Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr’s portrayal of Tony Stark. Even though Spider-man: Far From Home is technically the end of Marvel Phase Three and The Infinity Saga, this movie is really the bookend to Tony Stark’s life and ties up the plot around Thanos and The Infinity Stones. Seeing all these comic book characters on screen attending Tony Stark’s funeral was emotional to say the least, but there is a little bit left of the movie. You have Happy Hogan (AKA Jon Favreau) telling Tony Stark’s Daughter, Morgan Stark, he is going to buy her all the cheeseburgers she wants and you have Captain America returning Mjornir and The Infinity Stones to their rightful place in the timeline. Hulk sends him back in time, but Captain America decides to return to the 1940s after returning the stones. He decides to have that dance with Peggy and live his life as a normal man with a wife. He returns to the present we know as a much older Captain America ready to handle off the mantle and shield off to Sam Wilson/The Falcon. Again, this is a very touching moment.
So what did I think of this movie? Well you’re not going to be too surprised, but I loved this movie. There are very few movies of the MCU that I don’t care for, and even then, they still have some great moments. I know some people don’t like superhero movies or think that the genre is becoming too overplayed, but I believe that Marvel/Disney know what they are doing when they make these movies. These movies are just superhero movies to some, but to me, they soar above that label. They set a high bar for superhero movies and Avengers Endgame really sticks the landing when it comes to concluding The Infinity Saga. I’m excited for Spider-man: Far From Home and I’m joyfully optimistic to see what Kevin Fiege and the people over at Marvel have cooking for Marvel Phase 4. I’m sure stakes will be lower now that Thanos is out of the picture, but I’m honestly okay with that. Just focus on these heroes and start planting seeds for the next big thing whether that be Avengers vs. X-Man, The Fantastic Four and Galactus, or something else. These movies have made me trust Marvel and their decisions to make not only great movies, but to have a larger, overarching plot for their cinematic universe. I will miss Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man and Chris Evans as Captain America, but I’m excited to see what they’ll do with Anthony Mackie as Falcon/Captain America and characters like Black Panther and Captain Marvel. The MCU is closing an important chapter, but the future looks bright as long as they stay the course.
So, yeah. No hot takes here. Is Time Travel confusing? Was Captain Marvel kind of absent from this movie? Yes and yes. But altogether I really enjoyed the movie and I highly recommend watching it if you haven’t…again you kind of spoiled it for yourself, but there are still a ton of smaller moments to enjoy that I didn’t get to touch on, so it’s probably still worth watching. Or maybe you have seen it and you just want more. I know that while writing this, I really got the urge to watch it again. I wonder if I can find some IMAX tickets….hmmm…
Anyway, thank you so much for reading that Weekly Blog. Talking about movies and my enjoyment of them isn’t something I do regularly here on the website, but I knew I had to talk about this one. If you liked this Weekly Blog or just love Avengers Endgame, feel free to give this a like. You can also leave a comment down below talking about what you liked or didn’t like about Avengers Endgame or share some ideas about what you think Marvel should do for Phase 4. Just make sure you keep it respectful. If you really liked this Weekly Blog or just want to read more of my stuff, feel free to Follow me here on WordPress. If you do that, you’ll join an awesome, positive community as well as see my stuff pop up in your “Reader” feed when things get published. You can also Follow me on Twitter. That will also let you know when things get published. Plus I’m fairly active over there and I love retweeting awesome art. Also make sure you check out all the other awesome pieces on the website if you haven’t already. We have over 400 pieces including Weekly Blogs, Poetry, Writing Prompt Pieces, and Fanfiction! You should be able to find some pieces you like or maybe a whole new series of pieces to read. Okay. Is that everything? I think so.
Thank you again for your love and support and I hope you have a wonderful week!
-Allen_The_Writer
Header Photo Credit to The Avengers Official Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/avengers/
Allen The Writer 