“Part of the journey is the end.” 22 movies, 11 years, and countless heroes make up the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The franchise kicked off with the release of “Iron Man” in 2008, and the success of this film led to the creation of “The Avengers” in 2012. The namesake is, of course, a team of superheroes whose purpose is to protect Earth from any threats it faces. The Avengers- originally consisting of Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Hulk- quickly gained a huge fanbase of passionate and adoring viewers. Last year’s “Avengers: Infinity War” left us with the infamous aftermath of Thanos’s snap. Luckily, we didn’t need to wait long for answers to the questions “Infinity War” sparked- “Avengers: Endgame” was released on April 26, 2019.
Of course, last year’s Avengers film had an ending notorious for its helplessness and sorrow- audiences watched some of their favorite characters literally disintegrate in front of their eyes, after all. “Endgame” explores the aftermath of the snap and how it affected the characters mentally. For the sake of avoiding spoilers, there’s not much to say about the plot, but I can say it is akin to a love letter to the Avengers and the fans who have followed them for so long. By looking at the “Endgame” IMDb page, one may think that there’s no way such an extensive cast could combine to form an organized and focused movie. However, the Russo Brothers handle it with ease and pay close attention to the beloved original characters that have been built up in front of audiences for years. The purpose of the film is to allow the MCU to move on and “Endgame” is a passing-of-the-torch to the new characters. It’s bittersweet- I, for one, am psyched that the new leader of the MCU is female, but the first Avengers have been a team for half of my life, and it was sad to have to accept that they’re over.
The excitement for “Endgame” was clear from the moment tickets went on sale- I was kicked out of my Fandango app multiple times before purchasing my tickets because the seats were selling out so quickly. The energy in the theater was unlike any other movie I’ve been to- people clapped, laughed, yelled, cheered, and cried together. Still, it wasn’t 3 hours of continuous tears- there were plenty of jokes thrown in. A day after the first showings, #ThankYouAvengers started trending on Twitter as fans recounted their fondest memories and characters of the MCU. So far, “Endgame” has garnered $3 billion in box office sales, making it likely to dethrone “Avatar” as the highest grossing film of all time. The Avengers movies truly changed the game for superhero movies, bringing the most perfect conclusion to a series of movies that fans could have imagined. So, if you haven’t seen “Avengers: Endgame,” you should fix that ASAP (and bring plenty of tissues). There is truly no other movie like it.