Through Infinity and Beyond

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Ok, guys. It’s been over a week. So, here we go. Hot Take, I know. Endgame was phenomenal. It is fairly common that we see a franchise, be it film or television, weave us through dramatic yin and yang only to fumble it on the last chapter. However, it is sadly too uncommon to see one stick the landing. I’ve seen trilogies with less satisfying finales. We’ve all been through the heartbreak of a long running series’s mediocre conclusion. Which is exactly why, seeing what Endgame does with the resolution of so many plot threads and seemingly disparate arches is almost painfully beautiful. Not going to lie. I messy cried like four times. Bounced up and down giggling like a child more times than I can count. At the utterance of a single word, that up till now how been eluding the fandom for the last eleven years, I actually accomplished both in a joyful mess of raw emotion.

As with any spectacle piece, it takes time to unpack what the hell actually happened, and whether or not each and every effect had a cause preceding it. Does it all hang together? Largely, yes. Writing duo Marcus and McFeely, whose Marvel scribbling pedigrees are second to none, take bold steps with the script, allowing us a first act that is truly heart wrenching as we watch our heroes sit in the single biggest failure in their lives. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes brought low.

That’s when they bring us the method of our resolution that would, in any other hands, be groan worthy: Time Travel. As in one of my favorite Crichton novels, Timeline, they acknowledge the shear ridiculousness of the very nature of a time travel plot (Rhodey and Scott taking turns listing the pop cultural touchstones that came before) but then methodically break down how we’re going to do it.

To quote The Doctor, “This is where things get complicated.”

What comes next is a tour through Marvel Cinematic History that isn’t just confined to the previous movies. Connective tissue is added in between movies, and long expanses, and some how, astonishingly it all feels earned and rewarding.

The final battle deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible. The emotional fallout and denouement will echo through the franchise, if not pop culture itself. Psychologists were actually discussing that the deaths of characters could have real effects on the minds of viewers as so many people grew up along side the franchise. There are adults who were 10 or 12 when Iron Man came out. Some people have really never known a world without the connected Marvel Universe. But, here we are, on the raggedy edge. What comes next, I can only imagine. But, deep inside, there is a 14 year-old me getting ready to slip a new issue of Spider-Man out of a Mylar bag, ready for the next adventure.