It's the end of an era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Marvel just about pulls it off. Avengers Endgame begins and ends with quiet, intimate moments. And it's that sense of intimacy that makes this galaxy-spanning Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster such a triumph. Marvel's chapter-closing Endgame is in theaters now and already breaking box office records and mobilizing emotional fans. We open in a rural field as a hero loses everything, his family, his whole life, the same devastating loss felt by half the galaxy. It ends in another tranquil countryside as another hero regains the life he lost long before. And he also passes a baton to the future, pointing the way to a new era for the Avengers and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In between, Endgame tells an epic story. It spans the galaxy, across space and time, and climaxes with a time-realigning battle involving vast armies of superstar superheroes. Sure, we're hurtling to alien planets and traveling in time.

 

The prologue shows us the home life of Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, aka Ronin. His family vanishes in an instant, victims of the cliffhanger from Infinity War that wiped out half the souls in the universe. Where Infinity War ended with the devastating scene of beloved heroes turning to dust, this scene drops us right back in the devastation as real people vanish. With every new Avengers movie, it's easy to joke about Hawkeye's dispensability to the narrative, but -- not for the first time -- Barton is us. Crap haircut and all. Cut to deep space. We may be floating amid the luminescent magnificence of the cosmos, but Tony Stark and Nebula are bored. This silly game is the kind of thing the MCU has always excelled at -- little moments that make us love the characters as they head into the huge CG battles. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is at its best when its extraordinary situations are faced by, well, not exactly ordinary people, but certainly real people.

 

This isn't exactly My Dinner with Andre, although between Thanos' fruit, Natasha's sandwich and Hulk's tacos there's actually quite lot of food on show. But few superhero movies follow through on such emotional journeys for their heroes, with characters like Tony Stark and Thor plumbing the absolute depths of self-doubt and despair. Although it has to be said Thor's despair makes for some heavyweight humor. Tony Stark's reunion with his former friend Steve Rogers is particularly affecting -- if anything, the rift between them is deeper than ever. In his swansong as Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr. gives a masterful performance. The scene where he first returns to Earth and bitterly lambastes Rogers is scintillating stuff. The MCU began with Downey breathing life into Tony Stark and Iron Man, and this expansive first chapter ends with his last breath. Chris Evans also bids farewell to Steve Rogers and Captain America, and while his character has fewer emotional angles its impossible.

 

Their fellow Avengers set out to undo the snap that brought worlds crashing down. With a bit of help from new recruit Captain Marvel, they quickly achieve what they couldn't throughout the whole of Infinity War, finding Thanos and parting the mauve mass murderer from his domed head. Dispatching Thanos so early is an audacious maneuver by the filmmakers, wrong-footing the audience from the start. It's the boldest twist the film makes, however. From then on events could have been written by a committee as characters have countless crowd-pleasing encounters and conclusions. It's hugely satisfying and you can't begrudge fans or characters their happy ending. Still, a few daring twists would have helped the film feel less like it's proceeding on rails. Compare Endgame with the most recent Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, for instance. Say what you like about it -- lots of disgruntled fans have -- but it wasn't afraid to challenge viewers by exploring the very foundations of the franchise.

 

It's intriguing, though, that these superheroes face a problem against which their superpowers are almost irrelevant. With Thanos gone, the heroes must deal with something they can't punch or laser-blast. As Steve points out, "The world is in our hands... We gotta do something with it." It's the strength of their character, not their muscles, that counts. That's a subtext we can identify with. For Thor and Ronin, revenge and violence bring no peace. And in the real world, there are no easy solutions, no colorful cartoon villains to punch back into space -- whether it's xenophobia or inequality or climate change, problems are solved by collaboration, persistence and refusing to give up just because life seems overwhelming. In a way, the actual filmmaking elements of Endgame are secondary. Things like cinematography, music and production design almost seem invisible, merely a delivery system for the characters we've come to know and love.

 

As so often in this era of sequels and reboots and cinematic universes, off-screen distractions detract from the impact of the ending. Fans will know several of the supposedly dead -- Black Widow, Vision and Loki -- are set to star in their own movies or TV shows on the planned Disney Plus streaming service. As even as the end of Endgame promises a fresh start, we already know in the back of our minds that the finale isn't final after all. Some people are really gone, and some are just kind of gone. It might not be perfect, but Endgame is still a towering entertainment experience. It's a genuine emotional roller coaster, delivering a satisfying if safe conclusion for these much-loved icons. Intimate character moments’ drive this epic blockbuster to its emotional endgame. I laughed, I cried, I held my breath. I can't believe this is the end. And I'm glad it isn't.

 

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