Some More Thoughts on 'Avengers: Endgame'

I still have a couple of scattered thoughts about Avengers: Endgame that I wasn’t able to address in my review for it.  I will lay them down here in this blog post.  Spoilers ahead.

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During the exhilarating portals scene, where the heroes and their allies poured in to stand with Captain America in the battle against Thanos and his army, Doctor Strange and Wong had this exchange:

“Is that everyone?”

“What?  You wanted more?”

Uh, I actually did, Wong.  Yes, it was a mindboggling ensemble already.  But I could think of a few characters that I wish could have been in it.

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For starters, I wish Black Widow, Vision, and Loki could have participated in that epic throwdown.  I understand why they couldn’t, so I wasn’t really disappointed about it.  Still, it was pretty sad that those characters/actors weren’t able to join in the fun.

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I was expecting for Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. (at the very least, those operating in the Helicarrier in Age of Ultron) to step out from one of those portals.  They surprisingly didn’t.  They should have been there in that final battle.

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Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne were cool and all that, but I would have loved it if the OG Ant-Man and Wasp – Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) – joined the fight, too.  You can never have too many size manipulators.

Speaking of size manipulators…

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A whole team of Giant-Men/Goliaths would have been awesome.   I was reminded of how cool it was that the Ultimates – the Earth-1610 version of the Avengers – had a division of such in their team.  Nevertheless, Scott Lang – in Giant-Man form – getting to punch that Chitauri Leviathan was sufficiently rewarding already.

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It took a second viewing for me to notice that one of the groups that aided the Avengers in the final battle was the Ravagers.  Since that was the case, it’s a bit of a letdown that the Russos failed to include the MCU versions of Starhawk (Sylvester Stallone), Martinex (Michael Rosenbaum), Charlie-27 (Ving Rhames), and Aleta (Michelle Yeoh) – who, if you can remember, are Ravagers in this reality – in that final battle.

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I understand the necessity for Endgame to have a more focused narrative, and that it didn’t have time to introduce any new superhero character.  That being said, I was disappointed that there wasn’t a new superhero that got to debut in this film.  Okay, Pepper Potts debuting as Rescue counts as one.  But I would have loved another MCU-debuting superhero participating in that final battle.  How about Red Hulk?  William Hurt’s Thunderbolt Ross was on hand anyway.  Plus, as proven by Captain America: Civil War, the Russos are very much capable of integrating superhero introductions to the plot without making the whole thing come off as bloated and unstable.

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And lastly, the characters I would have really, really, really wanted to be surprised about joining that final battle was Netflix’s Defenders.

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During the onset of the MCU’s supposed TV arm – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, etc. – we were promised that “all are connected.”  But that turned out being complete BS.  Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. did some minor tie ups early on – which, in retrospect, were actually pathetic – and the Netflix shows made some nods to events and elements from the movies.  In the end, everything was a big nothing burger.  As it turns out, Marvel Studios and Marvel Entertainment, and its subsidiary Marvel Television (the company making the films are separate from the company that is making the comics and TV shows, but both are subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company), weren’t really on the same page about the TV shows’ “all are connected” philosophy.  Never did the MCU films acknowledge the TV shows.  Well, not until Endgame.  But the best they could offer was a cameo for Agent Carter’s Jarvis.

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Apparently, Howard the Duck – who first had cameos in the Guardian of the Galaxy films – was actually in that final battle.  He came out of the portal with the Ravagers.  It was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.  It would have been a more exciting cameo if he was given a more prominent screen time as well as a few lines to say.

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Adam Warlock was an important player in the fight against Thanos in the Infinity Gauntlet comics.  He was teased in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and I somewhat imagined that one of the surprises set for Endgame was Adam Warlock’s debut – that Marvel had cast an A-list actor, and thoroughly kept it a secret.  Anyway, I wasn’t really bummed that the character was absent in this movie.

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“Hi, I’m… Peter Parker.”

“Hey, Peter Parker.  You got something for me?”

I make it no secret that I’m not much of a fan of Brie Larson and her characterization of Captain Marvel.  However, I thought she was very likable in that brief exchange with Spider-Man.  It seemed like the two instantly develop a rapport with each other.  That moment almost echoed the endearing chemistry that their comic book counterparts used to share.  I was anticipating that that scene would develop into a sequence where they would get to perform their iconic slingshot maneuver, and my heart sank when what came next was a borderline-cringey A-Force reference instead.  If Spidey and Captain Marvel performed a slingshot maneuver at that moment, it would honestly have made up for my disappointment for the film’s lack of Defenders.

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Another interaction I wish Captain Marvel had was with Hulk.  From day one, I wanted to see these two characters’ version of the fastball special (the original is by Colossus and Wolverine) – in which Captain Marvel throws Hulk from space, turning him into a destructive projectile – be performed on the big screen.

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It was nice to see Endgame adapt Professor Hulk.  But I did wish there had been a “Hulk Smash!” Savage Hulk moment, where he bullies and obliterates Thanos’ forces and gets a rematch with the Mad Titan.

Hopefully, we’ll get to see Joe Fixit Grey Hulk next time.

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According to reports, the upcoming Black Widow movie is going to be a prequel.  Makes sense, with Natasha Romanoff now dead and all.  However, here’s another option: don’t make it entirely a prequel, but also a film set post-Endgame (simultaneous past and present narratives a la The Godfather Part II) and introduce Monica Chang to the MCU.  It can also tie up with the Shang-Chi movie that Marvel is rumored to be developing.

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The return of the Infinity Stones to the exact time they were initially taken would supposedly erase the alternate timelines that were created by the Avengers’ time traveling.  But if so, shouldn’t that mean that past Gamora – who is from an alternate timeline – would have been erased, too?  But that seemed to be not the case, as we saw Star-Lord searching for her with the use of the ship’s computer.  If that was a loophole, what was stopping the Avengers from time traveling again to one of those botched up timelines so they can take a past Black Widow with them to the present before Captain America returns the Stone for that period?

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Based on the rules established by the plot (as laid out mostly by Bruce Banner), the 2012 timeline where Loki escaped should be already a splintered timeline that couldn’t be fixed.  Even if Cap manages to return the Mind Stone and the Time Stone at the exact time they were first taken, the escape of Loki still happened at that point in time.

Moreover, how did Cap manage to return the Mind Stone Scepter to those Hydra sleeper agents without messing up Winter Soldier?  After all, he had let them assumed that he was Hydra, too.  A possible solution is that he could pretend that it was Loki masquerading as Cap that took the Scepter from them, and he had just taken it from “Loki” and was returning it to them.  Thus, the Hydra agents would think that the one who whispered “Hail Hydra” to them was Loki, and wasn’t the real Cap.  The problem is, it would be predicated to the event of Loki escaping.  Meaning, again, this alternate timeline is unerasable.

But maybe the whole thing was the setup for the upcoming Loki series for Disney+.

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Another issue arising from Cap’s time travel mission was when he decided to stay in the past and marry Peggy Carter.  In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it was revealed that Peggy was married to one of the thousands of WW II soldiers whose lives were saved by Cap’s sacrifice.  If so, then by stepping in and marrying Peggy Carter for himself, Cap created an alternate timeline.  From that point on, he would be living in an alternate timeline, and it would have been impossible for him to show up in his old age at that bench, for that is no longer the timeline he’s in.

The solution here is that the “husband” mentioned in Winter Soldier had been Cap all along (this really could be, as there were photos of Peggy and her children, but no photo of her and her “husband.”  Maybe they were keeping his identity a secret).  That should keep the timeline linear.

Nevertheless, even if this is so, how was Cap certain of all these?  How did he know he wouldn’t be creating an alternate timeline by retiring in the past and marrying Peggy?  If he was that “husband” all along, how was he able to come to this knowledge?  Surely, he didn’t just act out of thoughtless impulse without any consideration for these things, right?  It would have been uncharacteristic of him.

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I presume that Cap was briefed by Hawkeye that the guardian of the Soul Stone was the Red Skull.  Still, I’m extremely curious how that meeting would have turn out.

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Seriously, an entire movie can be made out of Captain America’s off-screen time travel mission, and I would love to see one made.  Maybe that will also serve to clear up all the implied plot holes.

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I kind of hated it when Avengers NOW! made Sam Wilson the new Captain America in the comics.  However, I’m genuinely excited where the MCU will be taking this with Anthony Mackie.  I felt it was more earned in his case.

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On the other hand, though I was heavily skeptical at first, I ended up enjoying the run of the female Thor (who was later revealed to be Jane Foster) that Avengers NOW! introduced.  It had been a longtime wish of mine to see her in the MCU.  It would be so awesome if Marvel puts this into development and convinces Natalie Portman to come back and commit to this project.

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I won’t ever get tired of rewatching that scene where Star-Lord and Thor “cleared up” who the leader of the Guardians would be. If that was any indication, Chris Pratt and Chris Hemsworth are going to make so much comedy gold in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.  Really looking forward to it!

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Thor was never a Guardian of the Galaxy in the comics.  Iron Man was.  Captain Marvel was.  Even Ant-Man was.  Bu not Thor.  So why is MCU Thor made to join MCU Guardians?  My guess is that decision was made when James Gunn was still fired as director, and the Marvel bosses were planning to let Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi helm it.

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Beta Ray Bill is a current Guardian in the comics though.  Maybe Vol. 3 will see Thor passing the torch – i.e. Stormbreaker – to Beta Ray Bill?

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By the way, Star-Lord just got to Earth.  Shouldn’t he hang out a bit longer and be updated on stuff?