Image owned by Marvel/Disney and from Radio Times (Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.)  are about to see some serious shit)

 

You will be exhausted and maybe at a loss for words once you reach a conclusion, not the conclusion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Of course it’s not the end, the next installment is roughly two months away. But if there is a justifiable end point, this is it.

I’m not about to say I’m finished with Marvel Studios’ output. In fact, how Endgame…ends does still leave you hungry for more. The possibilities for the universe are no less small than before, but it will be a different universe to digest. The first thing that people will ask is “What, if anything, can top what has been accomplished here and now?”

I’m interested in the answer and the inevitable introduction of the Fox properties from the recent acquisition Disney pulled off is probably going to help along the process. What merry and marvelous tales will the X-men, Deadpool and at last, a proper Fantastic Four bring forth to our unending entertainment appetites?

But that is not the purpose of this critique. How does the surviving Avengers avenge?

Well, you’ll have to see the movie to find out. Easier done than said as you are statistically likely to see it anyway. What matters is if it works out in the end. It does.

There are insane, suitably fanservicy sequences that will surprise and leave you feeling gladder for having taken part in viewing it. There are legitimate surprises in how the plot over its three hours plays out. It helps alleviate the predictability of how the Avengers course correct Thanos’ universal purge from the prior film. It speaks volumes that certain moments that I saw coming a mile away are also moments I was hoping for as well.

Aside from the remaining Avengers reassembling to figure out a reversal for the snap, there is nothing else I want to hint at when it comes to this movie. Even if you have theorized and figured how it will play out, it’s better for the proceedings to confirm or disprove the endless speculation you may have been part of.

What really sells the truly, and I mean TRULY, incredible spectacle and bombast that awaits is the film does not rush in foolishly to what you came to see. There is a time to wait, let the effects of half the population vanishing into nothing, wash over those that survived.

The movie treats its characters seriously and their own problems as seriously as you would expect in our own universe despite it involving a talking raccoon. They started off that way and for some in the cast, they plan to finish that way, as it should be.

The movie does not shy away from humor like in the past, and it is not drowned in the weight of it. It helps both as comic relief, as per usual and as a way to publicly comment and laugh along with the imperfections and minor mistakes the characters can make. The roles of Thor, Scott Lang(Ant-Man), Bruce Banner and for some of the time, Tony Stark(Iron Man) are meant for this and are ripe with gut-busters.

The movie transitioning in reeling from the crisis to figuring out a solution to the crisis to the incredible tour de force pay off is exactly or close to exactly what I was hoping for and it almost seems like a perfect experience. Almost.

Due to my justified desire not to spoil almost anything, a lot of the gripes, admittingly many of them textbook nitpicks, can’t be elaborated on. They will have long reaching room for conversations calm, snarky and rage filled online or offline. There will be diverging opinions on whether the logic of this plot point or that point or this plot point actually creates a problem that seems pretty serious in retrospect.

Of course, Marvel has the opportunity to address the new questions that come with how the fourth Avengers concludes and sets the stage for a new direction that is honestly, still worth getting excited about. It’s more than likely that Spider-Man: Far from Home and those that succeed it will be happy to find creative ways to hand-wave most of the complaints I do carry within me.

I’ll just say that in the end there is not reason to fear what happens in this movie in any deleterious sense. It will delight, shock, amuse, entertain, overwhelm  and as intended, marvel you.

The greatest accomplishment of Avengers Endgame is not that it encapsulates with great fanfare an eleven year lifespan of superhero films, but that it has its cake and eats it too. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is concluded. Long live the Marvel Cinematic Universe.