Spoiler Warning: This article will be delving in deep to spoiler territory of the last 30 minutes of Avengers: Endgame.
After 2/3 of the movie leading up to an epic final battle, we see practically every member and affiliate of the Avengers past and present stand by the current roster against a past version of the Mad Titan Thanos for one final stand.
Due to a past version of Nebula (circa Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014) picking up present Nebula’s memory files, 2014’s Thanos was able to intercept present Nebula so that the past version of his adoptive daughter was able to take her place on the return trip back to the present day. Once in the present and while the team assembled a second complete Infinity Gauntlet, past Nebula was able to reactivate the Quantum Tunnel and bring past Thanos to the present day to a time when all six Infinity Stones were within his reach.
Despite the fact Professor Hulk is able to fix reality and bring back everyone who was murdered by Thanos’ “Infinity Snap”, our heroes must still face off against the big bad of the MCU once again, the Black Order and their armies.
While most of our heroes scramble to save themselves from the ruins of the destroyed Avengers Facility, Captain America, Iron Man and Thor all face-off against Thanos with nothing but determination on their side. Past Nebula meanwhile finds Hawkeye in the rubble with the second Infinity Gauntlet, but just as she is about to murder him, the 2014 version of Gamora shows up to reason with her sister after her future sister gets through to her. This does not go to plan and present-day Nebula is forced to shoot her past self before she can kill her sister. Fortunately, due to Nebula being cybernetic, the rules of murdering your past self don’t affect Nebula in the same way.
With Thanos managing to fend off the might of a super soldier, Iron Man and a god with not one but two enchanted godly weapons, even though at one point Captain America wields Thor’s Hammer proving a long-running fan-theory that he is indeed worthy, the Mad Titan moves onto plans of conquest and summons his armies.
However, in one of the most beautiful scenes in any superhero movie, all the dusted heroes return to the exact points they were murdered and, with the help of the Masters of the Mystical Arts, all arrive on the battlefield to help battle Thanos’ armies. During the heat of battle, the new Gauntlet gets passed around from hero to villain to hero to hero. Captain Marvel attempts to take the Gauntlet back through time but is thwarted by Thanos and so it is up to our original three heroes to finally put an end to Thanos’ terror.
Despite both Cap and Thor being defeated, Iron Man remains able to reach Thanos. Doctor Strange indicates to Stark that the reason he saved him in Infinity War was for this moment, the one outcome the heroes win. The armored Avenger tackles the Infinity Gauntlet away from Thanos, however when it looks like he doesn’t succeed and Thanos is again about to decimate reality with a snap of his fingers, it is revealed that Tony has managed to switch-out the Infinity Stones and place them in his own Gauntlet, using his nano-tech. (The new Gauntlet was basically an Iron Man “glove”, making this possible.)
With a final victorious line, that perfectly brings the Infinity Saga full circle, Iron Man lets the Mad Titan know exactly who he is, in which he says “I am Iron Man”, before snapping his own fingers and sending the Black Order, their armies and Thanos into dust.
However, as Tony is merely human, the power of the Infinity Stones is too much for him and the billionaire superhero meets an end surrounded by his nearest and dearest, like Pepper, Spider-Man, and Rhodes. With a touching memorial scene bringing together members and allies of the Avengers past and present, including a revived Nick Fury and grown up Harley Kenner from Iron Man 3, it seems as if reality can finally move on.
Thor decides to leave Earth and New Asgard with the Guardians of the Galaxy, even jokingly naming them the “Asgardians of the Galaxy” and names Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) as the Queen of New Asgard.
Wanda and Clint reminisce and mourn the losses of their fallen loved ones, Vision and Black Widow respectively, the latter of whom sacrificed herself so Clint could claim the Soul Stone.
The only thing left to do is return all six Infinity Stones to the point where they were taken so as to not cause alternate realities from branching off. This task is left to Captain America himself who returns to 2014 circa Guardians of the Galaxy, 2013 circa Thor: The Dark World, 2012 circa The Avengers, and 1970 New Jersey during the early days of S.H.I.E.L.D. where the Tesseract was retrieved.
However, after reality seems to be ready to move forward, Cap decides to move forward himself by not returning from 1970 and instead staying with love of his life Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). While waiting for Cap’s return, Bucky notices an elderly version of the first avenger sitting on a bench staring out at the lake. Steve not only stayed with Peggy, they got married, and grew old. Deciding to pass on the shield and mantle of Captain America to Falcon (Anthony Mackie), the story of Steve Rogers comes to a happy ending as the last shot of the movie is of he and Peggy finally having that dance they promised each other all those years ago.
After a poetic end credits selection that spotlights every major player over the past 23 movies, there is no official end-credits scene in terms of footage. However, at the very end of the credits there is some sort of metallic banging sound playing over the “Marvel Studios” logo.
With no explanation as to what this sound is, fans have been left pondering what this sound means for the future of the MCU. A new hammer being forged? A new hero’s origin? A new big bad villain rising? However, it’s most likely a tribute to Iron Man.
What do you guys think of the Avengers: Endgame ending? Will you miss Steve Rogers and Tony Stark? What do you think the future holds?
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame reportedly stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Frank Grillo, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, Chris Pratt, Jeremy Renner, Evangeline Lilly, Jon Favreau, Paul Rudd, and Brie Larson. Check out the synopsis below:
“After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War, the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to undo Thanos’ actions and restore order to the universe.”
Avengers: Infinity War is now on Digital and Blu-ray, while Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.
