There's no doubt that Avengers: Endgame is going to be one of the most defining flicks
of 2019.
From marketing efforts to storytelling promises, from the all-star cast to the movie's title,
here are the things that Endgame has already hit right out of the park.
These days, it's almost impossible to avoid spoilers for upcoming films.
And the bigger the movie, the worse it is.
From rabid fans spreading rumors to paparazzi crashing fim sets to leaks from within the
studios themselves, spoilers are plastered across the internet.
In fact, many movies these days spoil the plot in their own trailers!
It can be a real bummer for fans who want to be surprised.
All of which makes the marketing campaign for Avengers: Endgame so amazing.
Not only has Marvel managed to keep any real spoilers from slipping out, they also released
several gripping trailers and teasers that somehow ratcheted up excitement without actually
telling us much of anything at all.
Even the name of the film itself was a closely guarded secret until the first teaser hit
in December.
And even when fans guessed something correctly, Marvel was great about… well, completely
lying in order to keep their secrets.
When directly asked if the title of the fourth Avengers film was spoken by a character in
Avengers: Infinity War, co-director Joe Russo offered up a terse and direct "No," sending
fans in another direction.
But that was a dang lie!
"We're in the endgame now."
Well played, Marvel.
Well played.
The complete lack of information has actually helped fuel excitement among fans, as they've
been forced to make up their own theories, which have since been debated endlessly online.
And the less they tell us, the more we want to know.
It's all a testament to the tremendous cliffhanger Marvel left us with at the end of Avengers:
Infinity War.
Ending one of the biggest, most anticipated films in history with the good guys losing
and almost everyone dead was a massive risk, and it's one that has paid off in spades.
Since the beginning of the MCU, Marvel has put as much emphasis on fun as they do on
action:
"And three...two...one…"
So shifting to the kind of downbeat story that Infinity War delivered and Endgame promises
would seem like a dramatic shift.
And it is, emphasis on the drama part.
One of the few constant criticisms of the movies taking place in the MCU has been that
the stories' stakes aren't high enough.
For instance, in Captain America: Civil War, the massive battle between superheroes had
only one temporary casualty in the form of War Machine.
And by the end of the movie, he was back to cracking jokes:
"Are you Tony Stank?"
"Yes.
This is, this is Tony Stank.
You're in the right place.
Thank you for that."
Luckily, the Russo brothers knew that an event like Avengers: Endgame needed something more
real, because it needed to actually matter to fans.
Anthony Russo declared that:
"Unless you have real stakes, you're sort of limited in terms of the emotional impact
a story can have on you…
What we're looking for in storytelling or art is emotional catharsis.
And that's not simply getting what you want.
It's getting an emotional experience that makes you feel and respond to it and energizes
you on some level."
Co-director Joe Russo added that:
"This is a fantasy world, and yes, remarkable things can happen in a fantasy world, [but]
they come at an incredibly high cost."
Right from the start, Marvel has been up front about its master plan, with its Phase 1 films
leading into its Phase 2 films, which led to its Phase 3 films, which led to…
Avengers: Endgame.
So after 21 films and 11 years of buildup, it's fitting that Endgame is poised to tie
together every corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This process already began in Infinity War, which brought together the straightforward
superhero world of the Avengers with the cosmic action of the Guardians of the Galaxy and
the mystic might of the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange.
And Endgame seems like it'll go even further, with Ant-Man and the Quantum Realm set to
play a central role in the fight against Thanos.
Until now, even with two films under his belt, it's felt like Ant-Man has been on the fringes
of the MCU.
But with the littlest Avenger potentially playing the biggest part, Marvel has managed
to do the impossible: make moviegoers truly care about nearly every character appearing
in more than 40 hours of films.
Finally, Avengers: Endgame is already doing something right simply by being what it's
name implies: an ending.
One of the big problems with comic books, or movie franchises, or TV shows, is that
the stories are pretty much all middle.
You get the origin, and then the adventures go on and on and on… but nothing ever ends
or truly changes.
Because then there wouldn't be a franchise to earn more and more money.
Avengers: Endgame, though, has set itself up as an actual ending.
Not for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, of course.
We all know there will be future films in the MCU, though exactly what they'll be is
another spoiler Marvel is holding on to until after Endgame, uh, ends.
But it certainly looks as though Endgame will provide some closure to the MCU as we've known
it so far.
As the trailer suggests, major characters like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America form
the foundation of the MCU, and one or more of them are likely to see their stories come
to a conclusion.
And it's not just them: characters like Hawkeye...
Gamora... and Bruce Banner all have questions to be answered and character arcs to complete.
Don't expect all you favorite characters to get happy endings, though.
Thanks in part to the recent acquisition of Fox by parent company Disney, Marvel has a
whole new wave of heroes they can feature in upcoming phases, like the X-Men and the
Fantastic Four.
That gives them the unusual luxury of being able to afford to give a proper, and final,
farewell to some of their biggest characters and franchises so far.
Because they don't have to worry about the box office, all they have to worry about is
making a good story that will satisfy fans who have spent a decade of their lives getting
invested in the fate of the Avengers.
And so far, it sure looks as though Marvel is going to make good on just about all their
promises.
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