Hello everyone!
Perri here, teaming up with collider.com's Matt Goldberg for a brand new ending explained
video - this one for Avengers Endgame.
As always we must brand this video with a BIG spoiler warning because - hey! - it’s
an ending explained video so it’s pretty much ALL spoilers.
With that taken care of - Avengers: Endgame has some real finality to it, especially where
two of its biggest characters are concerned.
Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man is dead and Chris Evans’ Captain America is an old man.
But the thing is, these endings can actually help breathe new life into the MCU by making
what came before matter even more.
These conclusions feel like the natural end of their stories.
When Tony Stark decided to become Iron Man, he wasn’t just deciding to fight against
the weapons he created.
He was also remaking his entire life, going from reckless playboy to someone who’s putting
his life on the line to right a wrong.
Throughout the MCU he does makes new mistakes while trying to fix what’s been broken.
And as you see at the beginning of Endgame, Tony’s even mentions thinking that a suit
of armor around the world could have at least have protected it from Thanos.
Tony’s thoughtful process is basically, “I created weapons?
I’ll become a weapon to stop those weapons.”
“I want to hang up the need for the Avengers?
I’ll create an autonomous machine whose job is to protect humanity.”
“I feel responsible for the collateral damage I’ve caused?
I’ll support accords that impose regulations on superheroes.”
As Iron Man 3 points out, he’s constantly trying to fix things.
And yet in Endgame, when it came to a problem he couldn’t outthink and fix, Tony acted,
wiping away Thanos and his army at the cost of his own life.
For Tony Stark, Endgame isn’t just about the nightmare of having lost so many.
It’s that he survived.
And survivor’s guilt has long haunted Tony, ever since the first Iron Man.
And then it was compounded when he got a glimpse of the other side of the portal in The Avengers.
His sacrifice in Endgame winds up giving the MCU a nice symmetry and it also provides a
proper close to his story.
The guy who tries to control everything gives up his life and in his dying moments, realizing
that the world is in the safe hands of the people he loves and inspires.
He did “build a suit of armor around the world”, but it wasn’t his machines; it
was the people who followed his example.
As for Steve Rogers’ story, that one’s a little different.
Endgame gives fans what they want but the key is, it’s earned.
When Steve decides to stay back in time, it opens up a can of worms: Did he assume a new
identity?
Did he stop helping people?
Does going back in time negate his sacrifice in Captain America: The First Avenger when
he goes into the ice?
But pulling at that thread is ultimately unrewarding because Steve Rogers earned his happy ending.
Marvel Studios rewards heroes for their heroism.
The desire to do good is its own reward, and that’s what makes a hero in the MCU.
And that quiet heroism is a fitting conclusion for Steve Rogers because it shows what would
make him happiest.
In The Winter Soldier and Civil War, you can see Steve is a man out of time.
He’ll never quite fit in with the modern world, not because we can’t accept his goodness,
but because he’s simply from another era.
He can figure things out, but he belongs in the middle of the 20th century, not in the
early 21st century.
Where he belongs is with Peggy, and it’s hard to say that’s a selfish decision when
you see all that he’s done.
And when he goes back, it’s not to reset the course of the 20th century.
He simply just wants a life with the woman he loves.
Is that fan service?
Yeah, maybe.
But these movies are made with the fans in mind, and while it may occasionally go against
expectations, Marvel movies are here so that we can escape to a movie where people do good
things and good things happen to them.
It’s a world where there’s a semblance of fairness and that you can be reunited with
the person you love.
Matt notes that he’d like to think that that scene of Cap in the support group is
an indication of who Cap was when he went back in time - someone who helps others, even
if it’s just emotional support.
Cap’s MCU ending shows that Steve Rogers wasn’t defined by war, but by peace.
And through the conclusions of both of these stories, we get a shape to them.
They have closure and the characters and their stories are stronger because they don’t
go on indefinitely.
The ending of Endgame isn’t just a farewell to these beloved characters; it’s a way
to give them the sendoff they deserve.
Thanks so much for watching this video everyone!
If you’ve got additional thoughts on Iron Man and Cap’s big finish, do chime in in
the comments section below.
For myself and Matt Goldberg, thanks again for watching this video.
Please don’t forget to like and share it, and keep an eye on the channel for even more
Avengers: Endgame coverage!