Welcome back to Thrak Attack! What's your adventure? This week's adventure spanned 11 years, 22 movies, and multiple dimensions and planets. The MCU has finally finished it's first big story arc. Avengers: Endgame has finally arrived and closed out an 11 year saga for the franchise. If you have not seen this film, why are you even reading this FULL SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!
There is no news this week only Endgame. It's the end of an era. This film has it all! Amazing character arcs, beautiful visuals, emotional payoffs, hundreds of callbacks, and huge fight scenes. If you thought they forgot about anything from the 21 films preceding this one you were sorely mistaken. Here's my general thoughts and then we'll get into specific story beats.
I think this was one of the most innovative stories in a MCU film. It had the science of Stark, Pym, and Banner, with the humor of Guardians and Ragnarok, with the gravitas of Old Thor, Captain America, and Black Panther, and the missions akin to Ant-Man, and Captain Marvel. The film doesn't feel like 3 hours because it's so wonderfully paced and has many story arcs coming to a close. Is this going on my ultimate shelf? Yes, right with all of the other MCU: Infinity Saga films and I can't wait for more. I thought I would be over it after this film but now that I saw what I saw, I am hungry for what's to come next and I have a theory but let's get into the specifics and break down all 6 of the original Avengers stories and how they closed out.
Let's start from the beginning... Tony Stark got a second chance in a cave in Afghanistan and was told by Yinsen "Not to waste it"; this scene is so important to his arc but has barely been referenced throughout the films until now. Captain Marvel saves Stark and Nebula and when they're brought back to earth, Tony is defeated. He warned the rest of the Avengers of this happening again and no one listened and now they failed. After the time jump Tony has found himself a new home and started a family. He didn't waste it. But of course, Tony can't rest until he's truly done. So of course the adventures of the "Time Heist" in New York 2012 and New Jersey 1970 meeting his father for one last goodbye proves to him that he isn't ready to rest. The final bout with Thanos is great and Tony uses the new gauntlet proving to himself and to everyone else "He is Iron Man" and that his mission is complete. The funeral scene truly shows to the audience that he didn't waste it. Not only did he create his family but he connected and affected multiple others during his story arc. Beautiful. Poetic. Brilliant.
Captain America's is a little less amazing in my opinion. He starts out the film after the time jump helping people move from the decimation. He did after he was frozen so now they should too. But you could tell he never wanted to. Once Scott comes back and gives him hope, Cap is one of the few who immediately jumps at the chance for the time heist. Throughout his adventures in the 2012 New York (recreating the elevator scene which was fantastic, and fighting his past self) reminds him of his life in the future. His adventures in 1970 New Jersey reminded him of his life in the past and what he left behind. That was such an important reminder of what could have been... So the fight with Thanos, proving he's worthy by wielding Mjolnir, and the essential line we've been waiting for 11 years to hear "Avengers Assemble!" were muttered. The aftermath his him deciding not to come back to the future but gain what he lost from his past. He lived out his life with Peggy Carter and relinquished the title of Captain America to Sam Wilson WHO is more worthy of the title to Bucky for many reasons we will not discuss at this moment. The end of this story though sparks the beginning of the next which a lot of people missed through the tears but we'll get into that later.
Natasha Romanoff has always been trying to erase the red in her ledger and the atrocities she has committed in the past. Every film we see her guilt more and more and see the dramatic actions she takes to prove herself a hero and erase what she's done. Even after the decimation she continues to lead the team to help with any problem happening on earth or in the galaxy whether they can do anything about it or not. Clint Barton has lost everything and is pissed. His family, the one thing he was able to protect has been decimated out of existence. Instead of turning to the one other person he cares about, Natasha, he turns to the murder of every scumbag who survived the snap. It's not fair that the innocent were killed and the guilty were not. When Natasha gives him hope the only reason he goes is because it's Nat. He knows she'll do whatever it takes to make things right. When they end up on Vormir they have to make a choice. One who has been a monster most of her life, or one who just became a monster. This fight scene was great! We've seen 2 fights with them in the past and never felt that one of them was in danger. This one, however has weight to it. One of them has to die and it ended up being Nat. In order to save her family and Clint's she had to be the one to go. She gave them the opportunity to make things right and she died with a clear conscience knowing she did everything she could make things right.
Bruce Banner and the Hulk always treated each other as a disease or disorder. Both were scared of one another. From the Incredible Hulk of trying to get rid of the Hulk, to Avengers where they had more control but not fully and he also admitted to the attempted suicide. The next time we see Bruce or the Hulk is in Age of Ultron where Bruce has a pretty good handle on the Hulk. Unfortunately that does not allow him and Natasha to continue their relationship and Hulk makes the decision to leave Earth. The next time we see Hulk is on Sakaar in Ragnarok. This time he's been the Hulk for 2 years and Hulk has found his calling as a fighter but eventually does the right thing and helps Thor leave and Banner returns proving they are still both not in control. Infinity shows Hulk losing for the first time and disappearing through the rest of the film which brings us to Endgame where they finally learned to work together. Also Hulk was the first one to lose to Thanos in Infinity War it's only fitting that he be the one to bring everyone back in Endgame. His story is still happening but it's on a much different path.
Thor has always been told he's the rightful king of Asgard and will be the king after Odin's passing. Throughout the films he's been given more and more responsibility including the throne, the position of all father, and the ability to open the bi-frost with Stormbreaker. With all his power, he was unable to stop Thanos from snappin his fingers and it haunts him in Endgame. When he chopped off his head in his 3rd Thanos encounter also sends him down a dark path. This brings us to future fat Thor who is in a dark place. Once he talks with his mother and wield's Mjolnir again he comes back in full force for the final fight with Thanos. With all of his adventures and trying to be King he's destined to be he realized that that's not the way he wants to rule. He hands over the reins to Valkyrie as the King (or Queen) and goes off adventuring and protecting them from the next big threat.
The Original Avengers are no more but the idea of the Avengers has been instilled in all of the other heroes all across the galaxy and makes the future much brighter, or does it? The ancient one warned not to mess with time or a new future path will branch off from the regular flow of time. So we will see what consequences their time heist have for the future of the MCU.
Well those were my thoughts on Avengers: Endgame. Later on today I will have a Part 2 of this episode featuring the heaps of music we got over the weekend as well! I will see you in a bit!
All the Best, Ross
There is no news this week only Endgame. It's the end of an era. This film has it all! Amazing character arcs, beautiful visuals, emotional payoffs, hundreds of callbacks, and huge fight scenes. If you thought they forgot about anything from the 21 films preceding this one you were sorely mistaken. Here's my general thoughts and then we'll get into specific story beats.
I think this was one of the most innovative stories in a MCU film. It had the science of Stark, Pym, and Banner, with the humor of Guardians and Ragnarok, with the gravitas of Old Thor, Captain America, and Black Panther, and the missions akin to Ant-Man, and Captain Marvel. The film doesn't feel like 3 hours because it's so wonderfully paced and has many story arcs coming to a close. Is this going on my ultimate shelf? Yes, right with all of the other MCU: Infinity Saga films and I can't wait for more. I thought I would be over it after this film but now that I saw what I saw, I am hungry for what's to come next and I have a theory but let's get into the specifics and break down all 6 of the original Avengers stories and how they closed out.
Let's start from the beginning... Tony Stark got a second chance in a cave in Afghanistan and was told by Yinsen "Not to waste it"; this scene is so important to his arc but has barely been referenced throughout the films until now. Captain Marvel saves Stark and Nebula and when they're brought back to earth, Tony is defeated. He warned the rest of the Avengers of this happening again and no one listened and now they failed. After the time jump Tony has found himself a new home and started a family. He didn't waste it. But of course, Tony can't rest until he's truly done. So of course the adventures of the "Time Heist" in New York 2012 and New Jersey 1970 meeting his father for one last goodbye proves to him that he isn't ready to rest. The final bout with Thanos is great and Tony uses the new gauntlet proving to himself and to everyone else "He is Iron Man" and that his mission is complete. The funeral scene truly shows to the audience that he didn't waste it. Not only did he create his family but he connected and affected multiple others during his story arc. Beautiful. Poetic. Brilliant.
Captain America's is a little less amazing in my opinion. He starts out the film after the time jump helping people move from the decimation. He did after he was frozen so now they should too. But you could tell he never wanted to. Once Scott comes back and gives him hope, Cap is one of the few who immediately jumps at the chance for the time heist. Throughout his adventures in the 2012 New York (recreating the elevator scene which was fantastic, and fighting his past self) reminds him of his life in the future. His adventures in 1970 New Jersey reminded him of his life in the past and what he left behind. That was such an important reminder of what could have been... So the fight with Thanos, proving he's worthy by wielding Mjolnir, and the essential line we've been waiting for 11 years to hear "Avengers Assemble!" were muttered. The aftermath his him deciding not to come back to the future but gain what he lost from his past. He lived out his life with Peggy Carter and relinquished the title of Captain America to Sam Wilson WHO is more worthy of the title to Bucky for many reasons we will not discuss at this moment. The end of this story though sparks the beginning of the next which a lot of people missed through the tears but we'll get into that later.
Natasha Romanoff has always been trying to erase the red in her ledger and the atrocities she has committed in the past. Every film we see her guilt more and more and see the dramatic actions she takes to prove herself a hero and erase what she's done. Even after the decimation she continues to lead the team to help with any problem happening on earth or in the galaxy whether they can do anything about it or not. Clint Barton has lost everything and is pissed. His family, the one thing he was able to protect has been decimated out of existence. Instead of turning to the one other person he cares about, Natasha, he turns to the murder of every scumbag who survived the snap. It's not fair that the innocent were killed and the guilty were not. When Natasha gives him hope the only reason he goes is because it's Nat. He knows she'll do whatever it takes to make things right. When they end up on Vormir they have to make a choice. One who has been a monster most of her life, or one who just became a monster. This fight scene was great! We've seen 2 fights with them in the past and never felt that one of them was in danger. This one, however has weight to it. One of them has to die and it ended up being Nat. In order to save her family and Clint's she had to be the one to go. She gave them the opportunity to make things right and she died with a clear conscience knowing she did everything she could make things right.
Bruce Banner and the Hulk always treated each other as a disease or disorder. Both were scared of one another. From the Incredible Hulk of trying to get rid of the Hulk, to Avengers where they had more control but not fully and he also admitted to the attempted suicide. The next time we see Bruce or the Hulk is in Age of Ultron where Bruce has a pretty good handle on the Hulk. Unfortunately that does not allow him and Natasha to continue their relationship and Hulk makes the decision to leave Earth. The next time we see Hulk is on Sakaar in Ragnarok. This time he's been the Hulk for 2 years and Hulk has found his calling as a fighter but eventually does the right thing and helps Thor leave and Banner returns proving they are still both not in control. Infinity shows Hulk losing for the first time and disappearing through the rest of the film which brings us to Endgame where they finally learned to work together. Also Hulk was the first one to lose to Thanos in Infinity War it's only fitting that he be the one to bring everyone back in Endgame. His story is still happening but it's on a much different path.
Thor has always been told he's the rightful king of Asgard and will be the king after Odin's passing. Throughout the films he's been given more and more responsibility including the throne, the position of all father, and the ability to open the bi-frost with Stormbreaker. With all his power, he was unable to stop Thanos from snappin his fingers and it haunts him in Endgame. When he chopped off his head in his 3rd Thanos encounter also sends him down a dark path. This brings us to future fat Thor who is in a dark place. Once he talks with his mother and wield's Mjolnir again he comes back in full force for the final fight with Thanos. With all of his adventures and trying to be King he's destined to be he realized that that's not the way he wants to rule. He hands over the reins to Valkyrie as the King (or Queen) and goes off adventuring and protecting them from the next big threat.
The Original Avengers are no more but the idea of the Avengers has been instilled in all of the other heroes all across the galaxy and makes the future much brighter, or does it? The ancient one warned not to mess with time or a new future path will branch off from the regular flow of time. So we will see what consequences their time heist have for the future of the MCU.
Well those were my thoughts on Avengers: Endgame. Later on today I will have a Part 2 of this episode featuring the heaps of music we got over the weekend as well! I will see you in a bit!
All the Best, Ross
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