Avengers Endgame

[yasaman]

My thoughts on Endgame, before I look at anyone else's thoughts:

• Holy shit, what a ride. As an enormous crossover event and capstone for the MCU, with a very ambitious scope: what a success. I laughed, I cheered, I cried a little, I clapped.
• TIME HEIST. Oh man, I loved everything about that so much, how it was in fact played JUST LIKE A HEIST MOVIE, complete with shenanigans and hilarious fuckups and last-minute saves.
• THAT LAST BATTLE. Full of fan servicey moments? Yes. Were those moments awesome? Also yes. STEVE WIELDED MJOLNIR.
• I knew Tony was a goner from the moment we saw his adorable child. I'm, you know, sad about it, but it was so expected that I can't get worked up about it. Tony had a great journey, he saved the universe, it was a good, earned death.
• I have no emotional response available at this time re Natasha's death. I suspect I am just...not going to accept it. Like, straight up. Sorry not sorry, Hawkeye should've died.
• My first and biggest reaction: OH THANK GOD, STEVE'S NOT DEAD.
• But lol, really monkey's paw'd that one for myself! I don't think Steve had a coherent character arc here, and I cannot make sense of his choices at all. Never mind the wibbly wobbly timey wimey of it all, you're telling me that Steven Grant Rogers went back in time for his own happily ever after, KNOWING that HYDRA was all up in SHIELD, KNOWING that Bucky was suffering unspeakable tortures, and, presumably, either he DIDN'T TELL PEGGY any of that, or they both decided, "well, guess we'll let that all play out while we play house!" That's honestly...pretty fucking stone cold sociopathic? Is there a non-terrible explanation here?
• THAT SAID, I think it was strongly implied that Bucky knew what Steve was going to do. Maybe I'm reading too much into Sebastian Stan's eyeball acting here, but I think Steve either told him what he was going to do and got Bucky's blessing, or Bucky had already had a visit or two from a timehopping Steve.
• FALCONCAP??? :DDDDD Man, I am glad Sam is apparently getting the shield. Passing it on to this version of Bucky just wouldn't make sense: Bucky doesn't want it, and doesn't care about it, not as a legacy or a duty to Steve or anything. It makes way, way better character sense for Steve to give it to Sam. It doesn't escape me that what Steve chose to do post-dusting was what Sam did: run support groups. That came full circle beautifully.
• Also something that I think was painful and beautiful: everything about Nebula. Just ouch, but also yay?
• Am I to understand that all the time hopping did in fact create an alternate universe? Because that opened up a whole delightful playground of stories.
• My ultimate verdict: an incredible achievement, a fun cinematic experience that was very well made, but ultimately, this didn't hit on any of the things that actually interest me about the characters or the universe. I'll be happy to mine it for the shiny nuggets of gold that do interest me! But as, like, a source for my fannish investment and fannish feels, I can take it or leave it.

This entry was originally posted at https://yasaman.dreamwidth.org/480506.html, with
comments there.