Re: Avengers: Endgame (April 26th, 2019)
Well after 11 years I now have my favorite single defining moment in all of the MCU and I can’t believe it’s in the last freaking movie for these characters.
To pick a single defining favorite moment out of 46 hours worth of content is not an easy task and in no way does it diminish the high quality goodness from the other entries.
When I say “defining moment” it’s just a single moment that represents everything I came to love about the series.
I guess it makes sense that it happened in the last movie because of the cumulative narrative effect so in a way it’s unfair to the other movies but in a very major way i’m super thrilled that it is there to end the series in such a thrilling manner especially since there was no guarantee that EG would have a scene of that caliber.
Anyways enough rambling after 11 years and a ton of emotion, money and time invested my most favorite defining emotional moment in ALL of the MCU goes to.....
Drum roll please lol
The quiet scene other than fire embers crackling in the background of Captain America receiving a broken transmission from Falcon with Falcon’s epic simple dialogue calling out Rogers with “Cap” and ending with the most epic line of dialogue ever spoken in a superhero movie, EVER!
“Avengers Assemble!”
“I’m Batman!” you’re out!
My heart stopped and raced at the same time an impossible feat!
Well there you go.
Is EG a perfect movie?
Is the MCU a perfect series?
If would be easy to answer with “why should they be when i’m not perfect so whom am I to demand perfection from 22 consecutive connected movies” but you know what i’m proud to add the entire collective MCU to my perfection list that is:
ANH/ESB
LOTR
Raiders
Die Hard 1
Predator 1
Conan the Barbarian 1
Road Warrior
Aliens
T1
T2
TDK
The Thing
The Exorcist
Friday the 13th 1
Halloween 1
I see perfection in 22 consecutive connected movies even though some entries were not perfect, does that make sense.
No, that’s ok my list my rules lol
Man never in a million years in my most wildest of imaginations would I have ever thought that Falcon would be connected in any shape or form to my most favorite superhero moment in cinematic and non cinematic history!
Oh man
Yes EG Cap is THAT EPIC just think about that for a second, let that sink in!
Man that just freaking warms my heart to read. I'm not gonna bore people by reposting details of the decades long wait I've had hoping that Cap would be done justice on the big screen but suffice it to say that it's truly surreal to actually have the MCU and IW/AEG be an actual thing and worthy of mention alongside the SW OT and LOTR.
Now if I'm just going to cut out individual movies to say are the ultimate cream of the crop then I'd probably go:
SW/ESB
FOTR
ALIENS
AEG
Boom, right there. But really its:
SW OT/RO
LOTR
A1/A2
MCU Phase I-III
Yes that's right and it's kind of an annoying pain to type that last one so I'll say "MCU" for now, lol. How did they do it. Just how. Yes a valid argument could be made that lots of individual MCU entries are merely "good", "average" or slightly subpar. Right now I wouldn't apply that last label to a single MCU flick, not even IM3, TDW or CM. Those are still all watchable flicks that are instantly and *forever* elevated by IW/AEG. There's just no separating them now.
And for the record I always respected IM3 for doing it's own thing and IMO even doing it well. TDW being heavily referenced in Ragnarok and AEG is absolutely indispensable now. CM didn't ruin anything in AEG (and I think Thanos' ship turning all it's cannons on her like a pirate ship making a full broadside attack was just hella cool as was the accompanying cheer from my initial audience) so any misgivings I had about the poor direction of her flick is just water under the bridge.
Like you said it's not just that AEG is a great flick but that they *stuck the landing on a 22 film finale.* I get that Hulk fans are disappointed. Of course I get it I'm a lifelong SW fan who actually disowned ROTJ (an actual OT flick!) for years because of disgust over how it treated Han, Fett, and Vader, all bigger icons than the Hulk for me. But over time I've come to appreciate the satisfying resolution that it still provides the entire Saga with great moments like Jabba, space battle, Emperor and so forth.
AEG might not be perfect but it's absolutely ROTK level flawed (that is to say totally forgivable in any missteps) and has none of the outwardly laughable moments of say ROTJ, TLC, TDKR, SM3, ROTS, and other franchise/trilogy closers. This is NOT another SW/ESB situation where so many franchises get traction for one or two films out of the gate and then falter (sometimes spectacularly) by the end. AEG is an ending to end all endings, lol. And with the balls to even call themselves Endgame.
It didn't just satisfyingly wrap the setup of IW but it closed loops going back to the original IM (loved Tony repeating his famous quote as he snapped his fingers), explaining the disappearance of TFA Red Skull, revealed the full extent of Zemo's actions, definitively answered why Banner might have been given the green monster "for a higher purpose" as suggested in A1, delivered on the promise of Thanos turning to the camera at the end of A1, Cap and Peggy, Thor and his mom (and by extension coming to terms with not just her but all the family he lost), Pepper finally bonding with and understanding Tony in a manner that goes way past simply tolerating his suit fetish, Tony making the definitive sacrifice play, Fury fully making good on his effort to create a self sustaining network of global superheroes, I'm probably forgetting half a dozen others.
And it didn't just close loops or bring things full circle it did it in ways that far exceeded my wildest expectations!
Even if you go back to TIH it's kind of heart-warming that the Banner who was always terrified of a new "incident" and living off the grid is now green and proud and out in the open 100% surrounded by his closest friends.
Yeah in the 22 film journey we can probably go back and see where they backtracked certain threads or course corrected (remember that random IM short revealing that Killian wasn't the real Mandarin? So much seeing that through, lol) but dude, *22 films*, minimal misfires or continuity gaffes. Epic SW OT/LOTR level action and feels. No I won't even say "SW OT level" feels because SW *never* had this kind of emotion. Exhilaration, yes, but only LOTR and AEG have had me practically tearing up days later on simple reflection of everything that played out on screen.
I don't know how I can call this anything other than an absolute best case scenario. IMO it really is. Bravo Favreau, Feige, Russos, RDJ, Evans, and everyone else. Freaking bravo.
, that ends in a movie called Godzilla: End Game 
