"Avengers: Endgame" Excerpt
Josh: We're all going to go see "Avengers: Endgame," Adam. You and I had the press screening earlier today. I'm going to be seeing it again Friday night with the family. Yet, every audience member is probably going for slightly different reasons. You've got your "Captain Marvel," fans, your "Black Panther," devotees and then there's [the] "Who do you side with in the Iron Man/Captain America rift?" [coughs] Cap. [Laughs] Some people...
Adam: [Laughs] It should be Cap.
Josh: Some people are going who only know these characters from the MCU movies. Others are comic book aficionados who bring a lifetime of knowledge into the films. Still there's maybe one thing that unites us all when we go to see "Avengers: Endgame," given that this marks a moment of finality for the MCU. We'll get more films. But it's fair to say there are a few ways in which the landscape is now irrevocably changed. We won't discuss any of that until spoiler-talk at the end of our review. What we're all probably looking for then is a satisfying sense of closure. We've given a lot to these movies. They've given a fair amount back. As the conclusion to a storyline 11 years and 22 films in the making, Adam, are you happy with how "Endgame," ties the MCU room together?
Adam: I see what you did there, even if all of our listeners don't quite yet. I will point out real quick before I answer your question that my family visit, my re-watch of "Avengers: Endgame," is slated for Sunday, May 5th. The whole family is going except for my wife Sarah, who could not care less. And that was the first time really at the multiplex out by us that I could get tickets where we weren't in the front row.
Josh: Yeah, I think we're in row 3. I was a little slow on picking those up and we might pay the price.
Adam: Everybody else in the family is very, very excited, as fans of the MCU are and should be. The MCU has generally successfully balanced planetary and personal stakes, and I think that "Endgame," is a worthy culmination of that storytelling approach, if that's a good way to initially answer your question. This conflict of being who you are versus who you're supposed to be is explicitly stated a couple of times in this film, and it plays out in this film just as it played out in some form in probably every MCU film. And the ones that balance that conflict the best are for me the best, primarily the "Captain America," movies the two good "Iron Man" movies – and yes, I do think "Iron Man 3," counts as one of the better MCU films – and I'd throw "Black Panther," in there as well. I'm probably overlooking one or two.
One of the ways it manifests itself in this film and in the series is who these characters love, or come to love, and the choices they have to make between serving that person – serving that love and then growing as a person – or serving all people – the country, humanity, etc. – and growing as a hero. What's pleasing, ultimately, about this film and this chapter of the MCU – which I think is how we can kind of think of it because the MCU isn't stopping.
Josh Right.
Adam: But this sort of portion of it is. ...It isn't in who lives or dies, or whether good prevails over evil. It's whether or not all of those threads that the MCU has asked us to invest in are given their due and resolved. I would say at least for the core Avengers — I think they're referred to as the original six Avengers, the ones we've seen and not only multiple Avengers films but in the case of most of them in multiple solo efforts too. For me that closure. Individually and collectively was satisfying.