“Endgame” might be the end of the Marvel Universal, in a good way
April 26, 2019
On April 26, Marvel Studios will release Avengers: Endgame, the 22nd installment in the “Marvel Cinematic Universe”, and the long-awaited sequel to 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. The heavily-anticipated blockbuster is the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
It’s been over a decade since we were first introduced to Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man back in 2008. Since then, Marvel Studios proceeded to put out 20 humorous, action-packed, films, while captivating audiences with their revolutionary visual effects and charismatic protagonists. In those eleven years, Marvel movies changed the entire landscape of the Hollywood movie industry—superhero movies are now considered their own genre and pop culture is dominated by Marvel-related topics.
One of the main reasons Marvel movies have been able to achieve this mass popularity is their “shared universe” concept. All the movies are connected to each other in some sort of way; so it’s always a big deal when a new Marvel movie comes out because it’s the next chapter in some larger, overarching story. Avengers: Infinity War (2018), was their most ambitious example of this when they managed to draw stars from all of the franchise’s previous movies to assemble on screen together for an epic showdown. Avengers: Endgame will be just as—if not more ambitious than its predecessor.
Endgame picks up right where Infinity War left off. The antagonist, a big, purple alien named Thanos, has finished collecting all of the infinity stones. These infinity stones are extremely powerful gems that when brought together, have enough power to wipe out half the universe. He used these stones to wipe out half the universe with a snap of his fingers, killing half of our beloved heroes––henceforth, defeating the Avengers. Now the heroes who survived “the snap” must try to find some way to defeat this seemingly unbeatable supervillain to save the world and bring back their fellow Avengers from the dead.
The official synopsis according to Marvel is as follows: “Thor, Black Widow, Captain America, and Bruce Banner — must figure out a way to bring back their vanquished allies for an epic showdown with Thanos — the evil demigod who decimated the planet and the universe.”
The cast will feature several familiar faces from previous Marvel films such as Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and many more. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and Avengers: Endgame will mark the end of Marvel movies as we know them. Fans will most likely have to say goodbye to a few of the franchise’s original characters such as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) and Captain America (Chris Evans).