Let me start by saying I enjoyed Avengers: Endgame, although let me also say that I seemed to enjoy it a little less than most other people I have come across and today I am going to deep dive into the movie to talk about the parts I loved and more the parts I didn’t. There is a difference between not loving parts and disliking them and in all honesty, there was only one moment I actively disliked.
Before we start it goes without saying that this article will be so filled with SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame you’ll start crying if you read this without having seen the movie first. So final warning that this article will contain big SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame.
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Avengers: Endgame is a real emotional ride, let’s be fair and like everyone else, I was carried along with those emotions throughout and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I guess my reason for writing this is that of all the reviews I am seeing, everyone is saying this is one of the greatest comic book movies ever made. I get that totally, it was sublime in paces, but I also had quite a few issues with the movie as well, so lets me discuss some of those and I’ll start with the biggie.

Time Travel

I am totally fine with them using time travel in this movie, we all expected it and it created some fun scenarios, so what’s my issue? Well, my issue is that they made a point of explaining the rules of time travel to us, and then for me, they completely broke them at several points in the movie.

First, they told us this is not like Back to the Future, so that whenever a change is made it branches off into a new timeline, a new reality if you will, and I accepted this way of thinking. My issue begins when Hulk goes to get the time stone from the Ancient One. The Ancient One Tells Hulk that without having the Infinity Stones, reality itself could fall apart, cool, I am fine with this. However, if in the Avengers timeline there are no Infinity Stones at all anymore, because Thanos destroyed them. Will that cause any issues?

The rules also mean that Hydra thinking Cap is one of them and Loki escaping with the Tesseract, will only affect their own universe not “ours.” Fine, no problem again. However, how the hell did Cap go back in time and then appear later on in the same timeline as an old man to be able to hand that shield off to Sam. This is usually always an issue when it comes to time travel in a movie, and since time travel doesn’t exists in real life, it’s up to each film to make its own rules, I just feel like especially with Old Cap at the end, it kinda broke its own rules?

Finally, for this section we must discuss Peter and his classmates. Going by the rules, Pete is now the same age and everyone else not dusted should be five years older. So having Ned appear back is fine, it’s totally believable to imagine Ned was dusted. But since we know all the Homecoming cast are back for Far From Home, it does just take me out of that suspension of disbelief mode slightly and it felt a little too easy for me.

Captain Falcon

I guess this is a purely personal issue as I know full well that Falcon became the new Captain America in the comic books. However, doesn’t anyone else think that this should have actually went to Bucky instead of Sam? Sam is a normal human being with no super powers. He is not even ground-baseded military man as he was a pilot, which suits his current role well. But I have real issues with Falcon being Captain America when he has no super powers whatsoever. If Cap had also handed him a vial of Super Soldier serum as well after the shield I would have been more accepting of this decision.

Hulk

Maybe it’s just me, because I know some fans loved what they did with Hulk in Endgame. Personally, however, I think the best version we have seen of Hulk on film has been Joss Whedon’s take in the original Avengers, second was Waititi’s take in Thor: Ragnarok. For me, the Russo’s didn’t know what to do with someone as powerful as Hulk, so they side-lined him in Infinity War and turned him into Professor Hulk for Endgame. I can’t think of a single action scene where Professor Hulk got to properly fight in this movie. Sure at the end, his arm was badly damaged due to his use of the Gauntlet, but I love raging Hulk, and this was the calm and mild mannered version of Hulk.

See, as a Hulk comic book fan, who loved the whole Planet Hulk and World War Hulk plots, I love the comic book idea that Hulk gets stronger the angrier he gets. So for me, having a calm and polite Hulk reduces him greatly as a force of power. I must admit that when the Ancient One separated Banner and Hulk I was hoping that something would kick in rage Hulk again, but hey ho. Overall, I have to say that the Russo’s didn’t really want to deal with OP Hulk, so they nerfed him in both movies for me. If you disagree, let me know in the usual spot below.

Gamora

I guess I could have mentioned this one with the time travel issues, but I find it even more specific than that. Gamora from the past arrived with Thanos forces in the future. We know that, and at the end of the movie, Tony dusted them all which of course cost him his own life, how sad was that and so perfect as well? However, at the end of the movie, we see Quill doing a search for Gamora and she isn’t there with the rest of the Guardians, or Asgardians of the Galaxy.

So, where is Gamora? Is this going to be a where’s Waldo kind of deal, because I can’t fathom how she left this timeline or got off planet solo, without letting her sister know where she had gone. It just seems like a big plot hole to me and one that would have worked far better with simply having this version of Gamora replace the dead one from our own timeline. Maybe they will explain this in a future movie, but it irked me slightly.

Captain Marvel

This one is a bit nit picking I admit, but I felt like the Russos’ plan to deal with the OP Carol Danvers was to just send her back out to space again I was kinda hoping the Russos would improve Captain Marvel to another level going forward in this movie. But realistically, other than a great appearance at the end, they didn’t really do much with Danvers at all in this movie. I get it was more about the OG Avengers than the new guys, but I still felt she was slightly underdeveloped in Endgame.

Thor Lebowski

Ok, so to begin with I was laughing out loud like everyone else in the theatre when Hulk goes to visit Thor with Rocket. Maybe it’s just me, but I was a little fed up with Thor Lebowski by the end of the movie. I think there was perhaps the right moment when Thor had his emotional reunion with his mum for her to use some magical gubbins to sort of fix up Thor a bit. In this way, he would have come back looking fitter and being certainly more sober. My other issue here is Thor being a drunk, it’s not an ideals thing, it’s a practical thing. Remember in Age of Ultron that Thor had some old Asgardian liquor that really isn’t meant for normal humans? So why is he able to get that drunk on Earth beer and wine? Feels again, like a bit of a plot hole to me.

Girl Power

Final bone of contention in this piece and it’s actually the only part of the movie I actively disliked, in fact when this happened in the theatre is remember visibly wincing. The part in the final battle where all the female character got together for as girl power shot to show togetherness in the battle just felt really contrived and cliché to me. I get that Marvel are trying to be more diverse and they actually pulled something like this off really well in Infinity War, but for me, all those characters suddenly assembling based on their sex at the right place for that moment felt really over the top. In my humble opinion it was a poor decision and as said above, ranks as the only moment in the film that I actively disliked.

Overall it was a very good movie and for the good moments, many of which I loved, definitely outweigh the bad. However, I have a feeling that as time passes more and more fans will start picking apart some of the plot holes in this movie like I have done. It’s a great movie, but for me, it comes nowhere near to being one of the best MCU movies and that’s despite it having two or three of my favorite moments from the entirety of the MCU thus far. Cap lifting Mjolnir was exactly the right kind of fan service to go for, and it helped provide a great ending for his character. I loved that part, but I can’t see I loved the movies when less than 24 hours later my mind is returning to all these little niggles.

Maybe it’s just me, you can tell me I’m insane like my editor does, or agree with me to your heart’s content in the usual spot below. Let us know what you think though after seeing the movie.

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