Review and Aftermath: Avengers Endgame
I will spare the “Oh it’s the best movie ever” line, because I feel this film is in a category all of its own. There are few words that can describe what I saw in Avengers Endgame. It’s a movie that will have you processing what happened for days. It’s also a flick that you’ll want to know as little as possible about going into it. Let me just say that I give Endgame 6 out of 5 sCrypt ratings. Yes, that’s right. I have it above 100% mainly because of how well it closes out the past 21 movies and sets up the next era. I am curious as to how someone who hasn’t invested the time I have into the Marvel Cinematic Universe would feel watching it. Certainly it wouldn’t have the same impact, but there is so much there for everyone that it really is something unique. Hands down it’s the best comic book movie to date, and I don’t think that’s a title that will be taken by another any time soon.
As I mentioned there is a lot to process, so let me break down what this sets up for the future. I don’t want to focus on what’s in the film because its something unique for everyone. Instead, I’ll talk about how things will shape up from here on out. This contains some speculation and SPOILERS, so be warned. If you have seen it I’d like to know what you think… Ready? Final SPOILER WARNING….
LOKI: Disney+ has announced a live action Loki miniseries. We now know that this will center around the much more malevolent trickster than we’ve seen recently. This isn’t the semi-hero Loki, but the one who tried to destroy New York in Avengers 1. It’ll make for very interesting storytelling to see what the god of mischief will be up to.
Sin: This one is just my mind as a writer, but it answers the question of what happens to Red Skull. He is now just a wraith with no purpose or stone to guard. Could he inhabit the dead body of Black Widow and return to Earth as a villain for current times? They don’t need Scarlet Johansen to play the role as her corpse would decay giving her a skull like appearance. Sin in the comics was Red Skull’s daughter and villain. This would be a good passing of the torch and make for an interesting story and proper closure for Red Skull.
Falcon and Winter Soldier: With Sin as a possible villain at some point just speculation, we know for certain that Bucky and Sam have lots more to come in the Disney+ show. Sam being the new Cap could go many places. My only issue with Endgame was how Bucky really didn’t go to visit his friend on the bench. It just seemed to convenient and not as believable, but it’s a minor gripe. Either way I look forward to this show.
X-Men: While there is no real connection to mutants, there is a line explaining that since Thanos used the stones there has been a spike in meta-human abilities around the globe. Could that have caused mutants to begin exhibiting abilities? Who knows, but I can’t imaging this line was used as a throwaway.
Spiderman Far From Home: This is said to actually be the final Phase 3 film, serving as an epilogue of sorts. Spiderman clearly needs a vacation at the end of Endgame, so it’ll be good to see some final tie in references here.
Captain America 4: Well I didn’t think this would happen, but we could see a Captain America 4 with Chris Evans. Now that he stayed in the past with Peggy there certainly is room for him to fill this role well into his older years. We could also see Steve be a mentor to Sam in the years to come and present day. Another thing that could be done is he and Peggy have a daughter who becomes Captain America for a time. In the comics there was an alternate Earth where this happened, so it’d work as a nice prequel of sorts in the alternate timeline created by him staying in the past.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3: The search for Gamora? Certainly seems like the case. Keep in mind we have chubby Thor with Stormbreaker. Could this be how they introduce Beta Ray Bill? It is after all about time to do so and Thor is clearly at the end of his part of the saga.
Young Avengers: Cassie Lang is older now and able to soon take up the mantle of Stature alongside Wasp and Antman. Hawkeye has a show coming out on Disney+ where Clint Barton will be training a replacement female Hawkeye. They could easily change his daughter’s name to Kate Bishop in a witness protection sort of way and have her take up her father’s mantle. Iron Lad could be introduced with Harley Keener (the young boy from Ironman 3). He came in as an unexpected cameo at Tony Stark’s funeral. Also there’s Morgan Stark. In the comics Morgan was Tony’s cousin and a male who became Ironman 3000. In the films, Morgan is his young daughter. I can’t imagine her not becoming IronHeart once she is old enough and using her mother’s rescue armor as a beginning to her tenure. Throw Spiderman in a lead role here and you could have a well rounded set of heroes.
A-Force: It goes without saying that one of the coolest scenes was seeing all of the female heroes assemble in the final battle. They could easily make a spinoff revolving around them, though they’d have to take caution in doing so. It wouldn’t make sense for only the females to be involved as it would seem forced, but there are ways to pull this off in a very cool and exciting way.
Maestro and She-Hulk: This is more speculation on my part, but She-Hulk needs to be introduced. We could also see the lesser liked Red Hulk if Banner goes rogue. Why would he? Well Professor Hulk being scarred by the stones could also be internally. If they tainted his mental state, we could see him become the villain in a future hulk movie as Maestro. This is something I’d actually love to see more than most of the others with She-Hulk teaming up with Red Hulk and the former of the two ending up as the new Hulk character.
Valkyrie: Valkyrie is now in charge of New Asgard on Earth. Maybe Thor will find a suitable planet for them to inhabit along his journeys with the Guardians. They could do it so that Thor transfers some of his power into her sword. It wouldn’t be Mjolnir, but could set her up as the new female Thor. It’s a stray from the comics, but it’d be just as interesting as bringing in Beta Ray Bill as I mentioned earlier.
Doctor Strange 2: Wong has been Sorcerer Supreme for 5 years and Strange no longer has the Time Stone. The power struggle between the 2 and it’s been said that they’d like to introduce Nightmare as a villain could be very fun and dare I say… Strange?
Black Panther 2: M’Baku has been in charge of Wakanda for 5 years. Surely he made some changes and they haven’t always seen eye to eye. Black Panther’s return makes for a lot of exciting political conflict.
WandaVision: Another Disney+ confirmed series. The question is will this be when Scarlet Witch and Vision lived together before the events of Infinity War? Or will she somehow use her powers to bring back a less colorful (like in the comics) version of Vision, where the story revolves around her trying to reconnect with a very cold emotionless version of her former android lover?
Black Widow: Well, this movie will obviously take place before the first Avengers movie. I’m assuming with the references to Budapest between her and Hawkeye that this will occur there, or we’ll have more clarification on what those events were.
What If: Although this is animated and a confirmed Disney+ series with the original actors voicing the roles, it’s hard to imagine that some of the timelines spinning off from the actions in the past won’t be addressed here.
Cameos: Stan Lee’s final cameo was in this film, and what a way to make him eternally young with his appearance. Sadly he has passed, but now that the Fox/Disney merger is completed I could see Ryan Reynolds suiting up as Deadpool and breaking the 4th wall in every movie after this. I think Stan would approve.
What are your thoughts? Did I miss anything? Am I overthinking this? Did you like Endgame and where do you think it will go? Comment below.
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