This weekend Nerd Caster took to the theaters and watched Avengers: Endgame, not once, but twice. There is so much happening in this movie that it really does require at least two viewings before one can understand the movie to its fullest. I’m sure if we went back for the 3rd time we could pick even more stuff out. The movie does have rewatch-ability. Before reading further though, be sure that there will be SPOILERS ahead.
The Movie
The movie as a whole was good. Overall it was very entertaining and was able to keep me watching for the full 3 hours without feeling bored. I thought that the second time through I would get bored and would start to wonder why I decided to see this a second time, and that wasn’t the case. Dare I say, the second time may have been a better viewing than the first.
The first time watching the movie, I was just happy to see the Avengers back on screen and fighting side-by-side. The theater even burst out in full on cheers and clapping at times. With how action packed the movie is, it’s hard to be able to watch everything that is going on and break down exactly why things happen because it moves so fast, again for a 3-hour movie this is an incredible feat. My goal though was to just enjoy it and take it at face value.
The second viewing, however, I went in with different purpose. I want to answer the questions I had from the first. Those questions:
- Is Black Widow really dead?
- What happened to Loki?
- What did Steve do in the past?
- What Easter Eggs or other little things did I miss?
There are a lot more questions I had, but these were the main four. So let’s look at each of them separately.
Black Widow’s Future
The only way to retrieve a soul stone is to give up the soul of someone you love (or something like that). Well, its a soul for a soul, right? If that’s the case, when Cap goes back in time to return all the stones, so that essentially bring back Black Widow? A Soul for a Soul.
Banner or Professor Hulk, even mentions to Steve before he leaves that he tried to bring Nat back when he snapped. He states it didn’t work. Why does he feel the need to tell Cap this before he leaves? Is it because he is afraid he will try to do something in the past to bring her back? If so, did Cap listen or when he returned the Soul stone and realize he could trade it for her life.
I believe he traded the Stone back and in doing so was able to retrieve Nat in the process. Another thing that makes this plausible, is that Steve stole more Pym particles from the lab when he was in 197o. Where did they go? Did he give them to Natalie for a possible mission and to get herself back? I think so.
Loki’s New Home
When the Avengers tried to get the Mind stone in 2012, they failed. Cap and Tony had to then go further back in time and retrieve it from a military base, which they did successfully. If Cap, placed the Mind Stone back at this time, what happened to the one Loki took in 2012 and disappeared with?
According to the convoluted way time travel works in this movie, it creates an alternate reality. This is where Loki is now, which means he lives. He also did not get any character growth as those movies took place after he took the Stone. Will the As-Guardians of the galaxy come across this new Loki? Or is this where Disney+ is pulling the plot for their new streaming service show. Either way, I am just happy this god of mischief lived in some form.
It leads to the question of, what happens in this alternate timeline? Will we see this in an upcoming movie or is it just going to stay open-ended on the big screen. We will have to wait and see.
Steve’s New Life
Captain Rogers decides in the last few minutes of the movie that he will not be returning to his friends but instead stays back with Peggy Carter to give her that dance he promised. Since Rogers is now in the past, does that mean more Captain America movies are on the way but will take place as time period pieces? The door is definitely left open for it.
This also messes with Peggy’s timeline as well. She had a life while Rogers was frozen, what happened to that timeline?
Other Little Things
While I am not the best at spotting Easter Eggs, I did notice the picture of Howard stark on the shelf over top of the Peter Parker picture. This is a great throwback/foreshadowing(?) of him seeing his father later in the movie and allowing Tony to hug him.
Tony also foreshadows his own death multiple times in this movie. He states that he won’t give up what he has for only POSSIBLY bringing back what he lost. Strange tells Tony if he tells him how it will End, it won’t come true. And there are more, I could go on but you get the point. So if you watch real hard, you can figure out that Tony will be the one to eat dirt and not Cap.
Because I had my blinders on, I didn’t notice the foreshadowing. I believed with all my heart that it was going to be Cap that dies. Simply because its a fitting end for him to join Peggy in the great beyond. Well, I was wrong.
There are a lot more easter eggs in this movie, but the fun is finding them yourself. So happy hunting.
Conclusion
Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely can not stand time travel. This movie is included in that. It raises more questions and creates a more confusing world. If alternate realities are created and Phase 4 or 5 movies are to take place in those, viewers will need to know what movies and characters are in what alternate reality/timeline. This will get confusing quick.
Time travel, now that it’s been successfully accomplished, creates the lazy writing aspect of, just go back in time and fix it. Time Travel is never done well and always raises more questions than it answers and always leaves plot holes. If it wasn’t for the awesome action scenes, excellent dialog, and spot on comedy in this film, I would honestly have to say it’s garbage. It is everything else that saves it, but the time travel really hurts its rating in my book. I mean, look at CW’s Flash and tell me it’s not terrible.
We will be taking an even deeper dive into this movie on our podcast. Be sure to look out for that.
