Second Viewing is a series here at The Nerds Templar where we discuss a movie we’ve seen before and then watch again for a second time. Maybe we saw it at the theater and then catch it again on DVD or streaming services or maybe it’s a film we watched years ago and view again today to see how it holds up.
I first saw Avengers: Endgame at the theater like a lot of people. My first reaction was that I liked it, but didn’t love it. It had a ton of issues with most coming from its own rules & guidelines it set forth. I discussed it with others who saw it with me, read a lot of articles that came out about it after its release and was overall fine with it just being ok. I thought Avengers: Infinity War was 100% anti-climactic because you knew none of the characters that got dusted were going to stay that way and so I waited for Endgame to show me how they would make it back.
I got a Blu-ray of Avengers: Endgame and popped it in to see if knowing everything already would change my opinion of the film. Since I didn’t love it right away because of its issues I thought maybe some time and trying to watch it just for entertainment value would change my opinion. Unfortunately not much changed for me. The things I liked about it I still like and the issues I had with it are still very much there.
Since you’ve most likely seen it by now I’m going to be a little spoiler-y with this. If you haven’t seen it, thanks for the click, but go ahead and X out of this article right now. My biggest complaint about the film is the time travel aspect. Yes most films gets time travel wrong, but this movie goes out of its way to make fun of those movies and ends up getting time travel wrong anyways. They go back in time thanks to Ant-Man and Tony Stark and collect the Infinity Stones at different times and then put them back at the end so there is no timeline shift. The Ancient One and Hulk have a conversation about it and that all makes sense. I have no issue with the Time Heist aspect. My issue is with Thanos. Infinity War takes place in 2018 with Thanos snapping and wiping out half of existence. In this film they kill Thanos and it takes them 5 years (2023) to come up with their Time Heist plan. I’m still on board with this.
But then it becomes wrong. While trying to retrieve the Infinity Stones, Thanos from 2014 finds out about their plans thanks to Nebula in 2023. Thanos using his Nebula is able to come to 2023 to get the Stones now that The Avengers have them. There’s the big battle and spoiler, he is killed. Yeah the good guys win and everyone is safe (besides a few people I’ll get to). Well if Thanos from 2014 goes to the future and dies, how is he there in 2018 to snap? He isn’t. The movie is wrong about this no matter what they claim. He is the same Thanos not a parallel universe or multiverse Thanos, he is the same Thanos just from a few years earlier. If you go back in time and die that’s fine, there was a version of you in that year that went backwards. If you go to the future and die, there is no version of you in 2018 (similar to my issue with Looper if you die now, there’s no version of you later). If 2014 Thanos dies, there is no Guardians of the Galaxy movie, no Guardians 2, no Infinity War because Thanos from 2014 is dead no version of him later on would exist!
Then there are the deaths. One was surprising considering that character has a movie being made. The other wasn’t. The big one at the end, Tony Stark, if you didn’t see that coming a mile away then you weren’t paying attention. Robert Downey Jr.’s contract was up and you knew something had to happen. Stark’s story was coming to end as was RDJ’s contract. Same for Chris Evans, but they went with a different angle with Captain America. He went back in time to return the Infinity Stones to their proper spots, but decided to stay back and live a life with Peggy Carter. How romantic! Cap finally gets his dance with Agent Carter! That’s great, but also opens up a Pandora’s Box of questions. At one point there is a version of Cap still frozen in time, but at the end of The First Avenger he wakes up in the 21st Century. So from that point forward there are two Caps living. And also if Cap went back in time knowing everything he knows, how doesn’t he say anything? He doesn’t look for his best friend Bucky knowing he’s not dead. He doesn’t prevent the infiltration of HYDRA into S.H.I.E.L.D. No heads up about the Battle of New York or anything else like real events! Cap gets his life and doesn’t warn anyone about anything bad!
But I digress. Avengers: Endgame made a ton of money and people seemed to love it. I wish I could ignore plotholes a mile wide like most people, but I can’t. It’s fine I guess and it closes the door on this chapter of the MCU. I’m actually not that curious about where Marvel goes from here at this point. The film does look and sounds great on Blu-ray and it comes with a separate disc of just bonus features listed below. I’m sure you’ve seen it by now and know whether or not you’ll be buying it on home video.
Bonus Featuresl:
- Remembering Stan Lee – Filmmakers and cast honor the great Stan Lee in a fond look back at his MCU movie cameos.
- Setting The Tone: Casting Robert Downey Jr. – Hear the tale of how Robert Downey Jr. was cast as Tony Stark in the original “Iron Man” — and launched the MCU.
- A Man Out of Time: Creating Captain America – Trace the evolution of Captain America with those who helped shape the look, feel and character of this compelling hero.
- Black Widow: Whatever It Takes – Follow Black Widow’s journey both within and outside the Avengers, including the challenges she faced and overcame along the way.
- The Russo Brothers: Journey to Endgame – See how Anthony and Joe Russo met the challenge of helming two of the biggest films in cinematic history … back-to-back!
- The Women of the MCU – MCU women share what it was like to join forces for the first time in an epic battle scene — and be part of such a historic ensemble.
- Bro Thor – His appearance has changed but his heroism remains! Go behind the scenes to see how Bro Thor was created.
- Six Deleted Scenes – “Goji Berries,” “Bombs on Board,” “Suckiest Army in the Galaxy,” “You Used to Frickin’ Live Here,” “Tony and Howard” and “Avengers Take a Knee.”
- Gag Reel – Laugh along with the cast in this epic collection of flubs, goofs and gaffes from set.
- Visionary Intro – Intro by directors Joe and Anthony Russo.
- Audio Commentary – Audio commentary by directors Anthony and Joe Russo, and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
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