AVENGERS: ENDGAME
Plus interview with the creator of Thanos. Man, he’s got some stones.
AVENGERS: ENDGAME 12 film extras OUT now Digital HD 2 SEPTEMBER DVD, BD, 3D BD, 4K HD EXTRAS Commentary, Deleted scenes, Featurettes, Gag reel
Thanos might like to think he’s inevitable, but that’s nothing next to the stone-cold certainty that Avengers: Endgame would end Avatar’s decade-long reign as the all-time box-office champ. That record was broken, fittingly enough, during San Diego Comic-Con in July – not so much a convention these days as a lap of honour for Marvel’s all-conquering cinematic universe.
Yet there’s a lot more to Endgame than $2.79 billion and change. Indeed, the true marvel in the MCU’s 22nd outing is how fast and loose directors Anthony and Joe Russo play with the series’ own conventions, not least in having five years elapse between this chapter’s first act and the shenanigans that follow. (Take that, established timeline!) They also dare to reinvent the Avengers themselves by giving Tony Stark a daughter, Hulk a new mindset and Thor a new bod.
OK, so maybe the Russos could have come up with a slightly more original plot device than the rather hackneyed one our heroes use in their bid to reverse Thanos’ devastating Infinity Snap. Without it, however, we would have been deprived more than one touching parental reunion, let alone the pleasure of seeing one particular mischief-maker return from the grave. Opinion will stay divided over the decision to send another character to hers, not to mention the sisterhood
get-together during the climactic final battle. (Empowering or tokenistic? You decide.) It’s surely a tribute to Endgame’s success, though, that it can provoke such heated debate without ever stinting on the heart, humour and spectacle we have come to expect. And as for that ending… well, let’s just say that one hankie may not be enough.
It’s that self-same ending that provides this release with the best of its deleted scenes, a tear-jerking grace note that sees the Avengers take a knee in salute to a comrade’s noble sacrifice. More saline will likely be shed, meanwhile, thanks to an affectionate featurette about the late Stan Lee and his many and varied cameos. Iron Man, Black Widow and Captain America get their own mini-profiles, as does the thinking behind Chris Hemsworth’s ‘Bro Thor’. There’s also a lively gag reel that finds Robert Downey Jr. flummoxed by a hatchback, Gamora doing the robot and ScarJo mock-moaning that she’s had “10 years of this shit”. Another 10 will do us just fine, Mr. Feige. Neil Smith