‘Avengers’ annihilates at the box office
7 rousing ‘Avengers: Endgame’ moments
Its $350 million weekend haul pulverizes records – and even its own monster expectations.
Spoiler alert! This post details important plot points and the ending of “Avengers: Endgame.” If you don’t want to know, stop reading.
No wonder folks are so worried about when they’re going to go to the bathroom during “Avengers: Endgame.”
So much happens in the course of three hours that there’s never a dull moment – instead there are plenty of awesome ones, especially for longtime Marvel movie fans who’ve invested time and money into rooting for their favorite characters over the course of 11 years and 20-plus movies.
After the tragic end of last year’s “Infinity War,” wherein half of the universe was dusted from existence, Captain America (Chris Evans), Tony
Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and pals not only go a couple of more rounds with the cosmic villain, but there also is a timetraveling heist scheme to nab the six Infinity Stones in the past before Thanos (Josh Brolin) can unleash the deadly snap of his Infinity Gauntlet. Not to mention several callbacks to some of the best scenes in Marvel movie history, cameos from characters throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and a whole host of emotions.
Here are the most rousing, fan-pleasing scenes in “Endgame,” ranked.
7. Ant-Man reunites with his daughter
At the end of “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) gets stuck in the Quantum Realm. He gets out thanks to a curious rat, but Scott arrives back in a San Francisco where five years have passed since the snap and everyone is still recovering from half the population going poof. Worrying about what happened to his daughter Cassie, Scott races to find her and then discovers she’s five years older. “You’re so big!” Scott says, a sly reference to his own size-changing abilities.
6. Stan Lee’s final cameo is retro, man!
The late comic-book legend’s last on-screen bit is a fun one: Cap and Tony go back to 1970 to grab the Tesseract (aka the Space Stone that Red Skull had in the first “Captain America” movie) at a S.H.I.E.L.D. lab at Camp Lehigh military base, and driving by is Lee, who shouts, “Hey, man! Make love, not war!” with a woman in his passenger seat. What makes his cameo even more fun? The car’s bumper sticker reads “Nuff said,” one of Lee’s catchphrases.
5. Captain America says ‘Hail Hydra’ (and fights himself)
Cap’s assignment in the Avengers’ time heist is to make off with Loki’s scepter (hosting the Mind Stone) during the alien invasion from the original “Avengers” film. The best bit, though, is the callback to the elevator fight scene in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” Instead of throwing down with a bunch of baddies, this time Cap knows the code: He says, “Hail Hydra” to one of them, so that he can get off the lift with the stone without a scuffle. Unfortunately, after he’s out, he encounters his past self, kicking off some serious fisticuffs.
4. Captain Marvel stares down Thanos
For better or for worse, the very powerful Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) mainly plays the role of cavalry at the beginning and end of “Endgame.” But her appearance in the all-out action finale is pretty great, first slicing through one of Thanos’ warships and then trying to take the Infinity Gauntlet off the villain. Carol’s not even fazed when Thanos headbutts her and she gives an “I’m going to laser-punch you in the face” look before unloading on him.
3. Spider-Man and Iron Man embrace
One of the most heartbreaking scenes in “Infinity War” is Peter Parker (Tom Holland) telling a teary Tony that he didn’t want to go as his body turned to ash. So when the all the dead heroes from “Infinity War” return in “Endgame” – thanks to Hulk snapping the fingers of Infinity Gauntlet 2.0 with the six stones nabbed in the time heist – it’s equally heartwarming when Peter finds his mentor on the battlefield and gives him a big hug.
2. A very alive Black Panther comes looking for a fight
Perhaps we’ve all been missing Chadwick Boseman’s African warrior more since his best picture nomination, but the coolest heroic reappearance is T’Challa rolling up to take on Thanos’ minions with Okoye (Danai Gurira), Shuri (Letitia Wright) and the entire Wakandan army in tow – courtesy of a dimensional gateway created by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).
1. Cap smacks Thanos around with Mjolnir
Trust us, everyone’s favorite super-soldier swinging Thor’s magical hammer – as naturally as his signature shield, by the way – is just as fantastic as it sounds. Only “the worthy” can wield Mjolnir, and while Thor sweated a little when his fellow Avenger moved it just a smidge in “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the Asgardian wears a big grin when Cap calls down the lightning and takes Thanos by surprise with a show of force.