Avengers: Endgame is a triumph for the Marvel franchise

For James Bond fans, the 21st film in their beloved series reached a new nadir – Die Another Day, a ludicrous and bloated film could have killed the series off. Marvel Studios (owned by the Disney behemoth) and its fans don’t face the same problem – the series goes from strength to strength and their twenty-first and previous movie, Avengers: Infinity War delivered critically and commercially. Its sequel, Avengers: Endgame is a worthy successor.

Credit should go to the Russo Brothers, who directed this epic, their fourth for the studio. Having produced a grand, complex film with a Malthusian antagonist last year to critical and commercial success, it seemed inconceivable that they wouldn’t stay around for the second half of the story.

Avengers: Endgame is the final piece of a grin-inducing romp through Marvel’s comic books and it works. It does everything that it promises and, while it doesn’t excel as other films in the series have (Captain America: The Winter Solder is a stand out) it is great fun. It has enough going for it to make it required viewing for anyone who has even then slightest interest in comics, action movies or Robert Downey Jr put-downs.

After the big baddie of the last film, Thanos, obliterated half of all life in the universe, we get a first hour exploring the impact of the disaster on our heroes. Some have taken up counselling; some just booze. It shows us what happens to our heroes when they lose, a rarity for the superhero genre. Scarlett Johansen delivers the stand out performance, her character on the edge of a breakdown, and Chris Hemsworth has some brilliant comedy in this opening third. Indeed, it’s a hallmark of Marvel’s cinematic universe that there is depth beyond the bright colours, action sequences and one-liners.

After this extended prologue, we get the real meat of the story – a complex plan involving time travel (which isn’t really time travel, apparently), a conceit that allows fans to revisit some of their favourite moments in the series. It also delivers some surprising, brilliant cameos. While it feels slightly convoluted, this device helpfully reminds the casual Marvel fan of how much they’ve actually watched (or missed!) to get to this point.

Last year’s Infinity War was a triumph because of the central role given to Thanos, the antagonist. Unlike most other superhero movie villains, the purple Titan had real depth. He explained his motivations. In Endgame, he doesn’t get the same treatment. The narrative is all about our heroes. It’s an understandable decision from the filmmakers given the need to explore who the Avengers are, their interactions between each other and (for some) how their stories end. But it is a shame that the most compelling comic book movie villain since Heath Ledger’s Joker doesn’t get a satisfying concluding chapter.

This film was always going to be about The Avengers’ attempt to bring back those that they lost, and whether they could defeat Thanos in the process. Both those questions are solved in a final act which should be lauded for its scale and ambition. Not since the Lord of the Rings has a battle been so epic.

For film snobs, these films will never reach the commanding heights of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, with its gritty tenor. But we should take a step back and realise that delivering a coherent, interesting story across twenty-two movies, over eleven years is an unprecedented feat and it will be hard to repeat. So let’s enjoy all that Marvel has given us so far.