I've Got Them Post Avengers: Endgame Blues

So much of my energy was all wrapped up in anticipation of seeing Avengers: Endgame.

So I've seen the damned thing. I've looked upon it and declared it good.

OK.

Now what? 

I've got them post Avengers: Endgame blues.

What should have my attention next?  

Spider-Man: Far From Home? Maybe.

Doctor Who: Series 12? Could be. 

Stranger Things, Season 3? Possibly.  

Until I figure out what to hang my fanboy hat on next, let me poke around at some of the kibbles and bits of Avengers: Endgame. Maybe that will help me cope.  

Unlike yesterday's post, I will be more specific about things and SPOILERS will ensue. 

WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!

I WILL BE PONTIFICATING ON SPECIFIC PLOT POINTS AND THE ENDING OF AVENGERS: ENDGAME!
THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!

OK, at this point, if you don't wanna know shit about Avengers: Endgame and you're still reading, that's on you.

ONE LAST TIME!

WARNING!

And now we're off! 

Captain Marvel
Not that she is called that. Yet. 

As you may recall from the mid-credit scene of Captain Marvel, the Avengers are keeping an eye on Nick Fury's pager when Carol Danvers suddenly appears. 

What happened next? 

We don't find that out in Endgame. Carol's first appearance is when she rescues Tony Stark and Nebula from their dead ship in outer space. 

One may presume that after introductions were made, someone noted that some of their people (Tony, Dr. Strange and Spider-Man) were heading off to space and Carol pops up to look for them. 

Leaving the Capt. Marvel credit scene out of it and picking up where Endgame begins, it almost looks like Carol, on her way back to Earth, finds Tony & Nebula floating in space. Her  bringing the space ship to Earth at the Avengers compound almost looks like her introduction to everybody.  

Since it's established that Thanos' finger snap makes Earth the epicenter of a major cosmic event, one can imagine we don't need Fury's pager to summon Carol back to Earth. 

Oh no! Are the post credit scenes in MCU movies completely extraneous? 

And when will Carol Danvers ever get to be called Captain Marvel? 

Well, we do get to see Carol whallop the shit out of Thanos and when he tries to punch, his fist lands with a hollow thud as Carol does not flinch. 

Carol is so badass! 

Also Carol gets a haircut. 

Time Travel
Pretty much everyone guessed from the moments immediately following the end of Infinity War that time travel would factor into the denouement of the Avengers battle against Thanos.

Well, it did. But exactly how? To that end, I will invoke the strategy of Doctor Who.

Step One: Promise to explain later.
Step Two: Don't. 

To their credit, our Avengers do address the inherent contradictions of using time travel to solve their Thanos problem. They lay down the ground rules of what they're going to do and how they're going to do it. And then...

I'm pretty sure the rule book gets shredded. 

Here's the thing with ANY story involving time travel. It's best to not ask too many questions. And if anyone does ask any questions, invoke the following two steps: 

Step One: Promise to explain later.
Step Two: Don't. 

Things get really wibbly-wobbly when still alive Thanos in the past discovers the Avengers of the future are travelling back in time to undo what he hasn't done yet. 

Confused? 

Step One: Promise to explain later.
Step Two: Don't. 

The Time Jump
The first act of the movie is not really that long. The Avengers pull together to venture forth into space and in short order, find Thanos and then Thor cuts his damn head off.

Fade to black and graphic: Five Years Later

The time jump does serve the purpose of showing that Earth has still not quite come to terms with losing half of its population. A scene with Steve Rogers with a therapy group reveals that people are still struggling to move on with their lives. 

Acceptance and moving on are not easily explored options, even after five years. 

But some have moved on. Tony and Pepper have made a baby and living an idyllic life in a cabin. In the shadow of ultimate of tragedy, Tony Stark has a life he does not want to lose.

Clint Barton, his family snapped out of existence as shown in a heart breaking prologue, has taken his frustrations out on the criminals of the world, wielding a sword to shed a lot of not so innocent blood.  In the shadow of ultimate of tragedy, the former Hawkeye has a lot of sins to account for.  

So when an opportunity presents itself in the form of a miraculously returned Scott Lang with access to time travel, Tony doesn't see an opportunity, he sees a risk to losing all he holds dear.  Clint sees a desperate last chance to regain his family even though he's not sure with all the death at his hands, he deserves such a miracle. 

With a time jump, any solutions to undo what Thanos has done with time travel becomes trickier to navigate. 

And what about the consequences of success? 

No one talks about that in the movie but what happens with billions of people, 5 years gone, suddenly reappear in the world? What about jobs and housing? No matter the difficulties people have had moving on, one cannot expect the status quo prior to Thanos to be instantly restored. What about that? 

Step One: Promise to explain later.
Step Two: Don't. 

Also, since the events of Infinity War happen in 2018, the five year jump puts the present day of the MCU in the year 2023.

Is that really a thing? 

Step One: Promise to explain later.
Step Two: Don't. 

Sacrifice
There is death in this movie. 

To get to the soul stone for the 2nd time... er, the first time (man, time travel), a sacrifice must be made. In Infinity War, Thanos sacrifices Gamora. Now, the same choice is presented to Natasha and Clint who fight each other to see who gets thrown over the cliff. Natasha thinks it should be Natasha and Clint thinks it should be Clint. 

Black Widow... wins? 

It appears that when the cosmic re-set snap is engaged (thank you, Hulk-Bruce!), everyone who got dusted by Thanos gets brought back. Bruce later says he tried to include Natasha in that group but it didn't work. Apparently, any deaths that occurred independent of any Infinity Gauntlet snapping are not reversible.  

Natasha Romanoff is not the only loss for the Avengers. In the big epic throwdown with Thanos and his alien murder horde and the restored multitude of restored heroes post the cosmic re-set snap, Thanos looks to get his hands on all six of the Infinity Stones that the Avengers have helpfully gathered for him. Thanos has learned from his future self's mistake. He's not going to snap out half of all life throughout the universe. 

No, he's gonna kill the whole damn thing and start over with a new universe that's appropriately grateful to Thanos. 

When it looks like that Thanos has gotten the stones and is about to follow through on his threat, he proclaims "I am INEVITABLE!" Then he's shocked to find the stones not in his possession. 

Nope, they are embedded in Tony's armor. Tony replies, "I am Iron Man!" and SNAP!

Thanos and his alien murder horde are reduced to dust. 

Using the Infinity Stones in unison is more than a mere mortal than bear.  

Tony Stark is dead.

The moment was not unexpected. It was still nonetheless heartbreaking. 

They Lived Happily Ever After
Iron Man was not the only Avenger to exit. Captain America is also gone but gets a different ending. He gets to live the life he always wanted.

Charged with returning the Infinity Stones to their original locations in time, Steve Rogers takes on the mission but doesn't return as planned. 

Then Sam Wilson sees an elderly man on a nearby bench. It's Steve Rogers. 

After finishing the mission of returning the stones, Steve made one last trip to the past where he finally got that dance with Peggy Carter. They got married and lived their lives. 

Steve has come back to to this moment to give something to Sam: the Captain America shield.  

There are all sorts of implications that throughout the MCU timeline, Steve Rogers was there in two places at once and if you're having trouble reconciling all of that...

Step One: Promise to explain later.
Step Two: Don't.