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Given the year-long wait, its audience Pavlovian dogs, myself (woof!)
included would have salivated over less.
Even in Franchise-Tent-Pole-Universe land, some superheroism is finite.
Recounting the very premise is problematic, beyond the heroes obvious determination to reverse-disintegrate (re-integrate?)
the 50 percent of the galaxy wiped out inAvengers: Infinity Warby the Malthusian colossus Thanos.
What form will their improbable quest take and which characters will lead the charge?
At this early stage, I must resist the temptation even to hint at momentous events.
Nowadays hed need to go into Witness Protection.
Inevitably Ill tell you things you dont know but promise not to tell you that Shelley Winters dies.
Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) is teaching his daughter how to line up and shoot an arrow.
Their little son calls for ketchup.
And then poof Barton is alone.
The music comes in so softly that you barely hear it over the flickering Marvel panels.
Downey looks gaunt, ravaged, his face finally denuded of all baby fat.
Earth a la Thanos is full of fascinating contradictions that the Russos dont fully explore.
For example, Tony Stark no longer lives in a high-tech fortress.
He lives in the woods.
Were told that fewer people means fewer ships means cleaner water.
Far, far away, Thanos (Josh Brolin plus CGI) has a little farm himself.
No self-respecting superhero could live with that level of failure.
The rift between Iron and Cap has gotten uglier.
Downeys Stark is fed up, tired, eager to leave the field and start a family.
It falls to the Widow in her mopey, desultory way to keep the Avengers going.
Thor and Hulk are different from what you remember.
(Is this a spoiler?
I cant tell anymore.)
The new Hulk strikes me as more problematic.
But without an internal struggle, Banner ceases to function as adramaticcharacter, let alone a dangerous one.
Two supporting actors return with their faces de-aged by computers.
Leonard Nimoys Mr. Spock would nod with approval and even find his human side stirred.
In the days to come, the components ofAvengers: Endgamewill be analyzed and its Easter eggs enumerated.
I regret this on many levels but am not so hypocritical as to tell you Ive risen above it.
I had a good time and my daughter had a great one.
That said, this kind of success is always a mixed blessing.
How soon before Disney stockholders will ask, Whens the next HUGE one?
I hope not for a long while.
[SPOILER ADDENDUM: DO NOT READ BEFORE SEEING THE FILM.
What about the people who did, indeed, move on with their lives?
A TV series, maybe?]
