Avengers: Endgame (spoilers)

My favorite "sidebar" story on this movie - when you should take a pee break. I do love the knocks on the movie dabbling too much in "fan service." Considering fans have made this franchise $4 billion through 20 plus movies - I would expect nothing less than fan service. The lack of "where was (so and so)?" or "Why didn't (X) happen" shows how well thought out this movie was. I do wonder how many of the people in the funeral scene were actually there on the day they shot it and how many were digitally added.

Other note: I'm always surprised to see who is considered a "movie star" these days, and how many films can get away without having one.
The great thing about Marvel is that their stories have human stakes. Bruckheimer movies were fun romps, Michael Bay is good for destroying things, but MCU actually shows characters thinking and reflecting on consequences (THAT IMPACT OTHER PEOPLE). Very refreshing for a big-budget special effects movies.

One other note: I appreciate the "No Spoilers" messaging - both in theater and even to the point that Marvel (and I assume agents and actors) aren't talking about any of the movies beyond Spiderman Far From Home (and you figure with three or four "untitled projects" already having 2020 release dates) people in the biz know what they are.

 

The real answer is not when the Avenger movie next to you is getting out. That’s what happened to me and I had to dash to a far corner of the theater.

 

They did spin things forward a bit. They put Thor with the Guardians. Steve Rogers gave the shield to Sam Wilson. I thought it was the right call to keep it relatively minor like that. The Marvel folks said all along that was the end of the stories to this point and it works as exactly that. Leave the spinning forward for later.

 

I guess that's true, considering Marvel is keeping future movies under wraps to avoid spoilers.

I remember reading this story and thought - "a loan for $500 million?" Crazy to think Marvel was in bankruptcy in 1998.

Marvel to Make Movies Based on Comic Books

 

Loved this movie so much. Didn't seem anywhere close to three hours, though there were a scene or two I think could've been cut or trimmed.

Favorite moments
-- Cap wielding Mjolnir. As a longtime comic reader, that was awesome.
-- "Avengers Assemble." I've owned hundreds of Avengers comics since I was a kid, maybe thousands. Hearing that phrase after all these years was big. Not gonna lie, I teared up a little (yeah, I'm an emotional guy; bite me).
-- Tony with the Gauntlet.
-- The Doctor Strange magic teleportation circle appearing. Then another. And more and more and more as everyone arrived.
-- Hell, the whole final battle pretty much.
-- The opening with Hawkeye on his farm with his family.
-- Thor wielding Mjolnir and Stormbreaker.
-- Thanos. Not any moment. Just Thanos all around. So well played.

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting since I saw it Saturday.

Least favorite things about it
-- Thor. Kinda. I think they've gone too far to the comedic side of Thor. Dude was hurting, and we barely got a glimpse of that. Instead, his pain was made into a joke.

And, seriously, how did some of you not catch on to the fact that Black Widow and Hawkeye have had a working relationship WAY before the first Avengers movie? They've clearly had a friendship since well before they joined this team.

 

They went 6 1/2 out of 9.
Fucking Power Pack? Really?

And I'm sure it's been said before, but considering where they and comic book movies in general were 20-25 years ago. Twenty-five years ago next month we had THIS, and now we've got 22 movies and a few TV series in the books. Simply amazing.

 

How great was the opening? I mean it just went right to it. Someone said it here before, and I definitely felt it in my theater, it was almost like you didn't realize it had started and then, again, right to it. I think that's an underrated element of the whole thing. And Thor, I still don't know what to think. It was a bit unnecessary, at least the fat stuff, but I suppose it is where they have taken the character and even with the comic relief element I do think they showed he was hurting. But it could have been done differently.

 

They’ve talked about a few that are in development, so it’s not entirely under wraps. If you follow this stuff, there’s actually a lot out there about future movies.

 

I think that 90s Fantastic Four movie was made mainly to keep the rights, rather than to make money.

InRe - EndGame, this one movie alone is going to keep comic book conventions and every actor who appeared afloat for the next 40 years. Shoot, the people who did motion capture for the Thanos henchmen and the kid who met Stark in Ironman 3 will be able to take home $5k a weekend.

Imagine if newspapers were able to repurpose their product with such success as Marvel did.

 

I'm very much a casual viewer. So can you share what movies are in the works if you know off hand? I'm assuming Black Widow gets a prequel and Guardians and Black Panther all have movies planned. Spider-Man is soon, obviously. Any others?

 

I've heard of a Dr. Strange sequel, Shang Chi and Eternals. Shang Chi is a martial arts master in the comics. The Eternals are super-powered human-type beings that live a really long time. (That's a very simple version of a story I don't know very well. I've never read any comics about them.)

I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me why they want to go with those characters rather than build on the heroes from the Netflix series, especially Daredevil.

 

OOP hit on the main rumors. Marvel's head, Kevin Feige, is big on Shang Chi, which they have had in development for a long time supposedly. He's talked about how the Eternals movie might have the first gay MCU character. The Black Widow movie is in development, so I'm guessing it'll be a prequel.

The third Guardians of the Galaxy movie was set to start, then James Gunn got pulled off it for some old tweets. He's back on it, and I'd bet it's one of the next to go into production.

A third Spider-Man movie is confirmed. A sequel to Black Panther is inevitable. Ditto Captain Marvel. Probably Doctor Strange too.

They also have a trio of series coming for sure on Disney Plus -- WandaVision (horrible name for a show about Scarlet Witch and the Vision), a Falcon-Winter Soldier show, and a Loki show. There are rumors there might be a Hawkeye series, too, possibly with Hawkeye training his daughter.