Anthony e Joe Russo
Avengers: Endgame

[Only Infinity War spoilers present]

It's been 11 years since Iron Man, the film that kicked off the colossal cinematic universe branded by Marvel. In this decade, a lot has happened; it's strange to think that in 2008, the most high-tech film saga ever erupted at a time when all this technology hadn't yet invaded our daily lives. In 2008, I was still a kid when I happened to see that film, and I never would have thought that through that action movie filled with punches, explosions, post-rehab Robert Downey Jr., and AC/DC songs, such a massive cinematic universe would have been created that, in comparison, Star Wars and Harry Potter seem like a 4x4 panda in front of a Porsche Carrera. We are not just talking about a saga like many others, but a real mass phenomenon that changed the way we perceive superhero movies, where the late Stan Lee and Steve Ditko with their Spiderman had ignited the spark: the hero doesn't have to be perfect; after all, he's just a human being with his strengths and weaknesses; in other words, he can be vulnerable.

On this simple but profound insight, Marvel heroes are born, superheroes with super problems; the perfect mix of action and humor gave Marvel films that sense of epicness and lightness that made a big hit at the box office, reworking cinematically some characters sometimes even unknown (see Ant-Man) making them charismatic and iconic, yet always human, with Tom Holland's insecure and clumsy Spiderman completing the circle. Until 2017, a Marvel movie was the equivalent of having fun in the cinema to enjoy a TV series in a film format where the winning pattern remained the perfect mix of comedy, drama, and action, reaching its peaks with the two "Guardians of the Galaxy" directed by James Gunn. But then Infinity War arrived, and nothing would ever be the same.

Infinity War did what you wouldn't expect: it veered towards a pessimistic and "dark" side, apparently without a possible solution. The final minutes of that film kept millions of people on the edge of their seats when the antagonist of the story, Thanos, already present behind the scenes of other Marvel films, snapped his fingers and consequently wiped out half of Earth's population, including many superheroes, among whom was the beloved Spidey. If a blockbuster like Infinity War was intended as a prelude to the definitive epilogue, then it was fair to expect a monumental "THE END," and so it was.

The trailers for Endgame kept the secrets behind the plot developments alive, not foreshadowing anything of the final product, thus fueling numerous theories from Reddit users and the like. Not being able to do spoilers, the only thing I can say is that the plot manages perfectly to juggle sincere moments of reflection, well-timed jokes, and a stratospheric ending that will probably satisfy all the eager to know the fate of Marvel's heroes. It will be difficult, for someone who hasn’t seen almost all the films related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to understand the various connections to other saga films. However, the writing and timing and the management of the narrative climax are rendered very well, keeping the viewer on the edge of their seat for the entire duration of the film (and we are talking about a 3-hour movie!).

If in Infinity War the absolute protagonist was the evil Thanos played by Josh Brolin, now it is up to the few surviving Avengers to drive the film: a sore note, however, goes to Captain Marvel, a relatively weak and unimpressive character, albeit essential for the plot's development. Thanos reconfirms himself as the threat he was in the previous film, amplifying his presence even more towards the finale; however, the feeling is that we are faced with a slightly more cartoonish and less credible character than the one presented in "Infinity War," yet still remaining the best villain in Marvel films overall, a nearly indestructible threat devoid of real kindness.

From a cinematic perspective, Endgame is the action one expects and should be evaluated for what it is: a huge toy that concludes an over-a-decade-long storyline made of numerous films and seemingly impossible plots to merge; however, after witnessing these two final chapters, one must recognize the talent of the Marvel team and the Russo brothers in uniting such a dense network of characters into one grand finale with a bang. Being a commercial blockbuster product, not everyone will like it, but you can't say it hasn't played its main role excellently: that of entertaining and showing, besides successes, the failures of the superhero.