Avengers: Endgame was dedicated to the original Avengers.Avengers: Endgame finished the Infinity Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As the directors the Russo Brothers had promised, the fourth film in the Avengers franchise was dedicated to the original Avengers, the core team that fought Loki and the Chitauri in 2012’s The Avengers.
Here is how every original Avenger’s arc was wrapped up.
SPOILER ALERT
Tony Stark/Iron Man: Without Tony (and Robert Downey Jr), there would not have been an MCU. Let’s make that clear. And it was fitting that it was he who delivered the final blow to Thanos, so to speak. And he went out (the Infinity Stones’ energy burnt up his inner organs) after saying his iconic line, “I am Iron Man.” In the original movie, it was in this way Tony had announced to the world boldly what he is. This was his arc coming full circle.
We also liked the way he settled the differences with his father ever so gently, without it becoming too maudlin, without letting his father even know he is his son. Tony did end up dead, but before that he lived a life — with his wife Pepper and their daughter.
Steve Rogers/Captain America: Steve Rogers was tasked with the responsibility of delivering the Infinity Stones in their own timelines. When he went to do that, he also remembered his promised date with Peggy and ended up living his life with her until he grew old — which is what we saw as he came back in his own timeline. It was heavily rumoured from Captain America: The First Avenger itself that their date would happen someday even if they had been separated by 7 decades. That story appeared unfinished. And it got a sweet end.
Thor: The God of Thunder really looked like a grumpy Norse God with scruffy, dense beard and a stocky frame, due to his lazing around at New Asgard and kegs of beer in his stomach. Out of the big three, it appears as if his arc is not complete yet, not totally, but it was an end, certainly. He got both the Stormbreaker and Mjolnir and fought Thanos with Tony and Steve. After the battle was finished, he left the charge of New Asgard (and its monarchy) to Valkyrie and went away.
Where? We know he is with the Guardians of the Galaxy (“Asgardians of the Galaxy,” he said, and there is a real comic-book by that name), but that may be temporary and we might or might not see him in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. There is Thor 4, reportedly, in development too.
Bruce Banner/Hulk: So that happened. We got the Professor Hulk. The body of the green rage monster and the mind (and voice) of Bruce. There was still a playfulness of the Hulk in Bruce’s disposition and that made for great comedy.
In Infinity War, the Hulk refused to come out at all, but Endgame had him out all the time, only less angry. Now the dual personalities of Bruce and the Hulk do not fight each other and instead live in harmony. This is best of both worlds, though there was undeniably some appeal in a normal sized man letting loose and harnessing his anger to become a furious, unstoppable killing machine.
Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow: Natasha Romanoff was the only Avengers who was missing in the climactic battle. She sacrificed herself to obtain the Soul Stone and stopped Clint Barton from dying instead. We wonder why they did not know about the sacrifice? Didn’t Tony and Nebula brief them? We do not have a lot of background information about Natasha to really see a “fitting” end to her arc since her arc mostly depended on others. There was again a mention of something that happened in Budapest between Clint and Natasha. Is that Marvel teasing the upcoming Black Widow movie?
Clint Barton/Hawkeye: The archer superhero lost his mind (though he looked normal enough later) and began to kill criminals all around the world. This was due to him losing his entire family in the snap. Again, Hawkeye is a minor character like Natasha and does not have enough character information apart from his family to create an arc. We do think it would have been more fitting for him to sacrifice like he wanted to get the Soul Stone and not Natasha. He is alive by the end of Endgame and was reunited with his family. We wonder whether there is more in his story.
