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There are some exceptions. For example, Marvel’s Peter “Spider-Man” Parker is an orphan who lives with his aunt. Nonetheless, Marvel’s characters consistently have real-world insecurities and foibles that radioactivity (or at least bites from contaminated spiders) can’t fix.

The Fantastic Four, which includes a married couple and a brother and sister, bicker so often, it’s astonishing that they still manage to foil Doctor Doom. Similarly, Thor’s ambivalent relationship with his brother, the trickster Loki, gives their stories more surprises and narrative weight than they would have if the two Norse deities got along.

Avengers: Endgame depends on digital effects and leaps of logic that are as far as the jumps Captain Marvel can achieve physically. It also features characters who are believable even if their abilities routinely defy the laws of physics and thermodynamics. Because the characters in the Marvel cinematic universe have relatable and even potentially crushing neuroses, it’s easier to watch more than three hours of computer-generated pyrotechnics.

Even people who can fly, shrink themselves to the size of bugs or live in the bodies of gun-toting raccoons have unfulfilled desires. Endgame is as much about dealing with those needs as it is about reversing the damage supervillain Thanos (Josh Brolin) has done to the universe.

Believing that all the other sentient beings have made the cosmos unlivable, he has taken it upon himself to cause 50 percent of the universe’s population to spontaneously evaporate. Having acquired all the stones needed to make his infinity gauntlet work, Thanos has arbitrarily selected which half was subject to instant genocide and which half would remain.

This means only a fraction of Marvel’s heroes remain to figure out how to resurrect the people Thanos eliminated.

As you might have figured out from the previous installment, Avengers: Infinity War and Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) remains and joins Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) in figuring out of Thanos’ plan has an undo key.

Along with way, the Avengers discover that fixing galactic massacres creates new problems and that they have a lot to learn about themselves as they do about playing with supernatural and natural forces. Between scenes of property destruction that make the first Battle of the Marne seem mild, there are interactions where each member of the team struggles with personal issues that can crush them the way Kryptonite can demolish Superman.

At times, watching Captain America cope with outliving almost everyone he knew and loved around World War II is more poignant and even more fun that seeing dense, sometimes excessive blitzes of CGI warfare. That said, he has one of the best fight scenes in Endgame, but if you don’t care much about the Captain himself, it won’t matter.

The cast are universally committed and treat all of the fantastic sights and loud explosions as if they are consequential. The special effects are expectedly top notch. As with Infinity War, the digital artists have expertly managed to capture Brolin’s facial tics, so he can do more than simply recite his gloomy lines.

Unlike the way the Avengers themselves sometimes interact, the technicians and the artists seem to have a happy union. Brolin and Cooper give fully-formed performances that appear on faces that aren’t human.

The wisecracks and genial tone certainly help prevent Endgame get through its bladder-taxing runtime, and directors Joe and Russo pace the new installment briskly enough to juggle several narratives without making them feel rushed.
It’s also a treat to see seemingly minor players in the Marvel Universe shine for a few seconds. There’s little point in keeping track of deep cuts and references to the other Marvel films because you’ll lose count quickly, and the main story works well enough to keep the film moving.

I am delighted to admit I have not outgrown superhero stories. If it weren’t for comic books, I wouldn’t have read James Joyce, Virginia Wolff, Rabindranath Tagore, Umberto Eco, Ernest Hemingway or any other worthwhile writers when I became an adult. Superman took on the Klan in radio serials, and Stan Lee frequently explored adult subject matter like drug addiction in comics. Sometimes inverting reality is an effective way to appreciate it.

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originally posted: 04/25/19 08:12:02
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