Avengers: Endgame (all the spoilers!)
I may add to this as I think of things, but it's nice to have someplace to dump thoughts, anyway.
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For as much as Endgame messes with time travel, I think it does it pretty well and sensibly. That's not to say perfectly. Bruce's explanation, as well as the Ancient One's visual, sort of make clear they're going with the alternate/split timelines approach to avoid the butterfly effect. THEN they add the moral complexity of acknowledging these alternate timelines are valid as well, and shouldn't be screwed just for the benefit of their "prime timeline" (ie. the one we're following). That's why the make a deliberate effort to get the stones back to when they came from. That means there's a Loki that's alive, but he's in an alternate timeline. It also means that present-Thor screwed a parallel Thor by yoinking Mjolnir from that timeline (well, Cap could have returned that, though still kind of a dick move). And for all the Avengers' effort to keep from hosing other timelines, Thanos' crew getting pulled from one to theirs would have effects on that timeline (though perhaps not "negative" effects).
Buuuut, it's not perfect, exactly. Cap's timeline journey seems to say he went to when they took (probably the Tesseract) and rode that timeline into the present, which is arguably contrary to all the above.
But, y'know, for time travel, that's a relatively minor amount of handwaving, honestly.
There were plenty of moments, as I mentioned in my spoiler-free comments, where I saw a "surprise" coming.
Hrm... I'm having trouble calling to mind further specifics, but it seems like there were a few more.
And, of course, there were sooo many moments of fan service in various ways. This is a movie for watchers of the MCU, after all.
More random thoughts:
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For as much as Endgame messes with time travel, I think it does it pretty well and sensibly. That's not to say perfectly. Bruce's explanation, as well as the Ancient One's visual, sort of make clear they're going with the alternate/split timelines approach to avoid the butterfly effect. THEN they add the moral complexity of acknowledging these alternate timelines are valid as well, and shouldn't be screwed just for the benefit of their "prime timeline" (ie. the one we're following). That's why the make a deliberate effort to get the stones back to when they came from. That means there's a Loki that's alive, but he's in an alternate timeline. It also means that present-Thor screwed a parallel Thor by yoinking Mjolnir from that timeline (well, Cap could have returned that, though still kind of a dick move). And for all the Avengers' effort to keep from hosing other timelines, Thanos' crew getting pulled from one to theirs would have effects on that timeline (though perhaps not "negative" effects).
Buuuut, it's not perfect, exactly. Cap's timeline journey seems to say he went to when they took (probably the Tesseract) and rode that timeline into the present, which is arguably contrary to all the above.
But, y'know, for time travel, that's a relatively minor amount of handwaving, honestly.
There were plenty of moments, as I mentioned in my spoiler-free comments, where I saw a "surprise" coming.
- Mjolnir landing all by its lonesome made me think "well that's deliberate, which means someone else is going to pick it up, and there aren't many options who it could be."
- Natasha and Clint going after the Soulstone... okay, I wasn't sure of the outcome other than knowing they'd be fighting over who would get to sacrifice him/herself.
- The Ancient one addressing Bruce specifically as being the one she's trusting to do the right thing give implication that he'll be the one snapping.
- The moment when Thanos is making threats and bringing in his troops, I'm thinking "y'know, he's not the only one with backup, a whoooole bunch of 'good guys' were just resurrected too - yep, there they come."
Hrm... I'm having trouble calling to mind further specifics, but it seems like there were a few more.
And, of course, there were sooo many moments of fan service in various ways. This is a movie for watchers of the MCU, after all.
- Korg hanging out with Thor? Great.
- Cap's "Hail Hydra" moment? Great.
- The "she's not alone" girl power moment? Well... not so great in my book. Honestly, it felt far too forced in the moment, but I consciously decided it wouldn't let it bother me.
More random thoughts:
- I'm not sure I want to see Thor with the Guardians for very long - Quill's inferiority complex next to him is sort of cute in small doses, but it's not a dynamic I want to see for any length of time in GotG3.
- Natasha should have been mourned along with Tony, honestly, and her loss sort of sucks. His does too, but it was probably about time to retire a few central characters and death is about the only way to stop him.
- Bringing back a pre-GotG Gamora is a gut punch of a sort. It means writing out a couple movies worth of character development - though it does it in a way that could be interesting to explore, I grant. I'm unclear on how and why she would run off before the dust settled, though.
- Time travel mechanic questions aside, what the hell? Captain America goes back to get his happily ever after and just... stops being a hero? That's kind of hard to buy, even if he probably deserves it.
- If Sam/Falcon's gonna be Captain America, is he going to be super-soldierized somehow? He's already good with his gear, but he's human.
- The movie barely goes into the the incredible repercussions of losing half the population for five years, much less suddenly getting them back. That's probably just as well, honestly, but daaaaammmnnn that's a can of worms to think about.
- Captain Marvel is hella powerful. How the heck did she get so from a Tesseract-based-FTL engine accident and a Kree blood transfusion? That's sort of a lingering question from her movie, admittedly, but she's got some "Power Cosmic" levels of capability that make it hard to really threaten her.
- As someone else pointed out, Scarlet Witch shows a really high degree of raw power (mostly in telekinetic form) too here - to the point of making Thanos resort to artillery.
- Vision makes no reappearance. There's no real discussion about this. Since the only people immune to being brought back were those lost to the soul stone or killed after the stones were used, this beg questioning. Was he "alive" to begin with? Can he be alive without the power of a stone? Was her resurrected, but unable to join the battle in some way? Hmm...
- I still love Rocket. He had several good moments, though they were usually pretty low-key - things like pep-talking Thor and trying to protect Groot.
- The Ancient One having the time stone in New York during the battle seems a little convenient, given the amulet seemed to be kept in more of a vault, buuuut I'd call it plausible, given what was going on.
- For someone with such zealous conviction to his "Delete 50%" mission, past-Thanos comes around to changing that pretty quickly when viewing his future. Especially when present-Thanos was just resigned to it all.
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