I was never into superhero comic books as a kid. Still aren't actually. The only comics I read were Archie comics and Transformers. I had the odd Spiderman or Fantastic 4 that people gave me but was never interested enough to collect them.
I knew who the X-men were from their cartoon, but never really watched it, again only focusing really on Transformers. I knew who the Hulk was because of the Lou Ferrigno show, but I can't say I was ever clamoring to watch it.
When Sam Raimi's Spiderman came out, of course I knew who Spiderman was, and I watched them, and enjoyed them, (even part of the third one). But I didn't even see them in the theaters.
The MCU - well, it wasn't an MCU, it was basically Iron Man. I knew who Iron Man was, but only vaguely. Same with Thor and Captain America. In fact, when the first Thor came out, I wasn't even interested in watching it, which is surprising considering my interest in mythology and ancient gods, and only did watch when it became clear that everything was connected.
But I loved Iron Man, and loved Captain America, and even Thor when I finally got around to watching it. So I've seen all the MCU movies, but have no idea other than in broad generalities of which comic book story lines they've been following or adapting from. So I have no ties as to how things "should be done" or how they were done, not like in Game of Thrones or the Hobbit.
So maybe my opinion doesn't count as much as die hard fans. But I loved Endgame. And even though it wasn't a perfect movie, it couldn't be. You can't wrap up that many years and that many stories in a perfect bow. You can't please everyone.
That doesn't mean that people who did't like it, shouldn't feel free to explain why, or what parts fell flat. But realize that this was the culmination of an extraordinary vision, and that even if Marvel tries this again with another phase, it will never be the same.
It will never be the same. This was the first, and it set an extremely high standard that may never be matched. Not all the movies were perfect, not all were even good, but they all worked toward the same thing.
I really have no other words for it than extraordinary. So while they were parts of Endgame I didn't love, it was the experience as a whole that I did - and so those issues just don't matter to me. Not right now. Maybe never.
It wasn't a perfect film. But it was the perfect ending to something important. Just movies, just entertainment, but still important.
For me the best part is how people changed. And how Marvel showed that change. I've seen a lot of criticism over Thor and his fat PTSD being made fun of, but the fact that there was no magical fix for that is the takeaway. Heroes have flaws. Heroes make terrible choices and do terrible things. Heroes let you down.
And then they don't.
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