Warning: SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame
This week, the hottest topic of conversation that no one wants to ruin is Avengers: Endgame. The film has started a whole culture around anti-spoiling, between its accomplishments and effects is basically legendary. The MCU has outdone itself, capping off this chapter of its films, and changing the Avengers forever. 22 movies in and they still dazzle their fans.
While they are great at crowd-pleasing, though, Avengers movies aren’t perfect, and neither is this one. No film is. Between whacky science and some other key decisions, the flick is a little more divisive than one might think.
Below this intro is an article filled with spoilers, so any fan not wanting to learn things they might not want to know, beware. This warning will only be given once. After all, to talk about logic flaws, we have to talk about all of Endgame, spoilers and everything. Read at your own peril.
Here are 25 Things That Don’t Make Sense About Endgame.
Thanos Telling Nebula His Retirement Plans
Throughout Gamora and Nebula’s saga of sisterhood, fans have learned that Thanos preferred his more aggressive, disloyal daughter. In the first Guardians film, she nearly destroys Gamora and all her friends just to try and please him. However, other than using her as a pawn, Thanos never really included poor Nebula, resulting in her eventually turning on him.
At the beginning of Endgame, the un-Dusted heroes are hunting down Thanos. They want the Infinity Gauntlet to change everything back. Nebula becomes pivotal here because she knows the farming planet that he always dreamed of retiring on. The only problem is that Thanos would never bother to tell Nebula anything that important to him. She might try to join him or something.
Thor Letting Himself Go
The MCU excels in balancing out humor with serious, impressive action. During Endgame, though, they made a divisive choice that left a fair amount of fans unhappy. After failing to chop Thanos in half in Infinity War, Thor has apparently let himself go, as a King and as a human being. He has long hair again, a beer belly, and barely takes care of the remaining Asgardians. This transformation is framed as a sort of post-traumatic response, but compared to Tony Stark’s panic attacks it’s just not as effective. Furthermore, it’s played off a bit too often for laughs. Thor deserved a better post-Thanos arc.
Captain Marvel Left Us Underwhelmed
At the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Nick Fury used a pager to contact Captain Marvel, an incredibly powerful woman who left the planet years ago. The end-credit scene framed her as a wildly important component to defeating Thanos, a person who would change the tide.
Unfortunately, though, that’s not quite what happened. After all, the most important thing she did was play taxi for Tony and Nebula to get them back to Earth. Beyond that, she kind of just fades into the background. She’s there, but exists as back-up, nothing more.
Considering many fans fell in love with her during her solo film, such a lukewarm and underwhelming role in Endgame becomes disappointing.
Valkyrie’s Survival
Avengers: Infinity War begins with Thanos completely destroying the Asgardian refugee convoy. Without a home, the proud people are decimated and Thor remains the only survivor. Fans assumed that this implied all his kin, including fan-favorite Valkyrie, were gone.
However, the poster promotions for Endgame revealed otherwise: Valkyrie not only survived, but also wasn’t dusted by the snap. Somehow, a small selection of Asgardians survived and now live on Earth.
While Valkyrie’s survival is exciting, it doesn’t make much sense. Their people only had a single ship that Thanos utterly wrecked. How did she and any others survive? It doesn’t make any sense and Endgame doesn’t really offer any explanation.
Old Selves Meeting New Selves
Whenever a plot involves time travel, things get sticky. Star Trek and Doctor Who have been dabbling in the topic for decades with varying degrees of success. However, one of the key rules both series have cemented is that past selves should not interact with current ones. It’s all about time paradoxes and how it affects a person’s future, the works.
Well, Endgame completely disregarded that and had as many old versions of each character meet their new counterpart. Not only did both Captain America and Hulk have future-past chats, but Tony and Thor also had conversations with their now-passed on parents.
At three hours, sure the movie doesn’t have much time for scientific explanations. But, really? The Department of Temporal Corrections is horrified.
Scott’s Quantum Escape
When Thanos does his infamous snap, the post-credits scene of Ant-Man and The Wasp revealed that the entire Van Dyne family was completely dusted. Worse, this is while they are conducting Quantum experiments with Scott. After the five year time jump, Scott reappears, escaping the Quantum Realm all on his own.
Before this, the Pym science clearly expressed that without a ship or some sort of planned tether, it’s impossible to return from the Quantum Realm. Scott seems to have disproved that. How? Who knows. Considering he’s more an electrical and mechanical engineering dude, he doesn’t have the qualifications to have solved such a conundrum. Though it doesn’t make much sense, I guess fans are expected to accept he figured something out.
Having The Dusted Back In Action So Easily
All the people that were “dusted” by Thanos’ snap were gone for five whole years. When the Avengers finally bring them back, they’ve been disintegrated and have lost so much time. While all of them have just dealt with this traumatic experience of literally falling apart, the movie forgets the logical refractory period for dealing with that. Their bodies might be completely out of whack. Instead, though, all of them jump back into immediate action, joining the fight against Thanos.
Sure, it’s a sci-fi action move so the rules always get bent. But the catharsis of it all doesn’t outweigh the absurdity all the time.
No Other Big Bads During Time Skip
In the entire 5 years after Thanos’ snap, the Avengers don’t talk at all about any other big bads attacking Earth. While it’s made clear the average crime still happens, look at Clint’s Ronin, no one has seen the new weakness of Earth as an opportunity. Considering how many galactic villains are in the Marvel universe, it’s wild to think no one saw the chance and took it.
Sure, it would completely mess up the movie. When it comes to keeping the plot succinct and focused, it has its purpose. But from an evil standpoint? Absolutely at least one person would have taken advantage of the whole situation and done something.
Ronin
Ronin (not to be mistaken with GoTG’s Ronan) is a dark persona taken on by several different people. In comics history, Clint Barton has held the mantle in his worst hours. However, the Clint that does that isn’t quite the same one fans know in Avengers. The MCU Hawkeye bends some rules, but ultimately is a man who believes in doing the right thing and protecting his family and the world. That’s why he joined SHIELD, after all.
While losing his family does pull out a darker, angrier side of Clint, the character we’ve seen thus far is more likely to join back up with Black Widow than start on loner hunts as Ronin.
Thor Cutting Off Thanos’ Head
After Nebula reveals Thanos’ retirement spot, all of the Avengers get in a spaceship and head his way. When there, they discover Thanos’ body was completely destroyed by using the Infinity Gauntlet twice. He put his life at risk to destroy the stones with a second snap, ensuring no one could reverse the damage he’d done.
Instead of letting anyone try to talk to Thanos or use him for information (or let Nebula get a cathartic stab in), Thor chops off the purple alien’s head.
While it makes sense for Thor to feel guilty for not doing a better job taking down Thanos with his new axe, the reaction is a bit much.
Pepper Potts’ Weird Inconsistency About Heroism
Throughout Tony Stark and Pepper Potts’ romance, she’s had a complicated relationship with his hero side. While she admires heroes, her boyfriend’s addiction to the super lifestyle takes a toll on his health and their relationship. Their most serious fights have always started and ended with Iron Man.
However, as they’ve gotten more serious past Iron Man 3, Pepper’s stance on the whole topic has only gotten more and more confusing. She’ll consistently ask him to make promises about heroism that she knows he won’t keep. Though she does her best to support him in the end, it still doesn’t clear up that uncomfortable and toxic side of their relationship.
The Ant-Man Crew Doing Quantum Testing During Thanos’ Invasion
While it makes sense they couldn’t contact everyone to join up in Wakanda for the big battle, it doesn’t make sense that (mid-world invasion) the Ant-Man crew would just be casually testing Quantum Realm physics. After all, they didn’t know about the impending Thanos plot, but they should have known something was wrong. They more likely would have been helping citizens somewhere, not bantering on a roof.
Though it leads to more Quantum discoveries, given the timeline it simply doesn’t make much sense at all. Ant-Man and the Wasp could have figured out a better, more logical way for Scott to end up Quantum-Sized.
At least Scott figured out how to escape, even though that doesn’t quite make sense either.
Nebula Destroying Nebula
Avengers: Endgame has quite a few confusing “people versus themselves” scenarios, but the most jarring and uncomfortable by far is Nebula. The now emancipated Nebula comes into serious conflict with the older her, the one desperate for Thanos’ approval. Her old self shenanigans cause a giant time rift that brings old Thanos into this time, with his entire armada.
This also leads to an intense Nebula v. Nebula face-off, which ends in Nebula destroying Nebula. Yes. If that sounds time-damaging and kind of confusing, it is. On a symbolic level, it’s fantastic for her. However, in a time science way, it doesn’t make any sense at all. That means new Nebula should have perished right? Well, she didn’t.
Clint’s Character Is Confusing
Of all the Avengers characters, Clint Barton is easily the most inconsistent. Sometimes, he’s portrayed as a family man wrapped in a brass knuckles exterior. Other times, a gleeful, perfect sniper soldier for SHIELD that believes in their system. The third, a very reluctant hero who wouldn’t choose this life if he didn’t deem it necessary.
Oddly enough, Hawkeye switches out these personas from scene to scene. Confronting Tony in The Raft? Tough guy family man. The Avengers? SHIELD’s beloved agent. Understandably he’s not the most flashy hero, but it’s hard to really discern exactly who Clint is. The writers just kinda decide he’s doing something and fans don’t know enough about him to really argue against it.
Not Destroying The Gauntlet When The Big Battle Started
The second Thanos was pulled through the time rift, the Avengers should have destroyed the Infinity Gauntlet.
Sure, that meant they had to deal with a new, terrible force, but they wouldn’t have had the horrible chance that Thanos could get the Gauntlet back and do it all over again.
Overall, everyone relies a little too much on the Infinity Gauntlet’s powers. It’s understandable, getting it back to undo the things he’s done, but it’s truly too dangerous. They shouldn’t have kept that around with Thanos so nearby. If it wasn’t for Tony’s sacrifice, they would have lost half the universe all over again.
Personally, that’s far more important than playing keep-away with an alien god.
Their Gameplan Versus Thanos
One of the most effective assaults on Thanos was in Avengers: Infinity War, where their biggest flaw was Peter Quill losing his mind. Though that plan was effective, working as a team to keep the giant man in one place, they don’t seem to have nearly as much coordination during their final big battle in Endgame. People are wailing on Thanos one by one, easily failing in bringing him down.
If they had a fraction of their other battle coordination, where they accomplished the hard task of keeping him in one place, they could have taken him down better. However, that wouldn’t be very fun or emotional, would it?
Self-sacrifice is just too juicy in a movie called Endgame.
All Original Avengers Weren’t Dusted
Though thematically it makes a lot of sense that the original Avengers are the core characters that survive the universal dusting, it is one of those things that feels too convenient. After all, of course, it would just so happen that the most seasoned and well-worn members would survive.
As far as the plot goes, this choice works very well. The film gets to focus more on and close the chapters of several original Avengers. However, when looking at the odds, it’s a little silly that only the oldest members (with a robot, raccoon, and ant-man) survived the culling.
Movie statistics always work much different than real ones, don’t they?
Underwhelming Hulk Evolution
The past two films that included Hulk have had a fascinating evolution of his character. The normally aggressive-only Hulk has become much more emotive, acting stubborn, reluctant, and even in some ways afraid. He’s become a much more complex character, almost a completely different personality than Bruce Banner. While the two always had their differences, that’s something new all in itself.
However, Endgame scraps this interesting development and shorthands that struggle into “Oh, he’s just blended now and looks like Hulk all the time.” What?
Two films full of interesting material with the character gets tossed out and, in a way erased, for an easy solution. That’s disappointing and senseless.
Ignoring Time Paradoxes
Instead of trying to be careful in the past, Endgame throws that out the window in favor of doing whatever it wants. Cap talks to young Cap. Tony talks to his dad. Nebula destroys Nebula. While symbolically a lot of these things have meaning, they break so many time rules established in science fiction (without any recursive scientific re-writing) that it makes brains hurt.
There should be so many time paradoxes and broken timelines and way more problems based on their time travel antics. Other than Nebula and Thanos being pulled forward in time, there are none. That’s ridiculous. If a story is going to go full-time travel, they should probably at least give it rules.
Captain America Not Telling People His Endgame
After the battle with Thanos, Captain America was sent back in time to return the Infinity Stones to their original placement. When his friends went to call him back, though, no answer.
Steve Rogers neglected to inform anyone he planned on staying in the past and getting that dance with Peggy Carter, staying with her. He chose to, very dramatically, show up to them as an old man instead of telling anyone what’s up. He passed on his shield to Sam Wilson and officially let go of being Captain America.
While this is the closest thing Cap could ever get to a happy ending, the melodramatics were a bit much. He should have left a message. Get it together, Steve.
