'Avengers: Endgame' Biggest Fears

I was twelve years old when Iron Man premiered in theatres. I’ve only missed one opening night since then, and it was Thor: The Dark World, so does that really count? The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become the Star Wars to a new generation. In three weeks, this first chapter, the chapter that has defined my generation, will close.

To say that I am excited about Avengers: Endgame is an understatement. I have anxiously been waiting for this movie since (spoiler alert) Spiderman slowly disintegrated at the end of Infinity War. I have not felt this much excitement and longing since Christmas of 2001, which happened to be the last Christmas of my belief in Santa Claus. For ten years, Marvel has carefully crafted a cinematic universe, and, in doing so, fully captured the attentions of the least attentive generation in recent history. And I’m freaking pumped.

But I’m also terrified. On a smaller scale, I’ve been let down before. Star Wars is probably the most egregious offender, as both The Phantom Menace and The Last Jedi left incredibly sour tastes in my mouth. The final season of Parks and Rec, although solid, was nothing compared to the earlier seasons. Same with my most beloved television series The Office. The MCU trumps all of these. The MCU has defined the past twelve years of my movie-going experience. The MCU is huge and historical. The MCU is the Star Wars of my generation. It needs an amazing send off.

I hope it gets one, but until I see it, my fears won’t be alleviated. Below are the top fears I have going into Avengers: End Game.

1. Failing to Complete the Friendship Arc: Marvel has spent ten years bonding us as an audience with two characters; Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. The overarching story arcs stretching all the way back to the original Avenger’s movie have been about their friendship. We saw their friendship blossom in the original movie, as they formed a strong mutual respect. We’ve seen their friendship weather tough times, as they disagreed in Age of Ultron. We’ve seen their friendship disintegrate in Captain America: Civil War. We’ve seen the consequences of that failed friendship in Avengers: Infinity War. Avengers: Endgame needs to finish that arc. It needs to be the concluding chapter, the resolution, of the two characters that we as fans love the most. This is the most important plot point of this movie. Tony and Steve’s character arc needs to be cleanly finished in a satisfying way. If it isn’t, this movie will feel like a failure.

2. Thanos Being Retconned: The MCU has never been known for having great villains. The bad guys are often one-dimensional, and have little effect on the plot other than pushing the hero to overcome some difficult obstacle that the protagonist otherwise would have failed at. That was not the case for Infinity War. Thanos was a badass who didn’t just exist in the story, he wrote it. For the first time since Christopher Waltz’s portrayal of Hans Landa in Inglorious Bastards, Thanos as a villain gave me anxiety every time he was on screen. He felt like the baddest dude in the galaxy and he earned every single infinity stone he consequently received. Avengers: Endgame cannot change this. It would feel so cheap if Thanos wasn’t all-powerful in the final installment. The heroes should have to struggle–HE HAS ALL SIX INFINITY STONES. Now I’m not obtuse; I know the heroes are going to reverse the snap. But there should be some major, major sacrifices in order to reverse the damage that has been done. It needs to cost a lot to defeat Thanos, because he is all-powerful. If Thanos is retconned as a run-of-the-mill Marvel baddie, it will be disappointing.

3. Captain Marvel taking Center Stage: I want to be super clear–I really enjoyed Captain Marvel and I thought Brie Larson did a fine job at portraying the MCU’s most powerful hero (along with Thor?). But, as I said earlier, this movie is going to be the concluding chapter of a ten-year character arc. I like Captain Marvel, and I hope she’s in a ton of MCU movies to come. I like Wong and Rocket and Antman. But this movie needs to finalize the careers of Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, and Thor Odinson. Endgame needs to be the conclusive chapter of the characters that the MCU has developed over the past ten years. I hope Captain Marvel kicks ass in this movie. But I hope her being a badass isn’t the main story, but is instead a side dish that makes the entire experience more enjoyable.

4. Failure to Give Consequences to the Snap: I briefly touched on this earlier, but for this movie to be successful there has to be some major consequences to The Snappening at the end of the last movie. I think any sane MCU junkie knows that Spiderman, Black Panther, and the lot are going to return at the end of Endgame. Our surviving heroes have to be forced to make a major sacrifice for this. My best guess is that either Steve Rogers or Tony Stark will meet their end in the last installment. If there aren’t any consequences, I’ll be sorely disappointed.

On a side note: I also hope that the people who died before the snap, like Loki, Gamora, and Vision, stay dead. If those people also returned to the living, Avengers: Infinity War would have literally zero repercussions, and it would take away from an otherwise amazing movie. Again, I just hope this happens, but it won’t detract from Endgame if they return from the dead, which I bet is going to happen.

5. Endgame Doesn’t Fully Conclude: I’m not going to pretend like I’ll never go see a Marvel movie on opening night again post-Endgame. I most definitely will. But this movie will mark the end of the MCU chapter that I consider to be my own. These last ten years have defined my generation. I hope that Endgame nicely puts a bow on that package, and moves onto the next, new generation without any loose ends. For Endgame to feel like a complete movie to me, I need the character arcs of Ironman, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye to be finalized. If the MCU can stick this landing, I will be more than happy to consider these movies to be the cornerstone of my youth.

So there you have it, the five greatest fears I have going into the final chapter of the first MCU decade. I have a lot of faith in the people working on these movies, and have yet to be disappointed (excluding one, Thor: Dark World and maybe Ant Man and The Wasp). I am so incredibly excited for this movie, and I hope that I can look back on April 28th, and laugh at the ridiculous fears I had going into this movie. If not, well, it won’t be the first time I’ve been disappointed.