It’s scary to think Avengers: Endgame is now over 6 years old. It’s recently been popping up on my Facebook memories when I booked my first-ever tickets, it was an extremely exciting time, especially for me as a huge MCU nerd.
Endgame is still my favorite film of all time. Understandably, that sentiment won’t be felt everywhere but I could watch the movie over and over again and never get bored.
We’re now heading into the next phase of the Avengers movies. Doomsday is set for release on May 1st, 2026 with Secret Wars coming a year later. I’m still in the mindset that I can’t see either of these films beating Endgame or even Infinity War for that matter.
One of the reasons why I believe that is because we’ve had no build-up for Dr. Doom. Thanos was first shown in the post-credits scene of Marvel Avengers back in 2012. We had Thanos building deep within the background and we all knew that eventually, he would fight our beloved heroes.
Since Endgame, the focus was on Kang until Jonathan Majors was fired from Marvel due to criminal allegations. A lot of the attention was on Kang featuring in the likes of Loki and Quantumania beforehand. He was built up to be the next big bad of the MCU. I’m still unsure if Kang had what it takes to be really the next Thanos but I guess I’ll never find out.
This means Robert Downey Jr was cast once again within the MCU but as Dr. Doom. Doomsday is set to be released a year away and we’re still yet to see/hear anything in regards to him in any TV show or movie.
Of course, they may not need to as Ultron was never really built up before Age of Ultron but Ultron was never tipped to be the next huge villain for the Avengers. Doom may just be a one-off and something even bigger could be lurking in the background.
Endgame though had everything. It had a different Thanos, a more aggressive version, one that had no qualms about sticking to his 50/50 fair rule, he set out to destroy Earth and the Avengers once and for all no matter the cost.
The movie sets a solid tone after Thanos wins in Infinity War, showcasing what it’s like 5 years on. I still wasn’t expecting that big of a time jump when I first watched Infinity War. They took risks with the film and it paid off big time.
It hasn’t been the same in the MCU since either. Don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t all been bad. There’s been some fantastic films such as Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine but building up towards Infinity War and Endgame was the best time to be alive. It felt like every project was an astounding hit at the box office.
By the time Endgame was released, it felt special. It was special. The portal scene was one of the best movie moments in history. Honestly, I’ve watched hundreds of movies in the theatres but no scene has ever had me in a trance the way that did. I remember walking out of the theatres saying to my wife that I wanted to go back to the foyer and buy another ticket.
There’s been a lot of films when I’ve walked out and thought to myself; “I can’t wait to watch that again”. I’ve even gone to the cinema to watch a movie on more than one occasion, Infinity War and No Way Home were two I’ve recently done that with. With Endgame, it was different. I genuinely desperately wanted to grab another ticket. If it wasn’t for the fact my wife was due for a baby scan after the film ended, I would’ve gone to the next viewing which was 20 minutes later. No film has done that to me before.
Even whenever I do an MCU run, the movie I look forward to the most is always Endgame.
Of course, in the end, people will say there are superhero films already better than Endgame which is also fine. For me though, this will always have a special place in my heart. What they managed to do over many years, building into this large-scale crossover event is admirable and it’s ridiculously entertaining.
