8 Filmmakers Who RUINED Their Movies By Explaining Them

3. The Russos, Christopher Markus And Stephen McFeely - Avengers: Endgame

Avengers Endgame Old Captain America
Marvel Studios

It would've taken a screw-up of elephantine proportions for Avengers: Endgame to fail. As the finale for the first four phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, directors Joe and Anthony Russo had a major task on their hands, one they were aided in by writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

The Russos, Markus and McFeely had formed a formidable partnership since 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier, helming further successful Marvel outings in Captain America: Civil War and then Avengers: Infinity War. Endgame too went down as a major success, earning near-universal praise and breaking multiple box-office records.

But, no matter how good the film was, cracks started to appear as both directors and writers spoke to the press. Most journalists wanted the four to break down some of Endgame's convoluted use of time-travel, which saw the team venture back into the past to retrieve the Infinity Gems and reverse the snap that had wiped out half the universe's populace in the previous film.

As the story explains, every time the Avengers jump back in time and change something, they create a forked timeline. This is only rectified when Steve Rogers travels back in time to place all the gems back where they were originally meant to be in each moment. However, instead of immediately jumping back and linking up with his friends again, Cap decides to stay, live a normal life with Peggy Carter, and age naturally.

Fine and dandy, you must think. Present day Cap went back to live his life with Peggy, while his past self would still be around saving the day. There would be two Captain Americas, sharing the same timeline. Easy, right?

Well not apparently. Endgame's writers were the first to chime in with an explanation, saying that both Caps existed in the same timeline, while the Russos disagreed, saying that Cap must've been in an alternate timeline all along before beaming back to give the shield to Sam.

Cue months' worth of Endgame interviews where both writers and directors attempted to explain every little detail about the film, and it quickly became the most tedious cinematic saga of 2019.

[EP]

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.