Avengers Endgame Is The Best Comic Book Movie Ever
4. Endgame Achieves What No Other Comic Book Film Has
Like Infinity War before it, Endgame is only capable of telling the story it does thanks to the contributions of over a decade's worth of cinema. Everything, from 2008's Iron Man to 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, has been building to this moment, and it's that element that made the two most recent Avengers films so authentic.
In a way, the MCU has almost transcended the very medium it's a part of. The franchise is so expansive and so intricate that it may even share more in common with television than it does film, but the more accurate comparison would be with the very source material that it's based off of.
Comic book readers will waste no time in telling moviegoers that the pay-off provided in Infinity War and Endgame feels familiar, and it's because Marvel has been pulling stunts like these in the comics for decades. There are dozens of years invested into every character, every storyline and even every moment, and it provokes an emotional connection between the reader and the characters they invest in on the page.
Endgame, through the cumulative efforts of phases one, two and three, conveys that exact same feeling. The likes of Iron Man and Captain America have been around for so long in live action that it genuinely pains us all to wave goodbye, and by the time that moment does eventually come, Endgame's brilliance is best illustrated.
Some may decry the film as a convoluted cacophony inaccessible to casual audiences, but to do so would be to miss the point spectacularly. The MCU isn't generic, or a sign of a creatively stifled industry. While stale, pale imitations fall to the wayside (our condolences to Dark Universe), it survives and thrives. The series' existence is a testament to its own uniqueness, and Endgame represents the pay-off in full.
No other cinematic franchise - bar perhaps Star Wars - can boast the same kind of emotional connection the MCU has fostered between its characters and its fans. Endgame can distinguish itself immediately through the fact it capitalises on that connection alone, but it's the way it goes about it that deserves to be praised too. Nothing in the film feels unearned, cheap, or even schlocky, and to execute the grand conclusion in the way it does intimates its credentials perfectly.