* *
Warning: Contains major spoilers * *
I want to preface this review with a
warning: while I am a self-confessed nerd who has long enjoyed comic book
movies and geeky pop culture, I was quite disappointed in this film and I'm going to be honest in my criticisms as to why. If you are on a high
from the film and just want to enjoy it without having somebody rain on your
parade, then it is probably best to skip this review. However, if you're
curious for this feminist’s perspective on why Endgame fell flat for her, please read on.
When my partner asked me for my first
impressions, I said the movie should've been called “Iron Man 4 (and some of the Avengers”). The entire film felt like a
swan song for him, a requiem for the character who started it all. It was made
clear that he was the film’s emotional centre, the one whose stakes we’re most
meant to care about. While I don't mind Ironman as a character, I am aware that
he is
the favourite of most of the franchise’s fanboys, and it really felt
like that was the crowd the movie was aimed at. In contrast, minority groups
and women did not fare so well in terms of representation or importance in this
film.
The writers had choices on who do they
decided to turn to dust at the end of Infinity
War. There was ample opportunity to leave behind a more diverse group of heroes
to carry out the tasks in Endgame. For
example, instead of Antman surviving, we could have had Wasp who, in the
comics, is the female avenger, not Black Widow. It would have been such a nice
nod to the canon and added an additional female character. Instead, we ended up
with an all-white team of mostly men, and the two women involved were treated
in a frustrating manner. While Black Widow is essentially leading the Avengers
at the beginning of Endgame, she
(nobly) throws herself off a cliff halfway through the film, essentially ending
her story. This was vexing for a few reasons: they got rid of one of the only
women in the team, turning most of the rest of the film into a sausage fest,
and her sacrifice was not given the same weight or gravitas that Tony Stark’s
was. At the end of the film we see a beautiful funeral for Tony, but there are
no moments of remembrance for the other characters who gave their lives (Black
Widow, Vision, even Loki). They are only briefly (and quietly) mentioned by Clint
and Wanda. Outside of the story, the timing of Natasha’s death is also awkward,
given that Marvel is supposed to be making a Black Widow movie in the next few
years.
As for the remaining female character,
Nebula, she proves to be the “weak link”. While all members of the team had
their struggles in trying to obtain the infinity stones, it is Nebula who gets
captured and who ends up compromising the entire plan. While I don't have an
issue with Natasha and Nebula’s scenes in and of themselves, they do come
across as problematic in a film that gives little limelight to its female
superheroes in general. Right from the beginning, Captain Marvel is sent off
screen for most of the film, a major disappointment for those who were hoping
to see her involvement. I suspected this is what they’d do to her in the film
and sadly I was right.
As I mentioned before, at the end of Infinity War the writers could have kept
some key figures to have made for a more diverse remaining team. However, even
with the characters they chose to leave behind, there were missed
opportunities. One of the biggest ones for me was Valkyrie.
When Bruce visits the village of New
Asgard to find Thor, he first encounters Valkyrie. In the film Thor: Ragnarok, Valkyrie had a drinking
problem which she overcame by the end of the story. This time around, it is
Thor who is battling alcoholism. She tells them this, and, rather than asking
her to come along and help on their mission, they bypass her completely. I was
really upset that Valkyrie did not feature in Infinity War and felt doubly irritated that she was sidelined yet again
in this instalment, for no good reason. Had they included her, she could have
been the one to rescue Thor and use his hammer, instead of Captain America.
Given that she is an elite Asgardian warrior, this would have made much more
sense and been a great moment for her fans.
She is also one of very few LGBTQ+ characters in the MCU so including
her would have given the filmmakers opportunities to better represent this
marginalized group than their rather paltry attempt at the film’s
beginning.
Then there’s Thor, who, in my opinion,
was treated so poorly in the film. Other feminist writers have already
explained why the fat jokes and cruelty directed towards Thor’s substance abuse
and mental illness were extremely problematic. They turned one of the most
damaged characters into mean-spirited comic relief, rather than addressing the
serious issues he was contending with. I really felt sorry for Thor the
character, but I feel worse for the real life people who were triggered by his horrid
treatment.
Given so much needed to happen in this
movie, I was also annoyed by how much time was dedicated towards trivial things
like Captain America's ass and Thor's beer gut. I’m all for comedic moments in
a heavy film, but I also wanted to hear some more speaking lines from characters
who appeared toward the end, characters we had not seen for the last 2 1/2
hours. The final battle scene felt bloated and confused as writers tried to
squeeze in giving a nod here or a glance there to the rest of the crew that had
been missing for most of the movie. At least, however, the greater ensemble was
back, fighting together side-by-side. That is until Captain Marvel showed up.
Now, I am a fan of Captain Marvel. I
enjoyed her origin story and was excited to see her in this movie, even if it
was pretty late in the game (no pun intended). When she made her arrival and
took down that ship, it was the first time I cheered during the whole movie. And
then it all went pear-shaped. When Captain Marvel was given the gauntlet by
Spiderman there were so many creative choices they could have gone with. Anyone
who knows the canon would be aware that Captain Marvel is more than capable of
handling the power of the infinity gauntlet and could have done what the Hulk
and ultimately Tony Stark did. Instead, they came up with this convoluted plan
for her to fly into Antman's quantum machine. I mean, the woman can fly at the
speed of light so she could have done that in the blink of an eye, but somehow Thanos
was able to stop her by flinging a heavy metal object towards it faster. While that alone was
infuriating, that's not the scene that most annoyed me. It was the moment when,
for no apparent reason, many of the female superheroes crowd around Captain
Marvel stating that she had their help to perform this task. I didn't like the
scene for two reasons: one, it was unnatural and felt contrived. Many of these
characters didn't even know each other and were all preoccupied fighting on an
enormous battlefield. There was no reason why they would all suddenly have a
90s girl power moment and gather around one particular figure at that
particular moment in what was an incredibly chaotic struggle. And two: even
with the backing of all of Marvel’s strong heroines, they could not get the job done. No, that glory was saved solely for one
man: Tony Stark. The takeaway seemed to be that, even combined, women can't do
the job properly; they need the men to step in and show them how it's done. Maybe
this sounds like a stretch or too harsh a criticism, but this was the very
visceral reaction I had during the film. Marvel’s filmmakers have a long
history of utterly depowering their female characters.
I was also very disappointed by how
small a role T’Challa and many of the amazing characters of Wakanda had in this
movie. As the leading tech hub in the world, I don’t know why the Avengers
weren’t going there to ask for help
in creating a time travel machine, or why they couldn’t have made it the new HQ,
given Tony Stark had retreated to a log cabin somewhere in the woods. There
were so many ways they could have included these fantastic and important
characters.
The only glimmer for me at the end of
the film was that it established that the old guard were retiring or moving on
to other things. We had something of handing of the baton: Captain America gives
his shield to Falcon, making him his successor, and Thor finally, officially
makes Valkyrie the leader of Asgard (or what's left of it). It is my hope that in
future Marvel films, they will focus more on their characters of colour, female
characters and LGBTQ+ characters. They have an opportunity now to start a fresh
wave that will resonate with so many more people than the classic white fanboy
nerd. After all, you don't make $1.2 billion in one weekend just because white millennial
guys went to see a film. Many people
love superhero films for a variety of reasons. It's time we started serving them,
too.
