#endgame meta

[meraki-yao]

Baby Meraki's Essay on Endgame Ending

I wrote this when I was 14, and still being upset over a month after watching Endgame. Me getting into marvel again reminded me that I have stuff I've made before but now I have a platform to share it lol

I’m an optimist when it comes to movies. I never pick on the movies I watch, even phantom menace. I know ways to make things sensible and enjoyable.

Endgame was a phenomenon. I admit this whole-heartly, and it was the most powerful and epic three hours of my life.

Tony and Natasha deaths were tragic but beautiful. As a fan I’m heart-broken, but as an audience, if they had to go, this is the best way. The infinity saga started with the birth of Iron Man and perfectly ended with the end of Iron Man. Natasha finally got to completely wipe out her sins, a beautiful soul

About Thor, I was disappointed in him at first, but I came to terms with it. After everything, he’s depressed. He tried and tried and literally gave his everything, and still. His brother’s gone, his father’s gone, his best friend’s gone, half of his people are gone, and the damage Thanos done is irreversible. Nothing he did works. And when life keeps you constantly defeated, that’s when you can fall into depression. And then food, beer and video games becomes the only things that can distract him from pain and the dreaded feeling of failure. I’m someone who has depressive episode every month for a week, I know how that feels. And to see him still be able to kick ass is awesome.

My only problem with this 182 minutes long masterpiece is Steve’s ending.

I love Steve. ( not romantically, ew) He means a lot to me. A lot a lot. Others favourite superhero may be Peter or Tony or Thor etc but I always go with the good ol’ Steve Rogers. He’s born with a heart of gold, and didn’t need the serum to be a hero. He always puts others in front of him, and always stands for what he thinks is right regardless of the negative effects on him personally. And miraculously, most of the times what he believes is right is actually correct. Also there are some personal reasons there. I love and admire him, and I’m glad that he got that dance, and his happy ending.

But is it happy though?

I can understand him stop fighting. I can understand him thinking about himself, being selfish. Bucky is capable of dealing with the future. He’ll have the other avengers. It’s gonna be harder without Steve, but he can manage. Sam will be an awesome Captain America, he proved himself capable in the comics, I don’t see how he can’t in the MCU.

I don’t like him giving up the future at all. But I can understand.

But I don’t believe he can be happy in the past.

The two possibilities of what happens after he goes back to Peggy:

He continues to fight. He saves Bucky from the nightmare that is the Winter Soldier programme. He destroys H.Y.D.R.A with S.H.I.E.L.D before it had a chance to grow. Maybe even deal with the infinity stone issue before Thanos. Then Bucky will be saved, Howard and Maria will be saved, Tony will be saved. Nat will be saved.

But changing so many events will lead to a completely different future. There are two Steve Rogers, HYDRA or something might find the frozen one before 2012 and winter soldier him. Without SHIELD, Carol wouldn’t be discovered. Nat would still be an assassin. The Avengers initiative wouldn’t exist. And possibly much darker things. And if me, a fourteen year old girl can figure that out, so can Steve. Actually, that’s the reason he went back to return the stones in the first place.

2. I’ve read a bit of the comics. Tony and Reed Richards said that the safest thing to do when you’re stuck in the past is keep a low profile. Interfere with as little people lives as possible. Steve can do that. He can marry Peggy but at the same time be quiet about his existence and only change Peggy’s personal life. Hard, but not impossible.

But the problem here is he will live the next 70 years, knowing about the future. He will learn about the assassination of President Kennedy, knowing that Bucky, dehumanized into an ice-cold weapon did that while the authorities couldn’t find a single trace of the ghost assassin. He will help Peggy deal with the investigation on the Red Room, knowing that a little Widow with scarlet hair and brilliant green eyes will exchange her soul for the world. He will hear Peggy talk excited about how Maria is expecting, knowing the cruel fate and responsibility that the unborn child will face. He will comfort Peggy while she sobs about the car accident that took Howard and Maria’s lives, knowing how devastated both Tony and Bucky will be in 2016 when they learn the truth behind the “accident”.

Steve Rogers is man who will fight the world for the people he cares about. He tried to drink himself to half death after Bucky fell. He fell into a brief depression pit after he realized he should have gone after Bucky, after he takes off the mask of the asset. He gave up the sheidl time and time again for Bucky, defying the United Nations to save him. He switched off the TV as Wanda was watching at the news, the reasons to hate herself. He carried Peggy’s coffin during her funeral with red and sorrow eyes. He grinned with pride as he saw Thor, with a new haircut, holding storm breaker, sparking off lightening everywhere when he arrived glorious in Wakanda. He sobbed and sobbed when he learned about Natasha sacrificing herself.

Steve is brave and kind and smart, but the one thing that makes Steve special is that he’ll never give up on you. Ever. He’ll be there for you no matter what.

I don’t believe anyone can bear the pain, the agony, the guilt of knowing the future, knowing these people’s noble but tragic destinies but being unable to do anything about that, let alone someone like Steve. Having the power to change things but can’t is so, so much worse than not having the power at last. It’s the same differences between having hope every day, but getting it destroyed everyday and just being completely in despair. It so so so so so so painful.

There is no outcome where he’s happier then he could be in the 2023 and the future.

But I admit, there is one weakness in my argument.

I’ve never been in love.

10/6/2019

Present Meraki here: After six years and a lot more happening, I take back my last two lines: I don't think you can call what they were in love. "The one that got away" maybe, but in love? I don't think so anymore.

[breithenua]

*Every other character in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity*: Has a well-thought out, unique and complex (endgame meta) playstyle that fits their personality and abilities

*Riju*: "YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND BABY RIGHT ROUND LIKE A RECORD BABY-"

[ad1thi]

after careful thought and consideration i have decided that i would like to use my future law degree to initiate legal proceedings against Marvel, and therefore Disney for defamation of character - for implying that Cl*nt's love for his family was so great that he needed to live but that our lord and saviour Tony Stark could only be fulfilled by self sacrificial death

[ad1thi]

If you could write End Game and bring back everyone, how would YOU do it? Would you recreate the stones? Go back in time? Make an ary of androids?

okay so the thing is i dont actually disagree with the Time Heist. like i do agree that its very messy, but I do think as a concept it was probably the only way to bring them back

i think the only other way I could think of bringing them back would be the one headcanon where Thor keeps bringing green animals for Bruce but one of them is actually Loki and he says that they're in a pocket dimension and that he can bring everyone back

but i cant actually think of another way to spend an entire film bringing the dead back successfully because the logic of "the stones did this so only the stones can undo it" makes a lot of sense to me

its the stuff AFTER they come back that i would change

I would have Clint die instead of Nat because well - i just dont like Clint that much to be honest

I would have Loki come back, because I think that in Ragnarok, Taika set up this very good arc that Infinity War and Endgame never followed through with

its somewhere on my blog but I do have this write up of Loki coming back during that final battle

On that topic, I would not have Steve wield the hammer, I'd much rather have Loki wield the hammer and save his brother as this way to cement that both Thor and Loki have changed and grown

In respect to Thor, i personally really liked that Thor was fat in Endgame but I would've dealt with it much better. It wouldn't have been for comic relief, it would've been a representation of Thor dealing with the loss of his entire planet and a huge amount of his citizens

Rocket would've been very different. I don't like how rude Rocket was to everyone - again I understand that it was comic relief, but in GOTG Rocket is never rude for the sake of being rude and he is actually respectful of all his teammates but that never comes across in Endgame

Like, Tony is building a gauntlet to house the 6 stones. The only other people who did that were dwarfs who's entire existence is based on their ability to mould metal - where does Rocket get off by saying "you're only a genius on Earth"?

Similarly, the way he deals with Thor's grief in Asgard is so horrible because more than ANYONE rocket should understand what it means for Thor to be back in Asgard,,,because Rocket lost everyone in the Snap. Rocket should be able to understand the pain that Thor is going through

Again, this is a really big post on my blog - but Carol would've done that final snap. Even though I know that she was only introduced to rival Wonder Woman, i think that the notion that Captain Marvel was introduced because she is one of the few beings who could wield the gauntlet and she HAD to be the one to wield the gauntlet because of her arc makes a lot more sense than Tony wielding it

I would've liked to see the Avengers honouring Clint's sacrifice by taking a more active role in mentoring kids to take up their mantels - and then shows like Kate Bishop's Hawkeye and Kamala Khan's Miss Marvel growing from there

i cant think of much else that I would change but that's what I would've done with endgame

[ad1thi]

im still not over strange saving tony’s life just to serve him up as a pig for slaughter later on because in his infinite wisdom(TM) it didn’t suit strange for tony to die on Titan

[ad1thi]

it doesn’t matter that peggy and steve had a happy life when steve travelled back in time. it matters that steve canonically knew that peggy had lead a good life, moved on - got married and had kids and grandkids and IGNORED all of that in favour of HIS happiness. he had no way of knowing that peggy would be happy with him. their relationship consisted of war-time pressure and (1) kiss. realistically, a lot of relationships formed under high pressure situations like WAR fall apart once they’re moved to civilian circumstances. yes peggy had a photo of steve on her desk, but it is in fact possible to love someone but not actually want a relationship with them. a lot of people like to leave the past in the past, so they can preserve the good of the romance. 

steve chose his happiness over peggy’s because he decided that him wanting peggy was more important than the entire life she created after he died - and thats why its fucked up

[ad1thi]

i think for me personally,,whats so hard about tony's death,,is that he didn't want to die

im not in any way trying to glorify the idea of death,,,but tony persevered against insurmountable odds, fought back his demons, and built himself a happy healthy life from the ground up - and then marvel killed him

one of the reasons why natasha's death didn't upset me as much is because natasha's arc lead to her having nothing in her life but this fight. thats how she was portrayed. everything was put aside while natasha focused singularly on getting back the people lost during the Snap - and thats why it made sense that she died for that notion, for that ideal

but tony wasn't like that. he grieved, accepted and moved on - and prioritized himself and his mental and physical health, and marvel chose to let him sacrifice himself despite everything he had to go home to anyway

[ad1thi]

in that deleted scene, when tony looks at his daughter,,so so much older than he last saw her - and realises that he's looking at his daughter,,,that broke my heart