Movie Endings Explained: Avengers: Endgame

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Movie endings, they're usually pretty straight forward right? Everything pays off, the main characters learn something, and our heroes ride off into the sunset. Sometimes though, we don't get the typical ending from a movie, we get something much more nuanced, complex and open ended. The kind of endings that leave things up in the air for all of us to debate and theorize on until we're blue in the face. With Movie Endings Explained, we aim to delve into some of the more ambiguous and mysterious endings to films that have left audiences scratching their heads for years, and to attempt to explain them. In most cases, a definitive answer isn't really there, so we definitely want to hear from YOU on how you interpret the various endings we'll be discussing with this series.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME was a mad titan of success in 2019, becoming the highest grossing film of all time, finally toppling James Cameron's decade-reigning champion AVATAR. It sought to do the seemingly impossible; tying up every loose thread and plotline from the previous twenty one films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Did it succeed? Of course not, there are 40+ hours of storytelling in the films that preceded ENDGAME, and it would be ludicrous to expect it to tie up everything, but it came damn near close. In this video we'll be looking at the conclusion of the film, more specifically the off-screen journey of Steve Rogers to return the Infinity Stones back to where they were taken (in the film's middle act "time heist") and some of the questions it provokes. Did Cap irreparably alter the Marvel timeline? Did he take care of Loki in 2012? And did his 75 year detour to live out a life with Peggy Carter exist in the same timeline we've been watching for the past ten years?