[#item_full_content] [[{“value”:”Note: This week I am sharing a previously written post from my former author website about Avengers: Endgame that I thought was worth sharing with my Substack readers. While several years old, it does touch upon what can make a film work. From time to time, I will share such posts with my Substack readers. Hope you enjoy this one.
There are times when a creative work utilizes a plot device for its story that can generate debate as to what the rules for it should be, but a theme works so well that one may forgive the creative work for using the plot device.
In this case, it’s Avengers: Endgame utilizing time travel as its primary plot device, in ways that it may create confusion. However, the creative team does such a good job pulling off the overall themes that I’m not overly worried about how time travel is used.
The biggest selling point for Endgame is the overriding theme of loss in a person’s life and how it can impact a person.
We see this right from the start, where Clint Barton (Hawkeye) loses his wife and children because of the Thanos finger snap in Infinity War. It drives Barton into life as a vigilante and it’s not until Natsha Romanov (Black Widow) locates him and lets him know there’s a chance to save everyone that he’s pulled away from a dangerous path.
The theme is emphasized throughout the film and sets the tone for everything. Romanov mourns the loss of friends and makes clear she’s always considered the Avengers to be her family. Tony Stark (Iron Man) gets married and has a daughter, but can’t stop thinking about how he lost Peter Parker (Spider-Man), who he views as the son he never had.
Steve Rogers (Captain America) watched two of his best friends perish because of Thanos, though he tries to keep moving forward. Thor feels responsible for what Thanos did and goes into seclusion.
And when Scott Lang (Ant-Man) gets out of the quantum realm by a stroke of luck — and realizes what happened — the first thing he’s worried about is his daughter, who believes that her father was lost. (Their reunion is quite a moving moment, in which five years have passed in the real world and Lang now sees his daughter as a teenager.)
The theme carries on throughout the film as the heroes go about their quest to undo the damage Thanos caused. We see this as Tony gets a chance encounter with his father and Steve notices Peggy Carter, the woman he loved, for a brief moment. While Tony gets some closure with his father, Steve doesn’t get to meet Peggy face to face and the thought about getting back what he lost enters the back of his mind.
It sets up a number of payoffs, starting with Black Widow sacrificing herself for the Soul Stone so that Hawkeye will get the chance to see his family again. It continues when Tony Stark wonders about the one outcome in which the Avengers win, and it’s not until Steve Rogers, Thor and Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel), the three strongest heroes, all try and fail to stop Thanos from wielding the Infinity Gauntlet once again, that he understands this. When Doctor Strange makes clear to Tony what’s implied in that one outcome, Tony doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice himself so everyone else he cares about may live.
And then comes the biggest payoff of all, when Steve Rogers returns the Infinity Stones to their proper times, but chooses to live his life by spending it with Peggy, then resurfacing as an old man who is now prepared to turn the Captain America mantle over to Sam Wilson.
The creative team does a good job touching upon every relationshp that has been establiehd in previous MCU films. It’s why the film works so well and why the time travel gimmick doesn’t bother me that much.
Sure, one can argue about the usage of time travel and what happens when people meet their past selves. One can argue how that impacts what takes place in the future or how past events could differ. It’s why time travel is a plot device that must be used with care.
But the one thing that’s important to do with time travel is to set your rules for how it works and be consistent with them. One rule that’s set in Endgame is, when you travel back in time, the era you go to becomes your new present and anything you do from that point forward is your future. But if you jump ahead in time, the era you are in is a new present and what happens from there is your new future.
Again, I can understand that some people would take issue with those rules. There are a couple of points in which it doesn’t quite work for me. However, after watching the film a second time and taking in the other storyline elements and how they work into the overall theme, I appreciate the film more and I don’t worry about the time travel plot device so much.
I think Endgame is a good example of why authors and writers should think more about the journey their characters take, the overall themes they explore and how those tie together, rather than fixating on plot devices. That doesn’t mean authors can take any plot device they want and use it however they see fit. But it does mean that authors should think about theme and character development first, then go from there with plot devices rolled out and recognize that consistency is the main rule of thumb.
Endgame serves as a good means of concluding the Avengers arc in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and, though the next Spider-Man film is supposed to be the last installment of MCU’s third phase (and deal with the aftermath of Endgame), I think most people who have enjoyed the MCU should find Endgame as a satisfying conclusion to the 20-plus films that have been rolled out.
It wouldn’t have been a satisfying conclusion, though, without a great theme. And when it comes to a great them, Endgame delivers on it.
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