Avengers: Endgame

Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Official Podcast

The hosts conclude their Infinity Saga rewatch by performing a deep dive into the emotional and narrative weight of Avengers: Endgame. They

Key takeaways

• The 'time heist' serves as a narrative device to reward long-term fans by revisiting beloved moments from previous films.
• Tony Stark's character arc concludes with a sense of peace and closure, despite the devastating cost of his sacrifice.

Main topics

• Avengers: Endgame analysis
• The conclusion of the Infinity Saga

Notable quotes

I love you 3000.

Conclusion

A nostalgic and high-energy celebration of the MCU's most significant

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Five episodes ago we lost. Speaker 1 (0:03) Lost? I thought we've been doing okay. Speaker 3 (0:05) This is the fight of our lives. Speaker 1 (0:08) No, this is a podcast. Speaker 3 (0:10) And we are going to win whatever it takes. Speaker 1 (0:15) You know, I gotta say, that was pretty well done. Thanks. You kinda nailed that. Good job. Speaker 3 (0:20) Shucks. Speaker 1 (0:21) Yeah, you practiced. Speaker 1 (0:27) Welcome back to the Countdown to Avengers Doomsday podcast. We're in the endgame now. Oh, how long were you waiting to say that? So long. I'm Frank Alvarez. She needs no introduction, but my incredible co-host. Iman Vellani. Thanks for putting up with me to the point where we've gotten to this episode because... God, thank Speaker 3 (0:44) you. It has Speaker 1 (0:45) been, we have talked Avengers 2012, we argued about Civil War, we gushed over Infinity War. This feels like Speaker 3 (0:52) a weird therapy session, honestly. And Speaker 1 (0:54) now here we are. Speaker 3 (0:56) Yeah. Speaker 1 (0:56) I mean, what do we even say? Speaker 3 (0:59) Dude, I don't even know what words I would put into what order because, like, I want to properly describe how much this movie means to me and means to me as a Marvel fan. Like, the entire Infinity Saga, it's such a labor of love, and it really comes down to this film, and the filmmakers, like, they're all over this being a fan movie. Like, this was a gift for us. Speaker 1 (1:23) Yeah, and it also, like, all of these movies have felt like cultural moments, but, like, this feels like the culmination. And, like, getting the opportunity to look back on it now, seemingly, how many years removed are we? Seven years from it? Yikes. Like, it was everything that I wanted it to be then, and having being able to give them the opportunity to look back on it now with a different, not necessarily a different perspective, but just a different person. I Speaker 2 (1:49) mean, yeah. Speaker 1 (1:49) Like, it's... Still, like, it's so impressive, and it's such a, like, lightning-in-a-bottle moment. Dude, Speaker 3 (1:57) can you imagine? Like, 11 years, 22 movies worth of storytelling. Yeah. All comes down to this one three-hour long, I'll be honest. Yes, it was. Speaker 1 (2:09) It was three Speaker 3 (2:10) hours. But it's, like, it's such a rewarding experience as an audience member who has invested this much. time and energy and passion and curiosity and love and like emotional investment it's really it's taxing there Speaker 1 (2:25) was so much excitement because like we walked out of infinity war on a an understandably dour note that like we knew something else was coming said this last week but and we were so like we were hungry we were thirsty for it so the moment that we got something and we even just when we just found out it was called avengers end game immediately people went back and started scrubbing through found the instances where that phrase had been used and said like, how are we going to piece together an idea of what this could be because there was not a lot of information that we had. And Speaker 3 (2:56) that to me is so cool because like just having this like year between Infinity War and Endgame made everybody want to go back and rewatch these movies and solve the mystery. And in doing so, you are completely rewarded by doing that in Avengers Endgame. just by knowing what cheeseburgers meant, right? Speaker 1 (3:13) Well, there's so many callbacks and beautiful little ribbons put on things. And things that you also wouldn't think they would call back to, like the cheeseburger line being a great example of that. That is really from the start. So when you see something like that. Speaker 3 (3:28) I mean, they spent Speaker 1 (3:28) some time Speaker 3 (3:28) in Thor the Dark World world. Yeah. Speaker 1 (3:30) I mean, you know, where seemingly they got a lot, pulled a lot of information from. And there was just so much here. I Speaker 3 (3:38) mean, just the time heist, like all of our favorite moments. And like, it was just like reminding us why we love these movies so much. Because they were all like impressive character moments. These Speaker 1 (3:50) movies all have like emotional arcs Speaker 2 (3:52) and Speaker 1 (3:52) something. None of them have been quite as like. emotional emotional like I watched this movie when I first saw it every time after that including the time that we rewatched for this it gets me a little bit like it definitely gets me a little you know Speaker 2 (4:08) like a little like Speaker 3 (4:09) you're a little soft a little a little like it you Speaker 1 (4:12) know there's a there's a there's a horse in my throat what is it a frog in my throat that's it Speaker 1 (4:18) You know? But they pull their weight emotionally. There's moments that make you cheer, that make you cry, that make you laugh, that make you scared. It does it all. It immediately shows us the weight of what previously happened. You know, that opening scene where Clint is on the farm with his family and you're thrust... Speaker 3 (4:38) Like, what a way to start a movie. Yeah, like Speaker 1 (4:41) you're thrust right back into it. Like, oh, you were excited, weren't you? You're like, excited to see Speaker 3 (4:44) Hawkeye and then you're just like... Everything is ripped away from him. And, like, mayonnaise on hot dogs. Like, that was the first crime. Speaker 1 (4:52) Hey, you guys want mayo? Speaker 3 (4:57) What's mayo Speaker 1 (4:57) in a hot dog? Speaker 2 (4:59) Probably your brother's. Two mustard, please. Speaker 1 (5:01) That was strange. I will say, as a very passionate hot dog fan, if I got dusted with a hot dog in my hand, not the worst thing that happens. I mean, there are worse ways to go. Speaker 3 (5:12) And then you Speaker 1 (5:12) come back Speaker 3 (5:12) and there's mayonnaise on your hot dog? I Speaker 1 (5:14) mean, that I'd be pissed about. But if I came back and the hot dog was still there, I'd just be like, oh, it's like nothing happened, you know? Speaker 3 (5:19) Don't know if the hot dog would have blipped with you. Speaker 1 (5:22) And where Speaker 3 (5:23) in this limbo is it in those five years? Does it decompose? Speaker 1 (5:29) Yeah, that's a great question. Does it melt Speaker 3 (5:31) into your hand? Do you suddenly have a hot dog hand? I have questions. Speaker 1 (5:35) There are a lot of, like, I think we didn't get too far into the hot dog lore with this movie. Okay. Speaker 3 (5:40) That's a whole other podcast. I Speaker 1 (5:41) agree. I think we could do five episodes on that alone. But, yeah, no, if I went with a hot dog in my hand, worse ways to go. Speaker 3 (5:49) No, but I was, like, already crying. I mean, those title cards, like the flip logo, you're immediately like missing all of the dusted people. And I love that little attention to detail. I feel like even the orchestra was thinned out. Like the movie just started on a really lonely note. And then we cut to Tony and Nebula in space. They're playing, what is it, paper football. Speaker 2 (6:13) You don't need to do that because you're just holding the position. The Speaker 1 (6:17) message he records for Pepper is like... Oh my Speaker 3 (6:20) God, gut-wrenching. Speaker 1 (6:21) It's like perfect amount of emotion and he's just like, this is going to be a real tearjerker. It's like he's still Tony, but you can feel it fading away and he's kind of emaciated. And he's so Speaker 3 (6:32) emaciated. Oh my God, and he's back in that black tank top. And then you just see the golden light bathe. Tony, as he takes his last breaths, and Carol Danvers shows up and saves the day. Oh, my God. I Speaker 1 (6:46) imagine that that exerted a lot of energy for her to carry that ship. Speaker 3 (6:50) Dude, she literally restarted a sun. Speaker 1 (6:53) Yes, she does. So she comes to the rescue, grabs Milano, brings it back. I love that the next time we've seen, well, the first time we've seen Steve since Infinity War, he's like... Well like clean cut and shaved and everything he's Speaker 3 (7:07) shaving and then there's like sink starts to rattle Yes, Speaker 1 (7:10) and Speaker 3 (7:11) then Tony comes out and it's their first reunion since Civil War dude Speaker 1 (7:15) that was like I Know I know where you've kind of put you know your support in Tony, but watching that I think everyone got behind Tony. Because it was understandable to be like, you look back and you see how they had gotten to where they had gotten in Infinity War, and you're just like, yeah, we did lose, and we weren't together. We didn't lose together. And he's just like, coward, liar. Oh my god. The Speaker 3 (7:43) animosity Tony feels towards Cap in this moment is so gut-wrenching to watch. Because there is that moment in Civil War where Tony's not speaking, and Cap's like, it's because he's already made up his mind. And Tony's like, yeah, you know me so well. And it's true, though. Like, they really did become good friends. And they really do understand each other on a really, like, soul level, I feel. Yeah. Speaker 2 (8:04) And Speaker 3 (8:04) for, like, Tony to look him in the eye and, like, rip off his, like, chest piece and be like, yeah, you're a liar. You betrayed me. Speaker 1 (8:13) Yeah. That Speaker 3 (8:14) is devastating to watch. It's Speaker 1 (8:15) hard because. they've all lost, the planet has lost, they've collectively lost all these people and it's going through the montage and showing all the people that were snapped out of existence. And you realize, Tony called this. He was right. This is as, back in Avengers Age of Ultron, he said, This is what I'm trying to protect. This is what I'm trying to prevent. And like, it happened. So like, you know that he wanted us to be like, I told you so. But it just, it didn't feel good to say I told you so. No. Because look at Speaker 3 (8:49) where it came. Speaker 1 (8:49) Like, Tony doesn't want Speaker 3 (8:50) to be right. Speaker 1 (8:51) No. Absolutely not. What we needed Speaker 2 (8:54) was a suit of armor around the world. Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not. That's what we needed. Speaker 3 (9:03) Captain Marvel show up again. Well, she's there. And then they go to Thanos' garden because she's like, I'm going to go kill Thanos now and be our beat. Speaker 1 (9:10) Yeah, like, she's just, like, casual about it. Yeah. You know, like, I mean, we could have, I think even Rhodey says, like, we could have used that, you know, back in Wakanda or something along those lines. But I love that he just, like. shows up on the garden, like, is just making soup. Speaker 3 (9:25) And I love that, like, they showed his, like, Thanos armor scarecrow, which is from the comics. From the comics, Speaker 1 (9:29) yes. Speaker 3 (9:29) And it's, like, such a great image. And he's, like, wearing T-shirts. He's, you know, cooking. He's lost a little weight, like. Yeah, he's looking Speaker 1 (9:36) a little rough. I mean, like, he's got, like, the limp and stuff like that. It's interesting because he gets, we leave him on such a high note that to then immediately see him at, probably the weakest that he has ever been, even though he just won. It's such an interesting decision for the character. I wonder what he Speaker 3 (9:54) feels internally, if it's like a real deep sense of peace, or if a little part of him was sad to not share this garden with anyone. Speaker 1 (10:02) I mean, I think he kind of summed Speaker 3 (10:04) it Speaker 1 (10:04) up in saying, this is the burden I must bear. I have to be the one that understands why we got to where we got to. And then what comes next as a result? The conversation that they have with him and he says, you know, I use the stones to destroy Speaker 3 (10:19) the stones. To Speaker 1 (10:19) destroy the stones. Speaker 3 (10:20) I am inevitable. And like from there. Off with his head. Yeah. Speaker 1 (10:25) I mean, Thor does his thing just like immediately, like doesn't even wait, just like does like I went for the head, you know, which is what he has had to carry with him. And then like Speaker 3 (10:33) Nebula, though, like closing her dad's eyes. Every moment with Nebula and Thanos is like it. really moves me to be that like forgotten child and like you know she never got the love from Thanos that she wanted but she still loves him. Say Speaker 1 (10:48) that in the camera. Speak directly to your parents. It feels like this is coming from a place of like understanding. Mom, Speaker 3 (10:52) Dad! You raised me real well. I watched this with them to be fair. I think I was really insufferable to watch this movie with because I didn't let my parents like I didn't let my parents even take a sip of water. I Speaker 1 (11:03) mean, you're not really selling going to the movies with your parents in, like, a very favorable light right now. No, Speaker 3 (11:07) but I wanted to share this with them. That's Speaker 1 (11:09) fair. Speaker 3 (11:09) I think this is how they, like, bonded with me and, like, understood me on a very cellular level. But back to the movie. Speaker 1 (11:17) We get the five-year jump. Five Speaker 3 (11:19) years later. Five-year Speaker 1 (11:20) jump. What Speaker 3 (11:20) was your reaction in that? Because I remember it was, like, five years. Speaker 1 (11:24) Well, like the five was like, okay. And then the years is where there was an audible gasp. Yeah. Because, you know, what this movie tackles is how each of these people are dealing with grief and dealing with loss. And for a lot of people, it's not necessarily time that helps them overcome something like that. It's, you know, like personal little milestones and things that they have to realize. So when you see... like a visual representation of they've been living with this for