We Rewatched Avengers: Endgame And It's Completely Different Now

In some ways it doesn't seem like that much time has passed since "Avengers: Endgame" hit theaters in 2019, but that amount of time is an eternity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since "Endgame" debuted, we've traversed through Marvel's fourth and fifth phases and have been greeted with a handful of brand-new heroes and a slew of new TV shows on Disney+. "Endgame" was the end of the road for some of the franchise's first superheroes, but as always the MCU timeline marches on.

As much as "Endgame" was a celebration of all the movies that led up to it, the film also broke new ground in the MCU. It raised the importance of the quantum realm and introduced both time travel and the concept of alternate realities into the franchise. In the years since "Endgame" was released, we've seen several characters break into the multiverse, and we've gotten a deep dive into the intricacies of time travel thanks to the TVA in "Loki" and "Deadpool and Wolverine." While exploring these new concepts, the latest MCU phases have also given some more fan-favorite characters touching sendoffs and introduced fresh teams of heroes.

So while the years since "Endgame" have gone quickly, they've been full of change for the MCU. The big finale to Marvel's "Infinity Saga" will always hold a special place in the franchise, but there's no denying that the MCU's evolution has changed the way we see the film.

When "Black Widow" debuted in 2021, the movie didn't feel all that impactful. Of course, since the titular character (Scarlett Johansson) had been killed in "Avengers: Endgame," the movie had an uphill battle from the get-go. The film needed to make its prequel story feel relevant, and as we pointed out in our review of "Black Widow," it came out feeling a bit like homework instead. We learned more about Black Widow's backstory, but we didn't learn anything truly revelatory or important for the MCU going forward.

Rewatching "Endgame" today, the real problem with "Black Widow" is clearer than ever. There's an amazing alternate version of a "Black Widow" movie hidden in the first act of "Endgame." We don't know much about what happens during the five-year time skip, but we do know that Black Widow has basically been running the Avengers. We see her overseeing the team and commiserating with Captain America (Chris Evans) about the difficulties of the job early in "Endgame."

In a perfect world, that entire chunk of time could have been explored in a movie released between "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Endgame." But 2021's "Black Widow" could have still explored that time period, introduced hints about Hawkeye's (Jeremy Renner) era as Ronin, and seeded some rising new villains in a post-Snap world. Black Widow's early scenes in "Endgame" now seem like a disappointing peek at what could have been.

"Endgame" is a sprawling story with dozens of characters and multiple timelines to juggle. The movie is surprisingly cohesive and easy to follow, but when it first came out, fans still walked away thinking there were a few problems with the story. One big plot hole involved Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his trip through time at the end of the movie. "Endgame" doesn't show how Thanos unlocked the secret of time travel, but in an interview with Chinese site QQ (via WhatCulture), the Russos explained that Thanos had help from Ebony Maw (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor): "[Maw] was a great wizard," they said. "Thanos himself was a brilliant genius as well. Those two easily reverse engineered and mass produced Pym Particles."

The Russos also addressed another "Endgame" plot hole involving Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch): some fans wondered why Strange didn't use a portal to slice Thanos' hand — the one wearing the Infinity Gauntlet — right off. They pointed out that Thanos is so strong that Strange couldn't be sure a portal would actually cut through his skin. They also noted that because Doctor Strange viewed millions of possible futures in "Infinity War," any perceived plot hole related to Thanos can always be waved away by the Time Stone. 

Thanks to that little narrative invention, "Endgame" is almost entirely plot hole free. Unfortunately time travel has implications for the MCU that go beyond this movie, and those have yet to be properly addressed.

It's nearly impossible to throw time travel into a movie without introducing a few paradoxes. "Endgame" mixes time machines using the quantum realm with Infinity Stones to create a convoluted set of rules for traversing through time. The movie explains that time travel doesn't work like "Back to the Future," while also setting up a system where removing an Infinity Stone from a timeline creates an alternate universe.

The post "Endgame" MCU has gone all-in on the multiverse, but the rules have never been less clear. In "Endgame" the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) ties alternate realities to the Infinity Stones, but in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," Spidey (Tom Holland) and his friends have a multiversal adventure that's completely disconnected from the Stones. "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" also explores alternate realities without the Infinity Stones playing a role.

The Marvel TV shows haven't helped. "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" never addressed the confusion surrounding Steve Rogers' journey through time, with fans still arguing whether or not he lived out his life in the main MCU timeline. "Loki" seemingly combined the concepts of alternate timelines and the multiverse, while ignoring the Infinity Stones. Then "Deadpool and Wolverine" confused matters even further by adding "Anchor Beings" to the already confusing mythos. "Endgame" offers some explanations and rules for how time travel and alternate realities work, but with everything that's come since, those can basically be disregarded now.

Black Widow's sacrifice on Vormir is one of the most heartbreaking moments in "Endgame." The fact that she and Hawkeye end up being the ones sent to retrieve the Soul Stone seems like a cruel twist of fate — at least to some fans. Others have noticed that Nebula (Karen Gillan) helps plan the trip to Vormir because she knows that Thanos had taken Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) there to retrieve the Stone, leading some fans to develop a disturbing theory: Does Nebula purposely send Black Widow and Hawkeye to Vormir, knowing that only two people who love each other could get the Soul Stone?

We all know that Nebula has the capacity to be cold and calculating, but if that hypothesis were true, she'd be a much darker character than previously thought. Luckily the filmmakers have stepped in to shut this theory down and clear Nebula's name. On the commentary track for "Endgame," writer Stephen McFeeley clarified that Nebula had no idea about the exchange required for the Soul Stone. Joe Russo elaborated, saying (via Screenrant) that Nebula simply assumed Thanos killed Gamora because she tried to resist him, adding, "The only one who really knows is Red Skull." Rewatching "Endgame" with that in mind makes it easier to sympathize with Nebula and the rest of the Avengers, who simply lose a friend to a noble sacrifice.

Iron Man's (Robert Downey Jr.) sacrifice during the final battle in "Endgame" is arguably the most moving moment in the entire MCU. He single-handedly saves the entire universe, but his loss weighs heavily on every other Marvel character that we've come to love over the years. Iron Man's death was pivotal for the MCU, but with time travel and alternate universes becoming part of the story, some fans wondered if Iron Man might come back.

The people at Marvel understand how important Iron Man's sacrifice is to the overall story of the MCU. Back in December 2023, Kevin Feige told Vanity Fair, "We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way." But then in July 2024, Downey was revealed to be playing Doctor Doom in the next two "Avengers" movies. 

From what we know about "Avengers: Doomsday," Feige is still technically keeping his promise, even though Downey will be playing Doom in the new movie. The MCU might never go back and rewrite what happened to the Iron Man we all first met in 2008, but the simple fact that Downey is back in the story still changes the way Iron Man's big sacrifice feels. Doctor Doom is one of the biggest villains in the Marvel universe, and now there's no way to see Iron Man in "Endgame" without thinking about Doom at least a little bit.  

Captain America gets an absolutely heartwarming wrap-up in "Endgame." After years of spending his time saving the planet from one threat after another, Cap finally gets to go back in time and spend his life with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). We don't see the journey Cap takes when he returns the Infinity Stones, but we do see where that journey leads him. "Endgame" closes out on a shot of Cap and Peggy dancing together in Peggy's living room, and details that we've gotten since the movie's release have somehow made that scene even more touching. 

On the commentary track for "Endgame," writer Stephen McFeely points out an often-missed detail in the film's final scene: Peggy's front door is open. "I imagine that, about 10 minutes ago, he knocked on the door, she dropped whatever she was holding," McFeely says (via ComicBook.com) in the commentary. The official "Endgame" script added some more details, confirming that this scene takes place in 1949, two years after the events of "Agent Carter" Season 2. Watching the final scene in "Endgame" now, we know that we're seeing Cap and Peggy at the exact moment they're reunited and just after the two of them have saved the planet so many times that they've both earned a long retirement.

The final battle in "Endgame" featured every hero in the MCU fighting against Thanos over the fate of the universe. Since then the MCU has naturally introduced new heroes, but now it's hard to watch the big brawl in "Endgame" without thinking about who's missing. No one blames Shang-Chi for keeping his martial arts skills at home while aliens were blasting the Avengers' compound into a crater, but it's harder to swallow the fact that supremely powerful beings like the Eternals were also sitting on their hands while Thanos wreaked havoc.

Any one of the Eternals could stand toe to toe with the Avengers, and there's a whole team of Eternals who could have saved countless lives by fighting Thanos. "Eternals" tried to address the issue by saying that the Celestials who created the Eternals forbade them from interfering with human affairs, but there's still some gaping holes in that excuse. For one thing, "Eternals" shows the titular characters interfering with humanity in some pretty big ways. The Eternals also have a mission on Earth that's completely dependent on the human population surviving, so it would have been in their interest to stop Thanos from erasing half of all life in the universe. 

Fans still go online to complain about the Thanos excuse in "Eternals" and theorize other reasons the team sat that battle out. When it comes time to rewatch "Endgame" now, it's best to just try really hard to pretend that the Eternals don't exist.

Rhodey (Don Cheadle) manages to avoid getting snapped away by Thanos in "Infinity War," and becomes an indispensable part of the Avengers in "Endgame." Rhodey helps save the universe, and he gets to be there for his best friend's final moments. Or does he?

The Disney+ series "Secret Invasion" had a massive twist in its fourth episode, revealing that Rhodey has been a Skrull for quite some time. "Secret Invasion" director Ali Selim later confirmed that Rhodey had apparently been a Skrull ever since he was injured in "Captain America: Civil War." Talking about how that big reveal worked with Rhodey's other appearances in the MCU, Selim told Radio Times, "I think it's going to take a librarian to go through and pick apart every Rhodey moment up until 'Secret Invasion,' but there's a lot to be unpacked now."

Selim was wrong, though. Instead of a librarian, MCU super fans began combing through the data, and they ran into a brand new plot hole. Fans found a shot during the final battle of "Endgame" where it appears as if Rhodey is bleeding from his head. Rhodey's blood is red in the shot, which either means he wasn't a Skrull during the events of "Endgame" or that there's been a continuity error somewhere. If Selim's interpretation is correct, than Rhodey's presence in "Endgame" is way less impactful, but even if Selim is wrong, it's hard to watch "Endgame" now without wondering which characters, if any, are secretly Skrulls.

"Avengers: Endgame" is the closing act of Marvel's Infinity Saga, so it doesn't get bogged down in hinting at all the stories that might come next. There aren't many scenes in the movie that feel like obvious sequel set-ups, but Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) final scene definitely has that "see you next time" element. Thor and Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) are fantastic foils for each other in "Infinity War," and Thor joining the Guardians crew in the last few minutes of "Endgame" seemed like a promising start to a new team-up in 2019. Marvel Comics introduced the Asgardians of the Galaxy in 2018, and "Endgame" really made it seem like the MCU would follow suit.

Watching "Endgame" now, Thor's last scene with the Guardians doesn't have any of the promise it did when the movie debuted. "Thor: Love and Thunder" briefly featured Star-Lord and the crew, while "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" didn't even make a passing reference to Thor or the Asgardians. Knowing some of the behind-the-scenes details makes the scene in "Endgame" even more confusing because it turns out no one had a plan for the Asgardians at all. Taika Waititi has said that he only ever planned for the Guardians to make a brief appearance in "Love and Thunder," and James Gunn has clarified that he never intended to have Thor be a part of the third "Guardians" movie. Maybe the Disney+ series "What If... ?" can deliver on the Asgardians of the Galaxy promise.

"Avengers: Endgame" was a stunning climax to an unprecedented 10-year-long cinematic story. By introducing time travel into the story, "Endgame" cleverly managed to build a celebration of the movies that came before it into the narrative. Compared to previous MCU projects, "Endgame" seemed more focused on acknowledging the past than setting up the future, and some fans left theaters in tears after seeing touching goodbyes to characters they'd been following for a decade. The movie was obviously showered in praise — not to mention ticket sales — but looking back, maybe we didn't appreciate "Endgame" as the endpoint it could have been.

The post-"Endgame" MCU has featured some of the biggest box office bombs in Marvel history. Movies like "Eternals," "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," and "The Marvels" have struggled to grapple with the world left behind by "Endgame" or to build much excitement for the future. The MCU is now building toward "Secret Wars," which is a storyline that the comics used as a soft reset for the entire Marvel universe. Considering how perfectly "Endgame" capped off the MCU up to that point, and how uneven things have been ever since, maybe that soft reset should have come when Iron Man snapped his fingers.