Avengers: Endgame: Why Tony's "Journey" Quote Is Significant

'Part of the journey is the end'. When that line, uttered by Tony Stark, first appeared in a [...]

"Part of the journey is the end". When that line, uttered by Tony Stark, first appeared in a trailer for Avengers: Endgame, fans took it many ways. It was already well-known that Endgame was intended to be the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we knew it, a film that would bring closure to the various stories and narrative threads begun with Iron Man back in 2008. The quote, for many, felt very on the nose for Endgame. The movie was the end of a journey, time to move on to Phase 4 and new stories, thank you, next.

However, now that Endgame is in theaters and fans all around the world have had the chance to take in the three-hour epic, we know that that quote is far more than that. It's a reminder and a celebration, a message to fans as much as it is to those Tony loves most, and it's a note that all stories come to a close -- including his. Let's break it down.

While the line appears in trailers and is set up to be something Tony records for Pepper while he's stranded on board the Benatar, floating aimlessly in space with scant hope of rescue before oxygen runs out in a few hours, it actually doesn't belong to that scene. And the fact that it's not in that scene is very important. Tony doesn't die aboard the Benatar. Captain Marvel shows up in the nick of time and brings the damaged ship -- with Tony and Nebula on board -- to Earth. But it's not exactly a happy reunion. While Tony is more than relieved to find that Pepper has survived the Snap, he's a broken man from his experiences in space and fighting Thanos. Tony Stark is done. He just wants to go off with Pepper and move on.

Tony's ordeal may be over. His journey is not. The MCU's first hero (in terms of movies -- Captain America still came first chronologically in universe) still has quite a bit of territory to cover on his journey and when we circle back to him, it's five years later. He and Pepper are married, he has a daughter he adores, he's "content" to live in this new world created post Snap. I put content in quotation marks because ultimately, he's not. When presented with the seemingly harebrained idea of the Time Heist, Tony initially not only dismissed the idea but dismisses his friends only to sit up late at night solving the problem. He knows that, with his help, there's a chance they can bring everyone back and even though he knows there could be a deep personal cost, he can't walk away.

For the remainder of the movie we see the rest of Tony's journey play out. He does go forward with the Time Heist, he does go back in time and find a sort of peace with his father when he encounters him in 1970, a short time before his own birth, and sees his father's human side. He's there when the vanished return, the Tim Heist having been successful, and hugs Peter Parker with great relief that the young man is back and whole. We even see the true completion of Tony's journey when he selflessly -- or perhaps even a little selfishly the entire world as we know it as stake -- takes the Infinity Stones and snaps his fingers to get rid of Thanos. Tony knows this will probably kill him, but he does it anyway. In that moment, he knows that this path he's been on all this time is about more than him. The story is bigger than him. It's about all of the people they've brought back, the people they love, as well as the world his beloved daughter will inherit.

When Tony snaps his fingers, he completes his journey from arrogant weapons manufacturer to absolute hero willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save everything and everyone he loves. It's not something that's lost on him and that's where the line "part of the journey is the end" comes in. It turns out that the line was part of a longer message he recorded before embarking on the Time Heist. He recorded it for his wife and daughter, and after his funeral it's played for them and a small group of others. He's telling his family -- and by extension the audience -- that while his death is objectively sad, this is how it's supposed to be.

"Part of the journey is the end," he says. "What am I tripping for? Everything is going to work out exactly the way it's supposed to."

And it does. For him. For the other heroes. For this chapter of the MCU itself. One journey has ended and now, it's time for new ones to begin.

Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now.

What do you think about the significance of Tony's quote? Let us know in the comments below.

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