Avengers: Endgame Shows How the Snap Affected the Universe
After the sweeping, galactic epic that was Avengers: Infinity War, the latest installment of the [...]
After the sweeping, galactic epic that was Avengers: Infinity War, the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- Avengers: Endgame, out today -- is a fairly Earthbound movie for much of its runtime. Still, it makes sure to take a beat and touch on how the events of Infinity War impacted the other inhabited planets of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For anybody who has been living in that cave Iron Man used to hang out in for the last year, Thanos managed to assemble all of the Infinity Stones into a gauntlet last year and snapped his fingers, evaporating half of all life in the universe.
Minor spoilers ahead for Avengers: Endgame, in theaters now. The primary impact we see is on Earth, where the Avengers are struggling to cope with the aftermath of not just their first major loss in battle but the massive losses of their friends and loved ones. We also see that society as a whole is struggling to deal with the loss, both emotionally and practically, as the loss has impacts on day to day life from economics to culture. It is under these circumstances that Black Widow is leading the Avengers, trying to keep the world from falling apart, and during one of their meetings, somebody finally asks Captain Marvel why she is never home. Carol Danvers replies that there are a lot of populated planets in the universe, and they all are experiencing the same kinds of crises that Earth is. Since not many planets have a response force as effective as The Avengers, she is spending a lot of time out there in space bringing order to a universe gone mad by herself.
This is arguably no surprise; after all, it is not like Thanos targeted Earth, or planned for only our planet to experience the "benefits" of the Decimation. Still, the acknowledgment that there are essentially no cultures unaffected by the effects of Thanos's actions is a tough thing for the Avengers to learn, and context for the audience that future alien races may be just as traumatized by the events of the last few films as our heroes are.
Avengers: Endgame joins the remaining heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe following the devastating end of Avengers: Infinity War, which broke all kinds of box office records in its own right last year. The surviving members of the Avengers reunite to try to make things right in the universe by taking the fight to Thanos (Josh Brolin) and reversing his victory. In addition to original Avengers Chris Evans, Robert Downey, Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth, and Paul Ruffalo, Avengers: Endgame stars Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Don Cheadle, and the voice of Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon.
Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now and, in keeping with the veil of secrecy that hung over the project during its production and post-production, this is the first time in years that fans have no idea what Marvel's next handful of films are (at least officially). The only Marvel Cinematic Universe film currently on the official schedule is Spider-Man: Far From Home, which will be out in July.
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