Avengers: Endgame Delivers An Ending That We Haven't Seen In the Genre Before

Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige promises Avengers: Endgame will have an ending unlike any other entry in the comic book movie genre, thanks in large part to it serving as the conclusion of one massive saga. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown significantly since it began in 2008, as the solo Iron Man movie led to a set of movies building towards The Avengers. But, even in the mid-credits of a colossal achievement of its own, Marvel teased that Thanos was on the horizon for the future.

It wasn't until last year, though, that they truly made good on this tease in Avengers: Infinity War, with the Mad Titan framed as the main character of the film. He succeeded in eliminating half of all life across the universe with the snap of his fingers, which included the loss of many major MCU characters. This surprising ending to Avengers: Infinity War sets the stage for Avengers: Endgame to show if the remaining heroes have what it takes to defeat Thanos and reset the universe to its rightful place.

This alone is no easy task for directors Anthony and Joe Russo, but their toughest task may be telling the final chapter in the larger MCU story that is eleven years in the making. Feige spoke about this challenge during the Avengers: Endgame press conference and noted that the film's ending will be something that has never been seen before in the genre due to this. He said:

"Well, what's special is all the actors on this stage, all the actors who are not on the stage. And as you said earlier, the family that has come together this decade, plus, and the fact that in a… Robert said it so well in the trailer; part of the journey is the end. And about four or five years ago, we all started talking about doing something that every turn - including the first Iron Man film we talked about, ‘How can we do something that's never been done before? What if a superhero outs his identity at the very last shot of the movie?’ ‘We can't do that. No one’s done that. We can’t do that. What would we do next time?’ ‘I don’t know. Let’s do it.’ Four or five years ago we talked about what haven't we seen in films based on comic characters. We haven't seen an ending, a definitive conclusion to an overall saga. So that is why it's called Endgame. And why I think it's very, very, very, special."

The Russo brothers even doubled down on what Feige said later on during the press conference, teasing that an epic conclusion is in store for fans. They just hope that fans will be satisfied with what they've made. They said:

"...And with Endgame, we can get the opportunity to finish off one of the grandest experiments in movie history and bring it to, as Kevin said, an epic conclusion. So, what we're hoping for is that people feel satisfied with the conclusion."

Even though there have been other movie franchises that have ended, and even superhero ones at that, none of them have dealt with anything close to the history that Avengers: Endgame has behind it. However, these statements will also bring about certain expectations with fans about what the ending of Avengers: Endgame will actually hold. Saying that this is a definitive conclusion could be read a number of different ways, and one of the biggest is the assumption that many of the original Avengers will die before the movie concludes. This is expected to be the final appearances of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and maybe more in the MCU, and killing off their characters is a major way to make sure that this is a definitive conclusion.

That said, Feige has also referred to the first eleven years of the MCU as the Infinity Saga, so one way that it can be a conclusion to this saga is by how it wraps up the story of the Infinity Stones and Thanos. Both have been central to the MCU for a number of years, but especially over the last two Phases. Avengers: Endgame could come to a close with Thanos being killed by the Avengers or even the Infinity Stones being destroyed altogether. But, with Downey saying the film is the most unpredictable MCU movie ever, that sentiment could be true for how this saga concludes. This was already one of the burning questions fans had, but Feige's statement could result in even more intrigue ahead of Avengers: Endgame's release.