Awesome / Avengers: Endgame

Scratch that, THIS is the moment we've all been waiting for.

"AVENGERS! ... assemble."

— Captain America, signaling the heroes to charge Thanos' forces, and saying the two words fans have waited for eleven years to hear.

Succeeding the already-phenomenal Infinity War and serving as the Grand Finale of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first Myth Arc, with every surviving hero once again reuniting to undo Thanos' universal genocide and restore all life to how it once was, we have Avengers: Endgame. And it clearly shows that Marvel Studios is dialing everything up this time around: culminating in the single greatest final battle in comic book movie history.

It's the culmination of eleven years, 22 films, billions and billions of dollars in box office money, and the most tremendous All-Star Cast of its decade—and quite possibly in any decade, for that matter. It would even go on to dethrone Avatar and become the highest-grossing movie of all time for a while,^note Without adjusting for inflation. and still has the highest-grossing initial release of any film ever. Endgame proves to be the perfect capstone atop a crowning universe of awesome.

All spoilers on this page are left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

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The Rescue of Tony Stark and Nebula

• The very fact that both Nebula and Tony are going all out to work on the Benatar and keep it operational as long as possible — even if he's recovering from a serious injury and in completely unfamiliar territory working with alien technology, Tony Stark won't give up.
• Carol's rescue of Tony and Nebula in space by carrying their ship thousands of light years back to Earth.
  • For that matter, she had to search thousands of lightyears for a single M-ship out of the entire Ravager fleet, which is probably thousands of identical ships.

The Ambush on Thanos

• In order to prove that Carol is a badass as she claimed to be, Thor stands close to her and summons Stormbreaker. The magic axe misses her by a hair's breadth and she doesn't even blink, simply smirking at Thor's attempt to scare her.
  Thor: I like this one.
• The fact that Bruce once again has no hesitation about joining the mission in earnest. He still doesn’t have access to the Hulk, but it’s not stopping him from embarking on this potentially fatal mission to try to undo the Snap. As he said in the previous movie, “all hands on deck”. It truly says how seriously he takes the situation since not only does he join the attack as a normal human wearing the Hulkbuster Armor, but he’s one of their heavy-hitters who attacks only after Carol herself.
• The takedown of Thanos at the Garden. The Avengers blitz him so hard and so fast that even if he still had the Infinity Stones, it's likely he wouldn't have had a chance to use them. Seeing War Machine, Bruce in the Hulkbuster and Captain Marvel grab on to him and pummel the tar out of him before Thor cuts off his hand and his head is a sight to behold.
  • In short order, Thanos realizes something is coming before he's pinned down by a blast from Carol, who throws herself at him, puts him in a headlock, and uses her foot to stretch out his left arm. Then Bruce emerges from underneath Thanos' hut in the Hulkbuster armor to grab his left arm. Rhodes follows up by flying in to grab his right arm. Thanos is now helpless thanks to three of the heaviest hitters on the Avengers' side, and then Thor arrives and chops off his left arm, depriving him of the Infinity Gauntlet, and having clearly learned his lesson from last time. These four alone were able to pin down Thanos in mere seconds, whereas Tony's team on Titan took several minutes to distract Thanos long enough to pin him down. If the Avengers had truly been assembled on a united front without distance and division between them, Thanos may never have achieved his goal.
  • When Thanos explains the Stones were nothing but sources of temptation after their use in the Decimation, Bruce snarls "You murdered trillions!!" and lets go to violently shove Thanos to the ground. When Thanos spits back that he should be grateful, Bruce responds with a brutal punch to the jaw.
• Give credit to Thanos for he truly cements his status as one of the few villains in film to have truly won and achieved his goals. He had the foresight to make sure people would not be able to undo his life's work by destroying the Infinity Stones once they had served his purposes. He gets to rub in his victory one final time to the remaining Avengers by telling them that they have failed completely.
  • Oh, and remember how Malekith declared back in Thor: The Dark World that the Reality Stone/The Aether can't be destroyed? Well, Thanos sure proved him wrong.

Five Years Later

• It's a subtle one, but Steve tells the support group that they are committing the ultimate act of defiance by carrying on with their lives, because if they didn't, "Thanos should have killed all of us".
• Ant-Man's first appearance in the movie has him escape the Quantum Realm through sheer chance (a rat crawling on the controls), finding himself in a Bad Future where almost everyone he loves is dead. Anyone would understand him losing himself in the horror of what he's found. Instead, he quickly comes up with a plan, grabs the van with the Quantum Tunnel, and heads straight to Avengers HQ. The only thing he does before he heads off is (very understandably) make sure Cassie didn’t get dusted and then go to see her. While he needed help with the science and logistics, the plan to save the universe began with Scott Lang.
  • This makes Strange’s surrender in the previous film a retroactive one as well. The whole fight on Titan was simply to ensure the timing of The Snap coincided with Scott being in the quantum realm so that he could come up with the plan to save the universe.
• Ronin is first revealed taking out an entire Yakuza cell down to the last, killing their leader in a sword duel. Turns out he’s been spending the past 5 years waging a one man war against the worst of humanity that survived the Decimation and winning. He's basically Hawkeye if he became The Punisher. And he's every bit as badass as Jon Bernthal's version.
  • Akihiko can go toe to toe against Ronin in an impressive display of swordsmanship against an experienced S.H.I.E.L.D. assassin and a member of the Avengers. With nothing more than an ordinary katana, no less!
• Crossing over with Heartwarming, Professor Hulk. For the first time in any adaptation, Bruce Banner and his big green alter ego are at peace and successfully merged into a single being, combining the smarts of one of the world's greatest scientists with the might of the Strongest Avenger.
• Kudos to the Science Heroes of the MCU for figuring out time travel as well. Tony, Scott, Bruce, and Rocket all combine their scientific genius together and make time travel not only possible but also able to be used in a practical way as well. Tony even lets out an amazed "Shit!" upon realizing he figured it out.
• Tiny one for Morgan; she sneaks out of bed and hears her dad swearing. She imitates him with a giant grin on her face, knowing exactly how he'll react. Morgan then says she wants popsicles, implying it's a bribe in exchange for not revealing that "Daddy" taught her "shit". Tony knows it's a bribe and delivers it.

The Time Heist: New York

• To begin with, it's Natasha's idea to go to New York.
• Similarly to how the giant "QUEENS" title card generated intense theater reactions, the giant "NEW YORK, 2012" card is guaranteed to get the blood pumping, even more so when it's followed by the famous 360-degree shot of the original six assembling for the first time.
• During the theft for Loki's scepter, a bunch of familiar and dangerous characters swoop in and collect it before S.H.I.E.L.D. can arrive, but Captain America is two steps ahead of them. When it looks like we’ll be getting a repeat of the Winter Soldier elevator fight since even Rumlow and Sitwell are present, Steve instead simply utters two words to defuse the situation and make a slick getaway. Those words? "Hail HYDRA."
• The Tesseract theft goes pretty well for Tony and Scott, where Scott tampers with Past Tony's Arc Reactor, triggering a heart attack to serve as a distraction, while Present Tony quickly snatches it up and they almost get away with it...
  • Things only go awry when the Hulk bursts out the stairway and knocks Tony over while he's trying to get out, and sends the Tesseract loose, providing an opportunity for Loki, of all people, to grab it while everyone is distracted and vanish through a portal!
  • Loki's escape triggers a hunt through Stark Tower that results in a showdown between Present Cap, who had just successfully gotten away with the Scepter, and Past Cap, who understandably presumes that he has just caught Loki trying to make his getaway and the resulting Mirror Match between Past and Future Cap is awesome.
  • Even more awesome is the fact that Present Cap is fighting a past version of himself that just fended off an alien invasion. Even with a short time to recover between apprehending Loki and engaging the Present Cap, he was still weary from the invasion AND suffering an injury mid-battle. Not to mention heading into the climax shortly after the Helicarrier assault led by Brainwashed Hawkeye. There's also the fact that Present Cap has years more combat experience. And yet he matches the Present Cap blow for blow, even almost winning. Considering all this, his line of "I can do this all day!" becomes even more Badass.
  • Present Cap ends the fight with just the sort of manipulative trick one would expect if he really were Loki in disguise.
  • Small one, but past Thor counters past Tony's heart attack by using Mjolnir as an improptu defibrillator, and admitting he had no idea if that would have worked after Tony is saved.
• The return of The Ancient One, who Bruce has to confront in order to retrieve the Time Stone in 2012. Most people would be intimidated by Bruce in his Professor Hulk form even when he is asking nicely, but she initially refuses. Instead, she pulls the same trick she used (will use?) on Dr. Strange a few years later: she casually pushes Bruce's astral form out of his body.
  • It's also shown that The Ancient One was present during the Battle of New York and protected the Sanctum by using her powers to blow Chitauri troops out of the sky.
  • The Ancient One casually mentions that in the midst of the Chitauri and Avengers bouncing each other off of buildings and chewing the city into a thick paste, Stephen Strange is still performing surgery just a few blocks away.
• Dovetailing off the above, Bruce Banner has always felt like his contributions to the team fell in the Hulk's shadow. It wasn't Bruce that stopped Loki and saved Iron Man, it was Hulk. It wasn't Bruce that got Natasha to Sokovia and threw Ultron off of his getaway plane, that was Hulk. And it damn sure wasn't Bruce that helped save the Asgardian people, it was Hulk. But when it matters most and with half of all life in the balance, it's not Hulk that convinces the Ancient One to part with the Infinity Stone she took a sacred vow to protect, it's regular ol' Bruce.

The Time Heist: Asgard

• The scene in Asgard has one on behalf of humanity that only makes sense on closer inspection. In Thor: The Dark World, Jane being host to the Aether meant the big objective was to get it out of her; none of Asgard's knowledge was able to get it out. However, Rocket arrives from 2023 carrying an extractor. Then you take into account what happened with the Infinity Stones throughout the MCU. Asgard left the Tesseract in Odin's treasure vault from 2012 when they got it from Earth until 2018 when Surtur blew Asgard up. Midgard had been analyzing the Tesseract from 1945 until 1995 and then resumed study for a period in 2011, and took a good look at the Mind Stone in 2015. Analyzing the other Infinity Stones gave them enough knowledge to figure out how to extract the Aether. Humanity is driven by a thirst for knowledge, and that meant they could seize the Aether in (near-)peacetime rather than have to snatch it en route to the Collector.
• Before returning to the present after reuniting with his mother, Frigga, Thor stops to summon Mjölnir. It heeds his call, proving that despite his failures, despite five years of depression-fueled alcoholism, he is still worthy, and still deserves the power he wields.

The Time Heist: Space

• Sad as it is, Natasha's last heroic move is essentially leaving Clint with no choice but to let her sacrifice herself to get the Soul Stone, even as both of them were willing to throw themselves off the cliff.
• When Past Nebula starts channeling Present Nebula's memories, Thanos's children are trying to work out what the hell's going on, but Thanos himself realizes very quickly and takes it completely in stride. He is not in the slightest bit concerned with the sight of himself being beheaded (merely commenting on how appropriate it is), and within moments discards his current plan and comes up with a new one to take full advantage of something that came completely out of the blue. We've seen Thanos's quick-thinking and adaptability on the battlefield before, but this is the first time he really gets a chance to shine as a planner.

The Time Heist: Camp Lehigh

• Peggy Carter actually is the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. during the 70's. She's not just a board member. Despite all the sexism she suffered back in the 40's, she did get all the prestige she deserved.
• Cap's extremely convincing lie to get Hank Pym out of the way also deserves a mention.

The Attack on the New Avengers Facility

• It results in his arm being mutilated by the power of the Stones, but Bruce Banner manages to be the one to reverse the Decimation, and bring back everyone who was lost.
  • Word of God also specified that he was able to ensure the safety of anyone who would have been killed if they were brought back right where they were dusted, like people on airplanes. That number is probably in the billions.
  • Then there's the fact that Bruce somewhat got some revenge on Thanos for his humiliating defeat at the beginning of Infinity War; he was the one that undid Thanos' life goal.
• Look very closely at Scott when the first missile from the Sanctuary II hits the Avengers facility. The exact millisecond everything outside the window he’s standing at gets incinerated, Scott puts his helmet up and shrinks even as he’s getting thrown back by an explosion that obliterates the room. Even if it’s a small moment, the man’s reaction time is legendary.
• The fact that nobody saw the attack coming. Clint looks to his phone to see that his family had been revived... and Thanos' Sanctuary II - a pretty gigantic-ass ship - only comes noticed at the very, very last second. Before anyone could do as much as yell "Take cover!" or "Get down!", the facility is already gone.
• Hulk - right after having his arm and a good bit of that side of his body badly singed by the full power of the Stones - manages to hold up a whole building's worth of debris to keep it from crushing Rhodey and Rocket, followed by Rhodey ditching his immobilized armor and risking his life to save a pinned Rocket, despite being paralyzed from the waist-down without his leg braces. Hulk powers through and keeps this up for at least several minutes until Scott saves them, then immediately joins the others in the Final Battle (see below), and continues to fight with this singed arm all-through it.
  • Beneath one hundred and fifty billion tons stands the Hulk -- AND HE'S NOT HAPPY.
• Hawkeye takes on an entire horde of Outriders by himself, and is able to best them with his ingenuity and swordsmanship.
• Thanos arrives on Earth and the MCU's three original leading men march forward to face the threat united as one. A nice Call-Back to The Avengers where the first time the three of them met, they were in violent conflict with one another. Despite being painfully aware of how powerful Thanos is and that they will likely die fighting him, all three of them are ready and willing to take the plunge.
  • Capped off by Thor summoning lightning to clean up his slovenly appearance and Dual Wielding Mjölnir AND Stormbreaker.
  • Cap, Tony, and Thor see Thanos, his flagship soaring overhead. For all they know they're the only members of the team still alive. They know Thanos doesn't have the Stones, so they have only one job: Prevent Thanos from getting them. Thor sums it up best:
    Thor: Let's kill him properly this time.
  • Just the fact that Thor—in order to don his armor—has to summon honest-to-goodness lightning and Tony and Cap—who are standing extremely close to him—don't even flinch. Whether it's because the pair trust Thor enough to know that he would never call an attack that could hurt them, or because they've all got Nerves of Steel from years of doing such a high-pressure job, it's still proof that the Avengers are definitely a Badass Crew that you do not want to mess with.
  • Thor's declaration has more weight into it because when he killed Thanos the first time, it did not solve anything and resulted in just the death of a man who was already half dead anyway. This time, Thanos is in fighting condition, killing him would rid the universe of a scourge, and Thor can now get his redemption, signified by him finally using his lightning powers again, regaining his cape and armor in the process.
  • Thor's battle cry before the three attack Thanos shows just how impatient he is to annihilate the being that had caused him and many others a profound degree of torment.
  • As the fight gets underway, Thor immediately swings Stormbreaker at Thanos’s head, fully prepared to make up for his mistake last time.
  • Tony remembers Thor supercharging his armor with lightning in the first Avengers, and now he weaponizes it, summoning up an array of lasers and calling on Thor to charge it up, unleashing a Converging-Stream Weapon on Thanos. The entire thing looks like video game Iron Man's Proton Cannon.
  • Thanos manages to defend himself by spinning his double bladed sword like a fan. Incredible in the fact that the sword doesn't look like it has that feature, so he had to spin that massive weapon with his own dexterity.
    • A look at the scene in slow-motion shows the sword starts spinning but Thanos' hand does not, indicating it functions similarly to the double-bladed spinning lightsaber seen in Star Wars Rebels.
    • Let's not ignore the fact that Thanos catches Stormbreaker and uses it on Thor, pressing the blade of the axe against the Asgardian King. It becomes an awesome moment for Thanos and for Thor when the latter is able to hold off the blade of the axe with his sheer physical strength long enough for Cap to come to the rescue... and let's not forget that this is a hefty, out of shape Thor, which makes it all the more impressive.
  • Then just as it seems that Thanos is winning, Captain America begins to wield Mjölnir. And by that, we mean him summoning Mjölnir, clobbering Thanos at just the right moment to stop him from killing Thor, before meeting Thanos' charge head-on and uppercutting him with the spinning hammer, all while his theme plays in the background. No wonder theatres around the world exploded into screams of delight.
    • Captain America uses Mjölnir with as much skill as Thor himself if not even more, zapping the Mad Titan with repeated lightning attacks and using it in a powerful combination with his shield to knock Thanos around like a ragdoll and disorienting him by ringing the shield like a gong, even using it as a giant magnet to return the shield to his hands after hurling it at Thanos.
    • Captain America isn't an Asgardian, alien, or Infinity Stone-enhanced human like Wanda Maximoff or Carol Danvers; he's an Old Soldier using knowledge, experience and the relatively mundane enhancement of supersoldier serum, wielding a divine weapon that he's never used before, and outdoing a 1500-year-old alien warlord in sheer effectiveness. The whole sequence proves without a doubt that Tony's quip in the first Avengers film that "everything special about [Steve] came out of a bottle" is absolutely, unequivocally false.
    • Although Thanos has both power and skill, he enjoys besting his opponents with the latter, as shown by his fight against Hulk in the last film. Once he realizes Cap's got him matched in that department, his fighting style gets more brutal as he's forced to fall back to brute strength, his only true advantage over him. He gets noticeably angrier as well. Cap singlehandedly manages to suck out all the fun Thanos finds in balancing the universe.
    • We've seen this in previous films, but Cap is an absolute combo MONSTER. From the starting uppercut, he moves into a series of uninterrupted moves, throwing the shield that Thanos deflects, then tossing Mjölnir at the shield to ring it like a bell as in Cap expected Thanos to deflect it, disorient Thanos, disarming him and bounce the shield back to him. He then hammers Thanos' knee joints, strikes him with both the hammer and shield before tossing the shield at his face, and again launching it with Mjölnir so that Thanos gets hit twice in half a second. The lightning strikes are just the finisher.
    • Cap's final stand against Thanos serves as an amazing bit of All Your Powers Combined. Even though Stark and Thor might be temporarily out of the fight, Cap takes on Thanos using his own skills, Thor's hammer, and the Shield given to him by the Stark family. Even when one man stands alone to fight Thanos, the rest of the team still helps.
    • It's a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, but when Cap goes to hit Thanos - who's twitching on the ground after being at Ground Zero of a lightning strike - he goes for the head. Cap took Thanos' advice in the last film to heart, just as Thor did at the beginning of the movie.
    • And there's the fact that Mjölnir returns to him. He's not just worthy of the hammer, it belongs to him.
    • The first moment of Steve wielding Mjölnir deserves special mention. Thanos has just finished knocking Steve, Thor and Tony around, and is about to impale Thor on Stormbreaker. Then we see someone lifting Mjölnir and throwing it through the air to knock Thanos away, before returning to the person who wielded it — Captain America himself, standing strong with hammer and shield in hand. Thor responds by speaking for the audience as a whole, laughing in delight:
      Thor: I knew it!
    • It might have been out of sheer desperation, but there's just something really sweet about Cap picking up the hammer, not at just any moment during the fight, but specifically to protect Mjölnir's original wielder, Thor himself, when Thor was within a hair of dying.
  • When Thanos recovers, he pulls his helmet off his head and it shatters into pieces as he does so; Steve caused enough damage to break it!
  • For a villainous awesome moment, Thanos gets a huge one in that he is the first in the entire MCU... to break Captain America's vibranium shield. Film after film, it's been dented a little and scratched, but never outright destroyed like the comics. The first time he wedges his sword into it, Cap looks up in what seems to be stunned shock, finally affirming to him that Thanos truly is that strong even without the Stones. Right after, the Mad Titan goes out of his way to continue hacking his shield up, at immensely close range before finally swinging him away, while Cap is only able to desperately try blocking the barrage of slashes. And then, after vowing to destroy Earth in an It's Personal speech, he summons all of his forces as the Coup de Grâce.
  • Who proves himself worthy indeed. Steve picks up the hammer and starts using all of Thor's powers, including lightning. Odin wasn't fucking around.
• Nebula guns down her own pre-Heel–Face Turn past self, not hesitating a second upon seeing there's truly no hope of getting her to go through the turn herself. It also serves as a symbolic severing of her villainous ways as she devotes herself fully to being a hero, not just for revenge on Thanos but because it's the right thing to do.
• Cap, the last one standing for the moment, is staring down Thanos and his massive army with just a part of his vibranium shield remaining, and is already partly exhausted and wounded. His only response is to tighten the straps on his shield, before beginning to walk toward them, fully determined to go down swinging. The movie, without using any dialogue, perfectly captures the spirit of Steve Rogers' famous "As long as one man stands against you" speech from The Infinity Gauntlet.
  • He doesn't even walk; he limps. He knows perfectly well he can't win, but still, there's no way he'll go out any way but on his feet.

The Battle of Earth

The entire goddamn final battle. As easy as it is to just leave it at that, it would not only result in a Zero-Context Example, but it would honestly undersell just how incredible this entire sequence is without going into complete detail. Listening to this while reading the below is highly recommended.

• The event that builds up to it is absolutely perfect.
  • Captain America, his broken shield in hand, visibly limping and heavily injured (he has to tighten one of the shield's straps over a compound fracture in his arm; the very act of doing this coupled with the look of determination on his face, as if declaring once again "I can do this all day" in spite of the terrible situation he now faces, is an awesome moment in and of itself), all his allies down, stands alone against the entire might of Thanos's army. Even with no chance to win, he's prepared to go down fighting to the bitter end. Suddenly, a familiar voice speaks through his earphone... just as an all-too familiar yellow portal opens up behind him.
    Sam: Hey, Cap, do you read me? Cap, it's Sam. Can you hear me? On your left.
  • Then the portal from Wakanda opens up, out steps Black Panther, Okoye, and Shuri (armed with two gauntlets again), and just as the music swells, Falcon comes zooming out. And thus we witness the greatest, longest Big Damn Heroes moment in all of the MCU, if not in the history of cinema. All the heroes emerging from portals of light, like angels resurrected in all their splendor, really makes it look like a miracle just happened.
  • It's a blink-and-you-miss-it, but Cap's first reaction upon seeing the Wakandans? A quiet, barely uttered "no", still in disbelief that such a miracle is happening. Or possibly out of concern that those three will get hurt, as they're not nearly enough to fight Thanos and his army. T'Challa's response doesn't need words: a fierce-looking nod is more than enough to introduce the most glorious turn of the tide in a cinematic battle.
  • At first you only see the four of them, but the portal gradually widens as the camera cuts to the heroes coming back from Titan. When it cuts back to the Wakandans you start to see there are more people behind the three, and as T'Challa starts his "YIBAMBE!" warcry, the camera zooms in and pans over his shoulder and you see the entire Wakandan Army assembled and marching toward the portal with air support following them, along with Groot and Bucky. This is the first indication it's not just the big name heroes coming to the battle.
    • It's even better if you remember that a large number of the Wakandan Army including T'Challa and Shuri themselves were victims of the first snap. For them, they have just fought the Battle of Wakanda minutes before, yet they are all ready and eager to fight an even larger battle with Thanos immediately after they're brought back to life. It truly captures the courage and the discipline of the mighty Wakandan Army in all its glory. Wakanda forever, indeed.
  • The next group we see are all those who were dusted on Titan. Doctor Strange, Drax, Mantis, and Quill are all ready and raring to go for the battle of their lives. Then Spider-Man — who was last seen whimpering and sobbing, terrified to die, begging Tony to save him somehow — swings down beside them, lets his mask go, and smiles. You better bet Spider-Man is an Avenger.
  • The third group comes in the form of the Asgardian Army led by Valkyrie (who's riding a Pegasus), as well as Thor's gladiator friends from Sakaar. Massive props have to be given to the Asgardians here. Even though they are few in numbers and are still reeling from all the crap they've been through in Ragnarok and Infinity War, they still rally for their warrior king (who was shown earlier in the film to be a drunken mess of a god who doesn't know how or care to rule) for one last fight for the fate of the universe, like the proud defenders of the Nine Realms that they are and forever will be. And just when you think it can't get any better, Wanda lands in front of them with a furious expression on her face.
  • The fourth group consists of the Masters of the Mystic Arts with Wong on point. As they fire up their shields and weapons, the Wasp enters through a small portal from San Francisco (you can see the city in the portal), grows back to normal size, and retracts her mask, obviously scanning the battlefield for Scott.
  • The last group might be easier to miss than others, but the Ravagers have joined the battle as well, as one of the portals that opened was from Contraxia, the snowy planet where Yondu Udonta was introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The kicker is that the Ravagers would have no idea that there's even going to be a fight on Earth unless someone who knows them really well and is trusted informed them about it, most likely one of their own, and who's the only person who would fit these criteria? Peter "Star-Lord" Quill, a former member of the Ravagers who most likely informed his surrogate brother Kraglin that they're going to have a massive battle that decides the fate of the universe on Earth, and the Ravagers rally to aid one of their own with no hesitation.
    • Look at the Ravagers' portal, specifically when Hope arrives; who else is there to help? Howard the Duck. That's right, the biggest laughing-stock of the Marvel universe, because of his solo movie that was the first feature-length film based on a Marvel Comics character, is now going up against Thanos as an Avenger. Even this alcoholic hedonist knows he must take up arms to defend the universe and answered the call.
  • As the original trio of Cap, Iron Man, and Thor look on in awe and relief, Rescue lands and retracts her mask, glaring daggers at the Mad Titan's army. That's right: Pepper Potts is here to fight with her husband. Tony's expression can only be described as halfway between frightened and aroused.
  • Then, Scott as Giant-Man rises up from the ruins of the Avengers HQ, carrying Rhodey, Rocket, and Professor Hulk in his hand. Remember that Rhodey, Rocket, and Hulk almost drowned in an earlier scene, but Scott managed to save them all offscreen and they're ready to take on Thanos's army despite nearly getting killed earlier. Hulk and Rhodey in particular, with the former still recovering from his wounds after using the Infinity Gauntlet, and the latter managing to find and put on the War Machine Mark VI's armor^note  If you look closely, the Mark VI's armor is in Iron Patriot colors after the armor he worn earlier was ruined in the attack, and they are all ready to kick. Some. Ass.
    • Remember, like in their first outing, the Avengers are not complete until the Hulk shows up.
  • After the respective commanders of both armies have had a moment to take this in, Captain America turns to look at Thanos from across the battlefield, clearly thinking "How's this for an army, you murderous bastard?" From the look on his face, it's clear that the Mad Titan doesn't like the sight of the force that has come to back the First Avenger up.
  • Huge props to Doctor Strange for coordinating the massive army's entrance within less than half an hour of his resurrection, especially since roughly half of them would have just been resurrected as well.
  • What's more, the arrival of the assembled heroes completely throws Thanos' statement about his brutal conquests being nothing personal right back into his face as he himself bears witness to just how many people his actions have negatively impacted. For all of them, it was personal. Now they're here and they're all gunning for him.
• After 22 movies, we FINALLY get to hear Captain America say the line people have been waiting over a decade to hear: "AVENGERS! ...assemble." This is immediately followed by pretty much every character that isn't still dead charging into battle, complete with the crescendo of the main Avengers theme triumphantly blaring. Then, armies finally clash, resulting in a downright glorious one-shot battle sequence that could rival that of the opening cutscene to Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
  • Cap's delivery of the line is also incredible. He starts off loud and clear with his delivery of "Avengers"... and when he says "assemble", he sounds quiet; but his tone is filled with such venomous Tranquil Fury. Thanos has caused so much death and chaos that it genuinely earns him the most visceral of anger from Steve, and now that they're finally about to start the titular Endgame? He is ready to kick. Some. Ass.
  • The buildup to the finale has to be seen to be believed. Every hero gets into a battle stance, as Cap rallies them together with the iconic phrase. Mjölnir soars into his hand. Dead silence. The phrase is finished, Thor and T'Challa yell, and the war begins.
  • What's even more awesome? Sure, we saw everyone gathered together in Infinity War, but they were splintered and in small groups, all fighting the same threat throughout the universe. Here, after all the build up, we FINALLY see The Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and all the other heroes of the MCU gathered in one place, all for one final battle. Bonus points because, if you really look at it, Thanos has been at the heart of every movie's conflict, and now all of them, having lost something they held dear because of the Mad Titan, finally get to take him down once and for all. As they all stare down Thanos and his army, everyone, even the heroes with the strongest of moral codes, who would do everything to make sure even their enemies are not killed, know one important fact: THANOS. MUST. DIE.
  • And thus the Avengers are ASSEMBLED. An entire army of Wakandans, Asgardians, sorcerers, Ravagers, heroes and anti-heroes, champions and misfits, united behind the Avengers◊, charge across the field against the hordes of Thanos in the War Scene that fans have been begging for since the beginning.
    Sere1, /r/Marvelstudios: A single man stood alone before destiny. A universe came together to stand by his side.
  • As awesome as the moment is for the heroes, Thanos himself doesn't shy away from the spotlight either as, after initially being gobsmacked by all of them assembling against him and making their way towards him and his forces, he instead raises his blade with a smile forming on his face as he beckons in return, almost as if he's finally got a fight worthy of his time at last and is saying one thing to the Avengers as they rush towards them for the fate of the universe: "Come and get me, you unruly wretches!"
• That glorious shot of every single Avenger running into battle as the main theme blares in the background. And if one looks closely, both Tony and Cap are inches ahead of everybody else, leading the team like they always have: together.
• How do you make this epic scene even more epic? By adding the soundtrack from the MCU's Direct Competition. Just listen to those drums when Falcon swoops in.
• Take a look at The Avengers during the initial charge and you will see Mantis - arguably the least direct combat capable character on the field - running full speed on the front line. The innocent, harmless alien who has never even so much as been in a physical fight, let alone a full on battle, shows no hesitation to directly engage a brutal galactic conqueror and his entire army on the battlefield.
• It's a quick blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but when the two armies finally clash, Steve slides to a stop, drops to his knees, and sends Mjolnir—and a healthy dose of lightning—right into Cull Obsidian's face, knocking him clean off his feet.
• The first thing Scott does as Giant-Man when the fight begins is punch a Chitauri Leviathan in the face and knock it to the ground. AWESOME. He took it down faster and with less effort than Hulk did in the first Avengers movie! That is how you punch!
  • In a background event that lasts less than a second he is seen shoving a Leviathan through one of Strange's portals.
  • After Spider-Man saves Tony by pulling Cull Obsidian backward with his webs, (Gi)Ant-Man crushes him under his foot. It likely was unintentional on Scott's part due to the timing, but honestly, that might make it even better. It also serves as a Call-Back of sorts to Avengers: Infinity War, where Tony—who was also about to be smushed into pulp by Cull Obsidian—is saved by Peter's incredible timing and Super-Strength.
• Pepper Potts' first action is to blast a Sakaaran Necrocraft which had Tony in its sights to smithereens, in one hit despite not having much experience, right before she and Tony get a Back-to-Back Badasses shot as they blast the aerial forces to kingdom come.
• Shuri returns with T'Challa, and shows that she's as much a warrior as a scientist by wielding her sonic beam weapons against the forces of Thanos.
• Spider-Man using his suit's "instant kill" mode to glorious effect, utterly and absolutely slaughtering outrider mooks all around him. Note that this is the first time he's outright embraced killing his enemies; he saved Vulture in Homecoming even after all he did. Now? Peter Parker is done messing around. Just like in the comics, when Spider-Man decides to stop fooling around, he'll show you just how terrifying a Genius Lightning Bruiser he can be.
• M'Baku makes two brief appearances in the film, but it's awesome nonetheless to see him roaring as he charges into battle right at the fore alongside Thor, Cap, Korg, Hulk, and T'Challa. His next moment sees him flipping one of Thanos' soldiers over his shoulder like nothing, and loudly screaming "DIE!!!"
• Drax jumping onto Cull Obsidian's back while the latter is grappling with Korg and shanking him repeatedly, causing enough of a distraction for Korg to get free of Cull's grip and smack Thanos's brutish lieutenant in the face with his mace.
• Bucky and Rocket once again team up, firing their guns at every enemy on sight.
• At one point, Cap and Thor have a humorous exchange where they grab Stormbreaker and Mjolnir respectively, before switching weapons. The humor undercuts the fact that Stormbreaker flew into Cap's hands. A weapon that is supposedly far more powerful than Mjolnir, and Cap just summoned it to him almost entirely by accident!
  • In the background during the shot of Cap and Thor exchanging weapons, Mantis is seen putting a large beast to sleep.
• Scott and Hope reuniting and heading to repair the Quantum Tunnel together in the midst of the ongoing battle.
• Wanda leaps down between Thanos and T'Challa, buying the latter time to take the new Infinity Gauntlet to safety, and is the first character to really push back Thanos, does so alone, and comes close to single-handedly obliterating the Mad Titan. She also gets in the ultimate Badass Boast.
  Wanda: You. Took. EVERYTHING. From me.
  Thanos: I don’t even know who you are!
  Wanda: You will.
  • This is followed by Wanda's eyes glowing blood red as she lets all her fury loose upon the Mad Titan, and it is as terrifying as it is awesome to watch her levitate him while tearing his armor apart. She even breaks his sword and sends it flying with ease. Bear in mind, this is the same sword that was durable enough to withstand strikes from both Stormbreaker and Mjølnir, and broke chunks off of Cap's legendary shield, and she wrecks it in a matter of seconds.
  • Wanda isn’t even running around like everyone else on the battlefield. She is just walking toward Thanos, pausing here and there as she levitates two chunks of debris to turn into boulders that she throws at Thanos. No rush, no charging in. Just casually marching over to him as she pummels him back and leaves him scrambling. She’s not even a little bit concerned that she’s facing off against someone that wiped the floor with some of their best fighters. The amount of “you are no threat to me” here.
  • What makes this even more impressive is remembering where Wanda's powers come from: the Mind Stone, the same one embedded in Vision's head. Her relentless assault is the closest she will ever get to avenging his death in Infinity War, and she does not disappoint.
  • It's also a Call-Back to Infinity War. Back then, Wanda came down and almost turned the tide of the battle (or would have if that wasn't the plan all along), and was doing her best to channel half her energy into the Mind Stone to destroy it, and half to hold off Thanos with the other five stones. Here, we see what may have happened if she hadn't been forced to split her attention.
    • Worth noting about that battle is that 2018 Thanos was weakened by the power of the five stones he'd collected when he engaged Wanda. 2014 Thanos doesn't have the stones on him, but makes up for it with body armor, and is still outclassed by Wanda.
  • Wanda so completely outclasses Thanos that he has to resort to orbital bombardment, firing on his own troops no less, just to buy a little breathing room from Wanda and keep her from killing him right then and there. Let that sink in.
    Thanos: RAIN FIRE!
    Corvus Glaive: But sire! Our troops!
    Thanos: JUST DO IT!
  • WandaVision has Monica Rambeau, Darcy Lewis, and Jimmy Woo lampshade that Wanda could have easily killed him if it weren't for the orbital bombardment. In fact, given what WandaVision establishes about Wanda not having embraced the full potential of her powers, it's easy to imagine that she would've beaten Thanos right here and then.
  • Some props to Thanos himself in this, too. Wanda gets between him and the Gauntlet and he pauses for only a moment to make the above-mentioned quip, reminding everyone that this is the first time this particular version of Thanos has ever met her. He has no idea what he's up against, but after registering her existence, he doesn't hesitate in the slightest to go up against an opponent who is clearly out for blood and has powers that are totally unknown to him.
• Props to the Masters of the Mystic Arts. As Sanctuary II opens fire, they conjure shields that protect most of the defenders, pretty much negating the tactical advantage it might have given Thanos's forces. This is presumably the best artillery that space has to offer, since a galactic conqueror would need the very best, and it was no match for Earth's wizards.
• The ship firing on Wanda actually works, temporarily throwing her off... until Sanctuary II is forced to take aim at another threat — Carol Danvers, who rockets in from space, completely ignores the incoming fire, and tears through Sanctuary II in seconds, even faster than she did with one of Ronan's ships in her own movie. Had she participated in the beginning of the fight, the battle would have been over in minutes.
  • Carol's entrance itself counts. The battle is just turning in Thanos' favor, with his aerial bombardment either incapacitating the heroes or forcing them to take cover with the Sorcerers. Then all of a sudden it stops, and everything goes quiet. Cut to the Sanctuary II, where the guns are quickly (almost frantically, as if the ship itself is panicking) struggling to re-align to aim at Carol hidden behind the clouds, while FRIDAY tells Tony that something has just entered the atmosphere. Then the sky lights up and Carol rockets through Sanctuary's volleys, continuing right through the ship itself before doubling back and tearing through it a second time for good measure. If there were any doubt that she's the strongest Avenger, this is the moment where that doubt ends. The fact that the ship stops firing on the ground below, and instead immediately prioritizes Carol as a target once it detects her entering the atmosphere, should be enough of a hint that she's such a high threat level that even Thanos' forces likely know about her and know how dangerous she is.
    • And let's not forget the dumbfounded look on Thanos' face when his flagship gets utterly demolished right before his eyes. You can see him struggling to process what just happened.
  • Rocket's delivery of "Oh yeah!" puts a pin in how awesome this is.
  • The followup confrontation between Thanos and Danvers showcases one of the few times Thanos has been genuinely outmatched (the only other times are against Wanda moments before, and potentially against Thor and Cap). When Carol grabs onto the Gauntlet to stop him from closing it, not only is Thanos unable to do so, she actually starts bending his fingers backwards. When he tries to headbutt her, the hit does absolutely nothing and we're treated to a glorious look of shock on Thanos' face. When Carol leans back for her own punch, Thanos is forced in desperation to tear the Power Stone out of the gauntlet to use in his left hand in order to avoid getting his face smashed in. The only thing which managed to hurt her at all was punching her with the concept of force itself.
  • To give Thanos his due, he completely no-sells her Photon Blasts, throws Carol around until she lands and assumes a more stable stance, and while she is stronger, she's clearly straining.
  • Carol recreates the instantly-iconic image of Captain America holding Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet open at the climax of Infinity War... and she makes it look easy.
    • Let's break that down, shall we? When Cap did it, he was visibly straining and screaming the entire time, presumably from the pain of holding off such a powerful opponent. When Carol does it, she barely breaks a sweat and when Thanos makes the mistake of hitting her, her resulting Death Glare implies that him doing so has only made her even madder.
  • Thanos manages to utterly blindside Carol by pulling the Power Stone out of the gauntlet, a move that she didn't see coming. He surprises an opponent that outclasses him using his wit and reminds us why he's such a terrifying Galactic Conqueror in the first place. With that move, Thanos manages to oneshot Captain freaking Marvel, putting her out of commission long enough for him to almost achieve his goal again if Iron Man didn't pull a fast one on him. Notably, she doesn't reappear until the funeral scene, on an entirely different day. ^note In a Deleted Scene she's standing again to mourn and kneel for Tony's death at the end of the battle.
  • The mere fact that Captain Marvel survives a direct punch from the Power Stone in the face, the same Stone that can reduce a whole planet into stellar dust. Made of Iron is not enough. She not only survived it: When we see her again, she isn't even bruised! Her face is SO HARD!
• After the van's quantum tunnel is destroyed, Tony, a mere human, tackles and wrestles with Thanos, an 8 foot giant. Despite getting overpowered shortly after, simply having the guts to do something like that counts as a moment of awesome. Plus, as shown later, this is the moment where Tony manages to turn the tables on Thanos - and the Titan doesn't even realize until it is too late. Tony wasn't trying to tackle Thanos; he just saw Thanos take the Power Stone off the gauntlet and had an instant realization of what he needed to do. Science Hero indeed.
• Thor may be out of shape, but he's still one of the most powerful beings in the universe. He takes on Thanos one-on-one, dual-wielding Stormbreaker and Mjölnir, and lasts longer than almost anyone in direct combat. He even manages to get Thanos's sword in a lock, almost overpowering him before Thanos breaks free.
• The absolutely insane, ultra-high-stakes game of Keep Away/Hot Potato that the heroes play against Thanos. Partway through the battle, Clint runs into the middle of the fighting and frantically asks Steve what to do with the Gauntlet he's carrying. Steve says to take it as far away from Thanos as possible. So Clint does just that, until Ebony Maw notices and sends hundreds of soldiers after him.
  • Just as Clint is drowning in bodies, T'Challa slams into the ground and tells him to hand over the Gauntlet. T'Challa then proceeds to fight his way out of the dogpile, only failing when Maw rips the ground out from under him.
    • Made even sweeter by the callback to Civil War. T'Challa, who was dismissive of Clint's friendly introduction in their previous meeting, calls him by name and openly acknowledges him as a comrade.
      T'Challa: Clint! Give it to me!
  • Then Peter swings by and grabs the Gauntlet in his webs, using his higher mobility to keep away from Maw. When he is surrounded by enemies, activates Instant Kill mode (which is basically the Iron Spider stabbing every enemy unfortunate enough to get near). To get Peter out of the pile of bodies forming around around, Cap tosses Mjölnir in the air for Peter to fire a web at. Pepper and then Valkyrie help by keeping him in the air when there's nothing else to swing on. But then he is nearly knocked out by the Sanctuary's bombardment and is so frightened he curls up in a fetal position.
  • Finally, Carol smashes through the Sanctuary II and rescues Peter, but is faced with what seems to be literally Thanos' entire army. Which leads straight into the next CMOA...
• That amazing, deliberate shot of all the female heroes assembling and charging against the forces of evil. Peter asks if Carol can truly go through the army alone. Though she undoubtedly could, every named female hero on the field stands next to her, demonstrating even better than the spoken line at that moment that she won't have to.
  Peter: [gestures to the oncoming army] I don't really know how you're gonna get through all of that.
  Wanda: Don't worry.
  Okoye: She's got help.
  • Okoye's first act in the all-female charge? Run through Corvus Glaive with her Vibranium spear and use his impaled body as leverage for an acrobatic leap without slowing her stride. He hardly even got in her way.
  • Valkyrie goes right up to the side of a Leviathan, and with her spear, slices through its side with utter ease.
  • Wanda holds back another Leviathan while Pepper gives another a Boom, Headshot! and Torso with a View combo.
  • Wanda and Carol are the only two superheroes powerful enough to cause Thanos to show genuine fear. Between them, they wreck his sword and armor, tear through his forces, take down his monstrous starship and very nearly overwhelm him twice, so it's pretty clear to the audience that Thanos has a damn good reason to be afraid of them.
  • A glorious shot of Pepper, Shuri, and the Wasp firing their beam weapons at Thanos as they help Carol, very reminiscent of the scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron with Thor, Vision, and Tony doing the same to Ultron Prime.
  • And! Going off the fact that the Soul Stone's most recent sacrifice resides in the Soulworld, then that means Carol literally carried Nat's spirit into battle with them. Okoye and Wanda's lines of "Don't worry." and "She's got help." also echoes Nat's "She's not alone." in Infinity War. She may not have been there to perform one last Hurricanrana, but you can bet your ass that the Black Widow was with her team until the very end.
• Considering he's a Squishy Wizard and the first among Black Order to die in Infinity War, it's pretty impressive that Ebony Maw manages to stand on the battlefield until the disintegration.
• Thanos' continued perseverance through the entire fight. When he's being wrecked by Wanda, he quickly orders an orbital strike even if it will take out some of his troops. When he's being manhandled by Carol, he quickly comes up with plowing her away with the Power Stone; and he even endured the intense pain that comes with completing or equipping the full Gauntlet twice, yet still attempted to repeat the Decimation in both cases. He lets absolutely nothing stand in the way of his goals, and it's only in the face of complete, unavoidable failure that he finally gives up.
• At one point Doctor Strange prevents a huge flood of water from swamping the battlefield by not only blocking it but rerouting the water into the form of a MASSIVE water spout.
  • While this pretty much takes Strange out of battle, he did have a moment before that - conjuring some sort of light tentacles that grabbed multiple soldiers of Thanos and pulled them underground. Considering how much trouble he caused Thanos back in Infinity War, one would understand why the directors occupied Strange with the waterspout because otherwise he'd end the battle way too quickly.
• The one beautiful, shining, bittersweet moment when Tony looks at Strange: Strange holds up his index finger, and Tony knows, at last, that this is the one-in-fourteen-million chance where they win the day. He knows then that his sacrifice won't be for nothing.
• A more humorous but cathartic moment; Thanos manages to keep the Gauntlet on after a brief scuffle with Tony, reciting his future self's Badass Boast as he prepares to do the Decimation once again, targeting 100% of life aside from himself this time... and he gets nothing but a metal "chink". His smug demeanor immediately rockets off, and instead he looks in shock at the empty Gauntlet. Which then leads into the most awesome moment of all...
• Tony's final rebuttal to Thanos.
  Thanos: I am... inevitable! [Badass Fingersnap does nothing; confused, he looks at his Gauntlet to see that all of the Infinity Stones are missing with an epic "Oh, Crap!" expression on his face]
  [Cut to Tony having stolen the Stones, and his suit manifesting a working Nano Gauntlet]
  Tony: And I... [inhales] am... Iron Man.
  (snaps his fingers)
• With that, Tony snaps his fingers, utterly annihilating Thanos's army and the Mad Titan himself, who sadly accepts defeat as he turns to dust.
  • How do you end a cinematic saga that has been a cultural touchstone for an entire generation? The same way you started it.
  • It should not be overlooked that Tony's nanotechnology is so advanced it turned his armor's gauntlet into a functional Infinity Gauntlet replica.
    • Look at it this way: Thanos had to go to Eitri and the Dwarves, an ancient race that crafted the weapons of the Asgardians, and make them build the Infinity Gauntlet just so he can wield the power of the Infinity Stones. Tony had the smarts to recreate it, fully functional, and built it in a way that it can fit different hand sizes. Even if he had the original Gauntlet as a template, he was able to match the craft of the Dwarves themselves and even add a little bit of improvement to the original design. Not bad for an Earthling, a race that, just a little over a decade ago, was considered to be no more than a primitive backwater by the rest of the wider galaxy.
  • Thanos' look of pure, undiluted Oh, Crap! from the moment it is revealed that Tony has stolen the gems is immensively cathartic as well. You failed, Thanos, now know the despair you inflicted upon the galaxy.
  • The rigidly determined look of absolute scorn on Tony's face right as he snaps his fingers. The Mad Titan has torn away at his, and trillions of other lives, so much to the point that any conceivable thought of simply bringing him to justice gets thrown out the window. He gets the opportunity to explicitly wipe out only Thanos and his forces; and to remind the Titan what it's like to lose, to feel so desperately that he's right, yet to fail nonetheless. And Tony takes said opportunity with maximum prejudice.
  • Notably, Tony shows much less reaction to absorbing the energy of the full Infinity Gauntlet than Hulk did. While the damage is enough to kill him instead of maim him, he's simply so determined that he powers through it like nothing until the Snap.
  • And the cherry on top? While Tony's snap erases Thanos' forces, Thanos himself got erased last. While this is due to just how durable Thanos' body is, it's also as if Tony wanted to give Thanos just enough time to truly absorb just how utterly and permanently ruined his plans are.
  • And to make it even more cathartic, Thanos' demise is an Ironic Echo of his ultimate victory in Infinity War. Rather than sitting down in his hut in the peaceful Titan II and smiling at the sunrise, he's at the wreckage of the Avengers compound, taking in heavy breaths out of pure, emotional agony before slowly lowering his head, embracing death. It's the perfect way to end the Mad Titan's run in the MCU: his final defeat being a dark foil, a mockery of his ultimate victory.
    • In addition to Thanos and his army, his enormous crashed ship as well as the Outrider deployed towers also turn to dust. Tony was smart enough to think of these things being stolen or used for selfish reasons, such as in Homecoming, and this time there's no need for Damage Control to salvage and lock this stuff up. It's gone! Reduced to ashes. No one can steal it and use it to hurt anyone ever again.
• In general, the way everybody contributes to the massive battle, working together in perfect coordination or tearing through Thanos's forces on pure instinct. Star-Lord gets swarmed by a whole squad of Sakaarans, only to kill them all singlehanded. Falcon utterly eviscerates a Chitauri gorilla with his wings, just as it was about to kill Clint. Drax scores a flurry of stabs to Cull Obsidian's back, distracting him while Korg smacks him from the front. Giant-Man shoves leviathans through portals generated by Doctor Strange. Wong and his fellow sorcerers immediately cast shield spells to protect everyone from the Sanctuary's bombardment. Black Panther saves Hawkeye's life by using his suit's Attack Reflector abilities to blow a dozen Outriders sky high. Mantis charges in with everybody else and holds her own in the fighting. And many more moments like that. Everyone gets their moment to shine, and it all goes to show that they're called "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" for a damn good reason.
• Doubling as Tear Jerker, there is Pepper's encouragement at the beginning of the film AND her final line to Tony, telling him he can rest now. In previous situations where his life was in danger — as he flew into the portal, and when he went after the spaceship — she cried and pleaded with him not to do something stupid, not to go off into danger. Instead, she encourages him to take the chance to save everyone they could, even risking everything they had, by asking if he could truly rest knowing he had the chance to change things. And, knowing he was dying at the end, rather than deny it or plead futilely with him to stay, even as his protege was crying over him, she mustered up all the stoicism she could and told him he could rest now, and stayed there with him until he had passed on before she broke down. She held it together long enough so that he could die without regret for this final action. She's definitely grown from when we last saw her in Infinity War and definitely since Iron Man.
• We have to give some accolades to Alan Silvestri; throughout the entire movie, he's at the top of his game, but it is here, at the end, that he saves his best for last. One lone trumpet heralds the appearance of that one lone portal, but then brass, strings and percussion all build to a fever pitch as the resurrected heroes make their return... then Cap gives the order, virtually everyone gives their war cry as they charge, and Silvestri cranks all the dials past eleven and does not let up on the throttle until it is all over.
• One for the Earth (and its allies). Disregarding the whole Infinity Gauntlet thing, there was no indication that the forces of Earth were losing; on the contrary - we saw Leviathans getting blasted left and right, Black Order getting its asses kicked, orbital bombardment being basically blocked, etc. At least four characters (Wanda, Carol, Thor, and Strange) were explicitly capable of beating gauntletless Thanos (okay, Thor needed a bit of luck and a better shape), probably some others too. If the Gauntlet has been taken out of the equation, Earth's Mightiest Heroes would've most likely beaten Thanos's army and killed him too. He decimated countless worlds, but Earth proved his equal.
  • Probably the greatest contributing factor to this is that through the entire battle it is clear not one hero is holding back. Each having faced great threats to their loved ones, their homes, their nations and planets, but no matter the power or danger of their adversary, always held back from unleashing their full power. Not here. Knowing the threat Thanos is to all of the universe, and maybe existence itself, all the heroes are willing to show the Mad Titan the full brunt of their power. They know this is the final battle and one they must win. From the moment Captain America speaks his iconic phrase, they all go into battle knowing that in order for them to win, Thanos has to die.
• It's been established in Captain America: Civil War and Ant-Man and the Wasp that growing to giant size is taxing for Scott Lang, often causing him to pass out shortly after doing so. But in the battle for Earth, Giant-Man is not only the tallest he's ever been ^note one reddit post estimated his height to be a whopping 109 ft tall, he has enough control and stamina to punch out Leviathans and stomp on Thanos' troops throughout the battle. Either Hank Pym fixed this problem in Scott's Ant-Man suit before he was snapped away, or Scott Lang mastered growing to that scale before he was trapped in the Quantum Realm, or, like what happened to the original Wasp, the Quantum Realm changed him somehow in the 5 years he spent trapped inside.

The End

• Before retiring to a timeline to marry Peggy, Steve was tasked with returning the Infinity Stones (and Mjölnir) to their original places quickly enough that their disappearances wouldn't be noticed. This is an Offscreen Moment of Awesome as he would have to fulfill the roles his allies played in the Time Heist, including confronting his old nemesis Red Skull as the stonekeeper and succeed.
• The entire closing credits. It's one big love letter to everybody who has ever been a part of the MCU, and everybody gets their chance to shine.
  • Special mention goes to the original Avengers' credits tribute. Watch any reaction video on Youtube and you'll hear them clapping whenever their favorites are shown, but as soon as Jeremy Renner's name appears and the Avengers goosebumps-inducing theme starts to play in earnest, the crowd just goes wild. By the time it gets to RDJ, most cinemas were reported to have transformed into a stadium.
• A moment of Fridge Awesome for Strange: This whole movie and every awesome moment listed above was part of his Batman Gambit to defeat Thanos. And it worked.

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And I... am... Iron Man.

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