*SPOILERS*

It has been approximately one week since Endgame came out, and since then there have been a bunch of articles and video essays with spoilers galore. Consider me just a little late to the party.

Right, today we’re going to break down Endgame into 10 main points I managed to take away from my first time seeing it.

Ready? Let’s dive in. Remember, spoilers!

 

 

1. Start with the hero’s sense of normal.

It doesn’t matter what genre you write – in a character driven book, it’s best to open with the main character’s sense of normal. You can then snatch this piece of normal away forever and ultimately change their life, but first – let them experience this moment of complete and utter normality.

Build up to the action instead. When Endgame begins, it doesn’t start with violence and fight scenes immediately. It actually sets a relaxed mood to the beginning, opening with Clint Barton teaching his daughter how to use a bow and arrow. Just some casual, father/daughter bonding time. Perfect.

 

 

Then the effects of the previous film, Infinity War, takes place and his family turns into dust. Everyone he loves is now effectively gone, leaving Clint to deal with this new normal. If Endgame followed the three-part story structure, I’d call this the inciting incident for him.

Then the setting changes, and you have Tony and Nebula in space… flicking triangles at each other in a game of table football. Without context, this is surprisingly anticlimactic for an action film. Yet it sets a tone of normalcy – it’s a game between friends. It’s only when you understand the context – that they’ve been stuck in space for approximately three weeks and are about to run out of supplies – that you realize the true urgency behind that one scene. This temporary sense of normalcy is about to end.

 

 

2. The hero has to face consequences for their actions.

No character is perfect, and when they mess up, they’re going to have to face the consequences for it. After Thor doesn’t succeed in “[going] for the head” (i.e. the killing shot) in Infinity War, he’s left a broken man, blaming himself after failing to stop the snap that wiped out half the universe.

He’s angry, he’s upset, he’s devastated – and he wants nothing more than to redeem himself and right his fatal mistake.

 

 

This is why in Endgame, he goes straight for Thano’s head, quickly decapitating and instantly killing him. However, Thano’s death achieves nothing, and all of the remaining Avengers have to return to earth and face defeat.

Although Thor tries to redeem himself by killing Thanos, this seemingly simple solution does not work out for him. As we later find out, he blames himself so much that the pain causes him to try and forget the incident entirely, relying on temporary distractions like getting drunk and playing Fortnite. He can’t bring himself to terms with the effects of his mistake and hides in his lodgings in New Asgard where he can live in his own deluded fantasy.

The scale of the consequences and the subsequent guilt does depend on how much your character messes up, but either way, they’ll have to face the music and find redemption once more. It’s part of being human, after all. When we see a beloved character (or a person) fall, we want to watch them rise again.

 

 

3. Erase your heroes’ options.

This can be a pain to plot out, but erasing your character’s chances at victory force them to think outside of the box. Instead of relying on what works best for them, they may have to grow in order to solve the current issue that they face. This growth could be through new knowledge – like Scott’s experience in the quantum realm – or through physical means, or even a new twist on their current skills.

 

 

If Thanos had not destroyed the Infinity Stones, the film might as well have been done in less than an hour. Instead, by taking them away from the Avengers, it forces them to find a new solution to the dusting that happened in Infinity War.

 

 

4. Dealing with character deaths

 

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing of a character death is always good if you want the reader to later look back and realize that a specific character had always been meant to die. Not all deaths have to be foreshadowed, as death is unexpected, but some can. Writing is an art, after all.

I could argue that Tony’s death had been foreshadowed all throughout Endgame. The line that stuck out to me most was either at the end of the first act, or the beginning of the second. Tony has just agreed to help the Avengers with the “time heist”, and even better, he has a plan. Referring to the mission, he says, “and maybe not die trying.”

Coming from him of all people, I would say this is definite foreshadowing of his later sacrifice. Another example might be plain speculation, but the “heart attack” Scott gives 2012-Tony when trying to get the space stone could be a hint all the same.

 

Reasoning

There’s always a reason behind death. Whether that be sickness, an accident, or something else, there’s always going to be a reason why someone dies.

In a story, this has to go deeper. Don’t go off killing characters for no apparent reason. Readers will question you. If you have a theme of self-sacrifice, like in both Infinity War and Endgame, you might have a character sacrifice themself for the greater good. This not only furthers the storyline, but it also emphasizes your theme.

In the same way, if there’s a major battle going on, not everybody is going to survive with minor injuries. War is brutal, and it’s just not that realistic to have all your important characters come out okay. It’s great for the fangirl/boy, but… maybe not for a reader.

I don’t think Natasha’s death was foreshadowed until she got to Vormir. And I don’t think that’s considered much foreshadowing, either. So even though her death was somewhat unexpected, there was a definite reason behind it – she wanted Clint to live because he had a family to take care of. I’ll talk more about Natasha’s sacrifice in another post.

 

 

5. Optional: use fun tropes

I just thought this was worth putting in because I am such a sucker for these tropes. All you need to remember, as with all tropes, is not to overuse them. Incorporating a good trope once, and effectively, is enough.

 

The “get the team together” trope

I absolutely adore this trope, especially if it comes with a cool montage. I would recommend using this trope for a conclusion to a series so you can bring all your major characters together, then subsequently tie up their character arcs later in the story.

 

 

It’s convenient, and if there’s a specific character a reader wants to see again in your series, well, there you have it. This handy trope.

 

The “collecting objects” trope

I also love this trope because it sets such an urgent tone to the story – the characters need to find a certain number of miscellaneous objects before the villain does. It’s like an intensified scavenger hunt!

In the case of the Infinity Saga, these are the infinity stones, six powerful gemstones with various abilities that form an aspect of the universe.

 

 

In Infinity War, Thanos wants to combine and harness their power on a gauntlet so he can snap his fingers and take out half of the universe. This sends the Avengers in a desperate quest to find the remaining infinity stones and prevent them from getting into Thanos’ hands. As this fails, this search is repeated in Endgame, this time in a slightly different way – rather than acting in the present where the infinity stones have been destroyed by Thanos, they go back in time to collect them instead.

Even still, the threat of past Thanos still lies over them, and combined with their very limited amount of tries they can have, this creates a definite pressure on them.

 

 

OTHER POSTS YOU MAY LIKE:

Captain Marvel and the Portrayal of Women

 

 

6. Raise the stakes.

I talked about raising the stakes in last year’s post on Infinity War takeaways, but I’m going to stress it anyway. Raise. The. Stakes.

When the Avengers finally start their mission to collect the Infinity Stones from the past, they only have one chance. If they blow it, well, too bad.

 

 

This is a fairly simple way to raise the stakes – one chance to make things right. It’s arguably overused, but it does its job at increasing tension and urgency; they can’t allow themselves to fail. And that’s what you want to do: increase tension so the reader stays interested in your book. Make things hard for the characters, make things SPICY. As long as there’s still hope, you’re able to hook your reader.

 

 

7. Crush your characters with things they can never have.

Sometimes pain is required for a character to grow. That’s why we break them, so we can watch them pick up the pieces and find a way to help themselves mend.

One especially tragic thing to do is to crush them with desires they can never fulfill. Also, if you break them emotionally, they’re not going to be able to think straight – because they’re human. This is going to lead to a whole lot of mistakes that they’ll have to fix later.

Examples of things the Avengers can never have back, ever:

• Wanda is never going to be reunited with Vision – because of this, she takes her anger out on Thanos
• Natasha is never coming back (unless stuff happened when returned the soul stone, but that’s unlikely)
• Pepper has to raise Morgan without Tony
• Peter is not going to get back the Gamora he once knew – and the current Gamora, the one who doesn’t know him, is still out there somewhere

 

 

8. Victory must never be easy.

A story is good only if the characters struggle to reach their goals. We don’t feel the same satisfaction with characters who snatch up victory on their first try as compared to characters who try and fail (multiple times) before succeeding.

It’s just unrealistic. Okay, yeah, sometimes in life there are easy wins, but in a story a character has to have some victories and some losses before finally overcoming the last obstacle.

Make your characters fail. So many times. Break them. Scar them. Put them on the edge of giving up… and then give them hope. Watch them recover, dust themselves off, and defeat the villain in a much more satisfying way.

Examples of things that made victory hard in Endgame:

• Tony, Steve, and Scott failing to retrieve the Tesseract (i.e. the space stone) and having to try again
• Thanos being able to scan and read Nebula’s memories
• 2014-Nebula taking 2023-Nebula’s place and no one suspects a thing

 

 

9. Make your characters feel real.

Near the end of the movie, when Stephen Strange appeared with his crew and opened the portals to let the other Avengers and their allies through, the people in my theater started cheering. They also cheered for Steve when he picked up Mjölnir, and hearing the audience react so strongly really struck a chord with me.

 

 

After 11 years, Marvel has effectively created characters the audience will literally cheer for. And I just sat there thinking, “I want that.” I want my future readers to love my characters as much as I do, and I’m sure you do, too.

And I believe the secret to this is that these characters feel so real. They’re not perfect, they come from humble origins, and they’re fleshed out. They’re relatable and we as the audience latch on to this and it just makes us happy to watch them grow.

 

 

10. Character arcs matter.

If there’s one thing you can’t leave out of a story, it’s character arcs.

Character arcs are so, so important. They show the growth of a character from one point to another and this reflects reality because people change. Humans are not static beings who remain the same forever. No, we grow and we learn and we change, hopefully for the better, but sometimes that doesn’t happen.

Looking back on a character allows you to see how much they’ve changed for the better (or for the worse). A positive character arc shows how what they’ve learned through their journey allows them to satisfy their deepest desires and toss out lies they’d previously believed – giving them a new perspective on things. If the main character is still the same by the end of the story… there may be a problem.

I’ll write a separate post about some of the character arcs in the MCU, but I’ll give a quick rundown here:

 

Good Character Arcs:

• Natasha finally finds redemption for her mistakes by giving up her life
• Bruce comes to terms with his inner monster and finds balance
• Tony goes from selfish to selfless

 

 

Questionable Character Arcs:

• Thor grows as a leader – then suddenly drops everything to join the Guardians of the Galaxy
• Thanos changes his mind and decides to wipe out the entire universe because people are annoying and stubborn – this effectively changes the reasonably well-written villain he was in Infinity War

 

 

Miscellaneous other things:

These are just minor issues I had with Endgame.

• Why, after five years, does Nat still have blonde in her hair? I’m fairly certain hair dye doesn’t take five years to fade.
• Where was Goose in this? I’m pretty sure a flerken would have been useful in that forty-minute battle.
• Why is Ned still in school after 5 years? Had he been one of the victims of the snap? And what about Peter’s class? Half of them would have already graduated by now.

 

 

That’s all for now!

Okay, I know that was a long post. So I’ve provided a quick summary of my ten points for skimmers or if you just want to be reminded.

 

SUMMARY:

1. Open the story with the main character’s sense of normal before throwing them into crazy circumstances
2. Make sure your characters face the consequences of their actions
3. Erase your heroes’ options and make them find a different way to overcome their problems
4. Make sure character deaths have a reason behind them
5. Fun tropes to use: “get the team together” and “collecting objects”
6. Raise the stakes
7. Break your characters with things they can never have
8. Make sure victory is never easy for your heroes
9. Create characters who feel real through distinct characteristics and flaws.
10. Character arcs matter – main characters should grow and change!

 

BACK TO YOU!

Have you seen Endgame? If so, what were your thoughts on it? Did you have any other takeaways from the film, good or bad? And talk to me about what character arcs you’d like me to write about in the comments below!

Appreciate you 3000,