Avengers: Endgame’s Great, But There Are Far Too Many Coincidences

The world has finally had the chance to see Avengers: Endgame over the past week and I think nearly all of us can agree it’s one heck of an exhilarating, emotional rollercoaster ride that closes the book on the first decade of the MCU in style. For the most part, that is.

Unfortunately, it also has a fair few plot holes and things that don’t quite add up, as the story relies on far too many coincidences. Sure, even the best movies have some key moments that rely on big coincidences that you just have to accept, but it feels like there are a few too many in Endgame to be swallowed, and here’s just a small selection:

A) How did Captain Marvel find Tony and Nebula stranded in space? We understand that Carol Danvers is a cosmic hero who helps folks out when they’re in need, that’s fine, but the odds of her stumbling upon these dying Avengers at the exact right moment are pretty incredible and a bit too coincidental.

B) How do all of the heroes survive Thanos’ attack on Avengers HQ? When he arrives in 2014, the Mad Titan launches a full-scale attack on the Avengers’ compound, completely destroying it in the process. Miraculously, though, none of the characters inside are killed or even too badly injured. This makes sense for the super-humans among them, but for regular folks like Ant-Man or Hawkeye, it seems they got very, very lucky.

C) Is that rat the real hero of Avengers: Endgame? Ant-Man only escapes the Quantum Realm because a rat crawls across the controls in his long-forgotten van. If Scott hadn’t gotten out of there, the heroes wouldn’t have had the idea to time travel and therefore, they couldn’t have reversed the Snap. So, basically, this rat is the greatest Avenger the world’s ever had and we all owe it a real debt.

Now, you could argue that this is why Doctor Strange only foresaw the Avengers winning one out of 14 million possible futures, because all of these lucky coincidences had to happen in one timeline. And sure, this might work as an in-universe explanation. From a critical perspective, though, you can’t help but wonder if more creative alternatives for these Avengers: Endgame plot points couldn’t have been thought up by the writers.