From Top Gun: Maverick to Oppenheimer and recently Dune: Part Two, we’ve had a lot of amazing theater experiences recently, but I think we can all agree that none of them came even close to the high we experienced in 2019 thanks to Avengers: Endgame.
A lot of things came together to make Endgame such a special occasion for the industry. Eliminate any of those elements and the movie wouldn’t have become the global sensation that shook the box office. I mean, even barring the 10-year build-up of all those other MCU movies, Endgame could not have succeeded if it weren’t for Infinity War hyping it up with its cliffhanger ending.
We all spent an entire year waiting, wondering, and speculating about the fate of our favorite characters. How was Endgame possibly going to give us a satisfying resolution to the Infinity Saga? Could the Avengers somehow find a way to reverse the Snap? What was going to happen to the MCU after Endgame? And yet, when the moment came and Endgame opened in theaters, all I could think about was finding the nearest theater playing the movie in my neighborhood and securing a ticket.
And what an incredible moment it was to be alive. At times during the movie, it felt like my entire life spent as a geek was finally paying off, and there would never be another experience to top this one. And going by their reactions, the people in that room with me must have felt much the same way.
We may never be able to relive the day we watched Avengers: Endgame with our fellow MCU enthusiasts from all walks of life, but thanks to social media, we may come close to the experience of those sensations. So, let’s take a trip down memory lane, to a time before all of these political upheavals, before COVID-19, and before Marvel Studios lost its touch, to review some of the best audience reactions to iconic Endgame moments.
Captain America picking up Mjolnir and giving Thanos an embarrassing and severe backside beating!
I think we can all agree that this was the single greatest moment in Avengers: Endgame, and quite possibly the entire MCU. Well, either this or the scene in Infinity War where Thor makes his entrance and turns the tide. We’d all known it for years, but it was very cathartic to finally have it confirmed that Captain America was worthy of the power of Thor. I can’t imagine a theater that didn’t explode when Mjolnir returned to Cap’s hand instead of Thor’s. Though, in fairness, my personal experience didn’t come close to this clip. The excitement in this one is almost primal.
The OG team’s signature credits still gives us chills!
Avengers: Endgame certainly marked the end of an era, and Marvel Studios understood the assignment well. While the MCU has been graced by many performers and characters over the years, it was always going to come down to those six original Avengers who rocked the world of cinema in 2012. Superhero movies had always been profitable even before Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, but that film made certain that everyone got the message loud and clear. Watching the signature of the six actors who portrayed the original team of Avengers at the end of Endgame will haunt our thoughts for many years to come.
Thor gets his hammer back, leaving the audience completely dumbfounded!
There’s no doubt that Stormbreaker is a weapon worthy of a god, but it could never be as iconic as Mjolnir. So imagine my surprise when it made a return in Endgame, especially after Thor went through all of that trouble in Infinity War to forge a more powerful weapon. Well, Taika Waititi may have broken the God of Thunder’s favorite toy in Ragnarok, but some things are just inevitable (unlike Thanos) and the writers had to find a way to make that Captain America Mjolnir scene work, one way or another.
The Scarlet Witch stands up to Thanos and almost beats him senseless!
Build-up is key when you’re dealing with a host of powerful beings each possessing unique abilities. The moment Wanda went toe-to-toe with Thanos and managed to overpower him lives rent-free in my mind after all these years, and I can’t help but wonder if she could’ve ended it there and then had Thanos not bombarded the entire battlefield with his ship’s firepower. In a movie so filled to the brim with exciting moments, this particular confrontation definitely came out of the blue.
“And I… am… Iron Man!” The scene that perfectly encapsulated 10 years of superhero cinema
Everyone was holding their breaths in those last moments of the fight against Thanos, where the Mad Titan beat back almost everyone and reclaimed the gauntlet. “I am inevitable!” He exclaims and brings up his hand to snap once again. The cinema is utterly quiet, except for the occasional sigh of surprise. Thanos snaps his fingers. Nothing happens. A few people laugh. The camera turns to Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, and he has the Infinity Stones! Everyone cheers. The room quiets down again, anticipating Tony Stark’s perfect clapback. “And I… am… Iron Man!” He says and sends Thanos to meet his maker. I’m sorry, MCU, but you can never catch this lightning in a bottle again.
Captain America makes his last stand, the portals open, and the Avengers finally assemble!
When all seemed lost, and the Big Three had failed to defeat Thanos, Doctor Strange opened portals summoning every hero in the MCU, and they all came together to oppose the Mad Titan’s will. I can imagine Kevin Feige and co. sitting down years before 2019 and envisioning the scene where all of their characters would come together. Captain America finally says the line everyone had been waiting for him to say as early as the 2012 film, and the execution is just perfect. I used to think no scene in cinema would come close to being as epic as “The Ride of the Rohirrim” from The Return of the King, but Avengers: Endgame proved me wrong.
Even more audience reactions from Avengers: Endgame
While the scenes we already listed were the highlights of Avengers: Endgame, the almost 3-hour movie had much more to offer, especially during the second act where the Avengers revisit set pieces from across the MCU. The video above includes the highlights from both movies, namely Black Widow sacrifcing himself, Tony hugging Peter, and last but not least, Steve Rogers fighting Steve Rogers and commenting on America’s ass!