The biggest blockbuster of the year officially hit theaters on April 25. Earning $1.2 billion worldwide and $357 million domestically during its opening weekend, Avengers: Endgame shattered the record set by its prequel, Avengers: Infinity War, which made $640 million internationally during its opening weekend last year and $257 million domestically. Avatar, the James Cameron directed fantasy drama which came out in 2009, is currently the highest grossing film of all-time as it made $2.7 billion worldwide. However,  Endgame may potentially pass that if it continues to rake in the money at the box office. After being in theaters for only two weeks, Endgame has already grossed nearly $2.2 billion.

A non-stop sci-fi action film infused with a fair balance of comedy and drama, Avengers: Endgame marks the end of the original Avengers’ storyline after the first 22 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). These films are based on the various storylines and characters from Marvel’s line of graphic novels (or comic books), some of which date back to the 1940s.  

Endgame picks up right where last year’s Avengers: Infinity War left off. After Captain Marvel rescues Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Nebula from certain death in space, the Avengers begin searching for Thanos to get the Infinity Gauntlet from him and reverse the decimation he caused, eliminating half of Earth’s population with a snap of his fingers.

However, when they find Thanos, he tells them he destroyed the stones, a feat which almost killed him. Thor kills him anyway, and the Avengers spend the next five years trying to find their new identities in a bleak and broken world.

When Scott Lang (Ant-Man) is inadvertently expelled from the quantum realm, he is distraught to find that the world he knew has been destroyed. He believes the Avengers can use the effects of the quantum realm, however, to go back in time and collect all six Infinity Stones. He and Black Widow, Captain America, Rocket, Nebula, and Bruce Banner (Hulk) convince Stark, now married to Pepper Potts and with a young daughter, to try and figure out how to travel through time using the quantum realm. Reluctantly, he does, and the Avengers, after finding a guilty and woefully out-of-shape Thor and a grieving, murderous Hawkeye, split up to go to several different points in time to snatch the stones.

However, thanks to the 2014 version of Nebula, Thanos gets wind of the plan, and when she, at that point loyal to her father, takes the place of the present-day Nebula and travels back to the present with the Avengers (who have collected all six Infinity Stones), she secretly brings Thanos and his army through the wormhole to thwart the Avengers’ plan.

That sets the stage for the climactic final act of the film.

According to rottentomatoes.com, Avengers: Endgame has a 95% fresh rating, meaning 95% of the 434 critics who have seen the movie have given it a positive review.

Students also seem to agree. “This was my favorite Marvel movie and I like how they finally completed the series with a good ending,” said eighth-grader Alex Bories.

“The movie was really exciting and always had me really interested in what was happening next,” said sixth-grader Caden Hayes.”

“I would watch the movie three times again, that’s how good it was,” said eighth-grader Gabe DiFilippo.

While the movie was extremely enjoyable, there were also some sobering moments that were difficult for fans.

“The movie was cool, but my favorite hero was Iron-Man, and I did not like seeing him die,” said seventh-grader Julian Janin.

Charlie Spungin’s Review:
I really enjoyed the movie because it constantly felt like the heroes were under pressure. I liked the aspect of time travel and how the heroes had to go back in time to retrieve the stones from past movies. I am not a fan at all of what they did to Thor. I think Marvel had to take away  Thor’s power for this movie, though, because if he was as powerful as he was in Infinity War, he would have killed Thanos somewhat easily. It was great when Captain America lifted Mjolnir since Marvel teased that since 2015 in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Obviously, the dusted characters coming back was great to see as well. Iron Man dying was pretty sad considering he is  my favorite hero, but I’m happy with the way he went out. Lastly, I think Bucky should have been given Cap’s shield, but I think Sam got it because of Bucky’s compromised past being an assassin and a terrorist; e wouldn’t 100% reflect Captain America’s values, even though it wasn’t Bucky’s fault.

Ryan Gikher’s Review:
I thought that the movie was made very well, but there were some parts to the movie that I did not like. For example, when they decided to make Thor fat, and when Captain America handed over his shield to Falcon rather than Bucky, who was his best friend.  My favorite heroes are Iron Man, Black Panther, and Spider-Man, but I did not like that Marvel did not use Black Panther and his resources as much as they could have. I would have liked to see Iron Man in another movie, but if this was his last movie, then I am happy with the way the filmmakers let him go. The movie was very good and matched its expectations.

There are many questions to what the future of the MCU has for us, but the talented producers have not disappointed us yet in the first three phases of these releases. .

Most likely, this will be the last Avengers film. There have been rumors of a Young Avengers film, but that would be years and years down the road – most likely in Phase 5.  Spider-Man, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and the Guardians of the Galaxy are set to get sequels, and Black Widow is set to get a prequel. Spider-Man: Far From Home, set to be released on July 2, will be the last film in the MCU’s Phase 3.

The Eternals and Shang-Chi should also be introduced to the MCU in Phase 4. Maybe the Fantastic Four and X-Men, Marvel characters which were previously licensed to 20th Century Fox,  Marvel Studios just got the rights to them. They will most likely be introduced in Phase 5 of the MCU.

With so many characters, including those that we’ve seen on screen and those that have yet to be introduced, there is a lot of excitement (and questions) in terms of what lies ahead for the MCU. However, it will be difficult to ever replicate the excellence that was Avengers: Endgame – a giant at the box office and in the hearts of Marvel fans everywhere.