 At the time of this recording, Avengers Endgame is well on its way to becoming the highest grossing film of all time. Does that mean it's the best of the bunch? Let's find out as the Avengers go to war on this episode of Movie Feuds. The installment of the MCU, it seems like one or two more Avengers is brought into the bowl, typically with an A-list actor in the role. While a lot of people would say the original Avengers has a disadvantage here because it has the smallest lineup of characters, I'd say it works in its favor too because we get a lot of intimate moments with each one of these people. Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye do plenty of ass kicking, but also get pretty heavy character arcs. Some better than others, depending on your taste. And what's nice about the OG cast is we follow them through all of these Avengers movies, watch them change and grow. For better and for unfortunately sometimes worse, I'm looking at you, Endgame, Thor, and Hulk. Speaking of Endgame, if it's Quantity you're looking for, this one takes the win. As pretty much every character from the MCU is on display in some fashion or another. But does Endgame really give us the best aspect of all these characters? I don't know. They have a science Hulk, but the original Avengers has a Hulk. Age of Ultron adds a few more faces to the team with Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Vision. Side note on Vision, he may be the most useless character to date in one of these movies. I don't understand him at all. He's powered by an infinity stone, right? He's part of his body. He should be able to be a complete badass. Yet we rarely see him do anything of real consequence. I mean Captain Marvel got stone shrapnel thrown at her and she can fly through ships. The power levels are wildly inconsistent in these films. I just have to say that. It makes no sense at all. Like, why can't Captain Marvel just fly through Thanos? She can fly through metal. Why can't she fly through a person through flesh? So what we got from Age of Ultron is a useless Vision and a dead Quicksilver. Wanda thankfully stays around. Her accent sometimes joins her, sometimes it stays behind. One thing's for certain, her push-up bra is always intact. And for that, I'm grateful. The Russo brothers later choose to class up the rest of the uniforms, dropping some of the bright colors and low-cut leather for a more practical and less pervy attire. Instead of making a meal out of Black Widow's ass for the up-teenth time, we get to appreciate Captain America's instead. And you know what? Quite frankly, it's well-earned. It's well-earned. Infinity War brings a much larger cast together with the additions of Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and many more, now in the mix. Sure, we've seen splashes of them here and there, like in Civil War and Thor Ragnarok, but here it feels like more than a cameo. Director Joss Whedon did a very commendable job juggling the large cast in the first two pictures. He wisely kept his focus on the obstacles and solutions these powerful heroes needed to overcome. The Russo brothers took note and brought their own game to the table as well, managing to excel just as easily as Whedon when it came to balancing the script. Speaking of balance, let's head to story now. I don't think anybody's going to argue that Loki was the true MVP of the Phase 1 villains. Not until Age of Ultron did we really get another fun adversary to go up against. Could he have been more menacing like he was in the trailers? Sure. I'll give you that. Could he have maybe extended his evil plans longer than a weekend? I think so. I think maybe that would have been a little more threatening if he accomplished a goal or two. Still, James Spader nailed the villainous voice of the AI antagonist. The issue was more to do with the ADD nature that Age of Ultron possessed. The premise of the first Avengers movie was simple. Loki wants to enslave Earth as penance for his dad dicking him over in the first Thor movie. He invites an alien invasion to Earth to bring the humans to their needs. Big Fury realizes the Shield Agency is running out of options and out of time. So he cut his life into pieces because it was his last resort, fired up the Avengers initiative. I believe that was a very obscure Papa Roach reference. By the time Ultron rolls around, the team is very familiar with each other. To the point where Black Widow is willing to add a little bit of brain to her palette. Catch my drift. Trying to be boning the Hulk. Stark wants to take Avenging to the next level by implementing a large-scale security safety net with the Ultron program. Turns out Ultron's a bit of a douchebag. He acquires an army of robots, makes a visionary bill to bear body, recruits some mutants that can't be called mutants because Disney did not own everything at that time, Thor leaves to take an orgasmic bath in an infinity pool, Captain has a bit of a potty mouth, and the whole thing feels like a really crazy Saturday morning cartoon in the best way possible for me. Infinity War is the darkest movie of the bunch. It moves at a breakneck speed, slowing down for like 10 minutes to forge an axe with Thor. The first 30 minutes is non-stop intensity. A lot of people die, Hulk gets his ass kicked for like the third time in this franchise, half the crew is in space now, those on Earth are fighting for their lives, and Thanos is not messing around. Infinity War in essence is like a really shitty Easter egg hunt, where one kid takes half the candy and the rest of them are left really feeling depressed about everything. The Avengers may have successfully defeated his waves of disposable aliens, but Brolin Stannos gets the ultimate clap back. A snapback, if you will. Killing off half the universe instantly wasn't exactly how I expected a Disney movie to end, but I loved every minute of it all the same. Endgame is exactly how I expected a Disney movie to end, by essentially undoing the events of Infinity War. Technically, they still happened, and people felt the effects for five years. I can't help but wonder how many husbands and wives came home to find their spouses with other lovers in their beds. Incredibly uncomfortable scenario. Honey, I'm home, my God! Tony Stark figures out the formula for time travel faster than I can order my meal at Chipotle, which is crazy, because I order the same thing every single time. Endgame is a bit like my order at Chipotle, and for those that were wondering, or not wondering, I don't really care, my order at Chipotle is a chicken bowl, brown rice, sometimes I'll double the chicken, sometimes I won't, depends on how I'm feeling. I throw some fajita peppers in there, no beans, cheese, light sour cream, the hot sauce, I get a side of guac, chips, and a Coke, because you know what, I'm worth it. Endgame's kind of like getting my Chipotle order if they did put the beans in. For the most part, it's still pleasant enough, but it is slightly disappointing considering I didn't want beans in my bowl. A lot of people like beans, and Professor Hulk, and that's fine, but for me, I would prefer a character arc not be resolved off-screen. Fat Thor was great. He would be a perfect sitcom character for those funny web shorts Marvel puts out on occasion, instead of mainly a punchline in the biggest MCU movie to date. Captain Marvel sucks. She's just a shit character. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. She is just terribly written. So uninteresting. Why? Even with these gripes, it's still a meal I can go back to and savor over and over again. The essence is there, the heart is true, the jokes land, and the memorialization of key characters like Stark and Rogers is on point. Plus, the final battle is just one big party and everyone's invited. Also, I'm even crashed the party unannounced. We didn't ask you here, Bree. We didn't ask you here. Even though my opinion matters most, I still reach out to the common peasants to see what they had to say. Here we go. Patreon and YouTube join supporters like Caleb Creach had this to say. Endgame was lacking most of the Russo Brothers' clever storytelling techniques. The first two thirds are slow, tedious buildup with an amazing, memorable last third. Just like Whedon's films, it felt like the movie was relying on the audience to ignore any and all mistakes simply because of emotional impact. Caleb arguably had too much to say. I asked for quick summaries. He presses on. Infinity War, on the other hand, is an intense last-ditch effort to save the universe from an outnumbered yet powerful megalomaniac, a mad titan. Its ending is one of the most memorable and emotional of any movie in recent years. It is, in my opinion, the better movie. You're not alone. The bowtie guy says Avengers wins easy for me. Not only was it the first film to bring all iconic characters together, but it perfected the summer blockbuster. Wallace goes with Endgame in quality. But Age of Ultron is his favorite because of how much he loves Ultron and the dialogue. You are almost alone in those sentiments, but there's others. There's others. Derek says Endgame is the culmination of 11 years in the MCU. I believe it has the most importance. Growing up with this franchise and seeing it to the end is so amazing. I think it's safe to say we have a wide range of thoughts on this. Let's talk shop for a bit before we wrap. I just rewatched the original Avengers for the first time in many years. It holds up. There is a nice variety in the action, from one-on-one hero battles to large-scale city attacks that take up the entire third act. We didn't produce some stellar tracking shots in the first two films that never seemed to make an appearance in the Russo-directed ones. I'm a sucker for a good tracking shot, especially when it ends like this. Just perfection. One thing I don't care for much is how we didn't frame some of his shots. It has a bit of an old-school vibe, shooting from lower angles to give that larger-than-life scale. The colors are also a bit too punchy for my liking. Age of Ultron continues to impress in the action department. The angled cameras seem less noticeable, too. Infinity War pulls down the shades, keeping those bright colors in check. This one feels very weighty, not just because of the script, but in part due to just the look. That dark tone stays consistent throughout, whereas Endgame looks about as consistent as its story, which is to say, not. There are plenty of portions early on that have a muted color palette. Once the whole time travel shtick comes into play, that's where things get a bit more punchy in the color and in the music department, which makes sense. We're going back to Ground Zero. We're going back to some of these earlier movies that looked a bit later, looked a bit more fun. The final 30 minutes of this would bring a tier or two to George Lucas' eyes. A huge green screen battle with all the MCU favorites. There are plenty of powerful shots and I can see why this portion of the flick makes many people's favorite list. The early Avengers movies never really captured me in terms of the music. I think mainly it was because each character didn't really have their own standalone theme to bring to the table. So when the whole team got together, all we had was that big bombastic score that felt generic at the time. I later became a big fan of this theme, probably because the sheer number of MCU movies helped enhance that triumphant score. I do think the theme is a tad overused in Infinity War and Endgame. It would have been nice to pick up on one or two other big standout numbers. I just, I can't think of any. Smaller issues aside, these are incredibly crafty experiences that require a ton of off-camera talent. We've come a very long way in a relatively short amount of time when it comes to bringing these comic book movies to life on the big screen. When I pulled my YouTube community a week or so back about what their favorite Avengers movie was, I knew the answer before they even gave it. Doesn't mean it was the right one. In last place is Age of Ultron, putting up only 5% of the vote. In third place, the first Avengers with a shockingly low 9%. Second place with 32% of the votes is Infinity War, leaving Endgame the winner with a solid 55%. I'm not thrilled with the outcome, but like I said, it was expected. I temporary my expectations. Endgame is after all the new bitch on the block and there were plenty of fan favorite geek out moments in this film. It's like the last season of Game of Thrones. It set things up so nicely, just to have it all kind of piss away with dumb, nonsensical action and a script that doesn't make much sense if you think about it. But whatever, whatever, whatever. It's a fun film, it's engaging. There's great emotional moments that I guess speak to some people and that's it. Those are my opinions. You gave yours. This is more than just reviews. This is movie views. We all do something that's not comic book related but people don't care anymore about movies.