By Aaron Schweitzer
They say hindsight is 20/20. The MCU has 22 films total and the last 2 chronologically combine to one that 20 films have set up. So let’s take a look back at those 20. The goal of this series is to rewatch the MCU with Infinity War and Endgamein mind and see a few things. The first is to see ways in which they refer back to other movies indirectly or indirectly. The second is to see how these movies prepare for the Infinity Saga in terms of story, character, and development. This article isn’t focused on references to how it sets up other MCU movies other than Infinity War and Endgame and also some of these might seem like a bit of a stretch, but that’s the fun in it. Obviously not all of these were intentional, but the MCU has done a fantastic job with little references everywhere and I want to find them with the Endgame in mind. Of course, SPOILERS.
(0:50) Howard Stark: “The Pym Particle is the most revolutionary science ever developed. Help us put it to good use.
Little did they know back in 1989 that the Pym Particle will wind up reviving half of humanity. Or would that actually be that the Pym Particles already have since Tony and Steve retrieve them from 1970 and use them in the future? Or would it not even matter considering the branch reality created by the altering of the Infinity Stones? Whatever. The point is the Pym Particle is still perhaps the most revolutionary science ever developed and it does get put to the most heroic use yet.
(1:29) Howard: “Don’t let your past determine the future.”
I noted this because this seems to be one of the main themes of Endgame. I’ve been noting how Dicer interprets and prioritizes themes of movies a lot since Endgame and I’ve been trying to pick up on them more since I agree with that sentiment (which is part of the reason I’m not high on Joker, but… wrong cinematic universe. Or at least comic publishing company. The DC films are a mess.) And the theme of Endgame is don’t be content with the past; fight for the future. Don’t give in when you feel like you’re out of options, create another option no matter how outlandish or difficult it may seem.
(1:59) Howard: “I’ve known Hank Pym for a long time. He’s no security risk… unless we make him one.”
When you get the flashback scene from Endgame, you get the sense that Stark and Pym never got along super well. According to Endgame, the real security risk is the package deliverers of the world! (Just kidding, especially all you working around the holiday season. Love you, XOXO)
(12:02) Cross: How could anything so miraculous possibly be real?
Considering the Infinity Stones, Extremus, Hulk, sorcerers, and Thor and Loki’s powers are also real, this one isn’t so much a headscratcher. But it also just reminds me of all the GOOD things that had to go right for Endgame to end the way it did. Surely it was nothing short of a miracle.
(19:24) Cross to Hope: “I chose my mentor poorly. You didn’t even have a choice.”
There are a couple of relationships that come to mind. Perhaps Peter and Tony is the one that you are thinking of. But the one that came to my mind was the weird triangle between Gamora, Nebula, and Thanos. It’s a pretty accurate saying that friends are people we choose and family are people we are stuck with and I think this captures that essence. Thanos is more of a mentor than he is a father to Gamora and Nebula, and one takes after him, feeling choice-less. But Gamora rebels and winds up bringing Nebula out of that mindset. Gamora realizes she is being influenced poorly and gets out of the situation, but Nebula is more forced because she relies on the tech initially and the desire of approval from her father.
(19:32) Cross: “It’s a shame what we had to do, but he forced us, didn’t he?”
This could ride off of that last point I was making, but I was initially thinking more about Thanos’ decision-making process. Thanos views himself as a reluctant hero. He thinks he is someone who has to make one really hard choice because it is the right choice and will help humanity in the long run. And he does it in fairly nonviolent ways. It doesn’t look like The Snap hurts. It’s half at random, being without judgment. The only way he could make it better would be to give notice of who would be snapped. Maybe a countdown or a more gradual deterioration would make it better? Anyways, he does what he believes needs to be done and succeeds, but then it is overridden and I kind of hope we see consequences showing that Thanos was actually right in the MCU’s future.
(32:40) Scott encounters a mouse
In this movie, a mouse is a horrifying creature that threatens to end the story and Scott. In Endgame, there is a nice opposite parallel where the mouse is one of the real heroes and saves the day and Scott.
(35:49) Maggie to Cassie: “Daddy just gets confused sometimes
This one made me laugh because of the hilarious moments in Endgame where Scott is confused, which is quite often. Most notably, there is the meme of Scott after he is brought back into reality after The Snap and he says, “What the hell happened here.”
(44:26) Scott: “My days of breaking into places and stealing sh*t are done.”
Not only is this immediately broken by Hank’s intention and plan with Scott in Ant-Man, but it also becomes what they wind up doing in Ant-Man and the Wasp as well as a self-titled “Time Heist” in Endgame. First, he steals a suit. Then stealing back a quantum machine. Now, he’s stealing time! What’s next?! Lord, have mercy! He better not go after my Duke Kaboom action figure.
(46:19) Hank: “I’ve spent half my life trying to keep this technology out of the hands of a Stark. I’m sure as hell not gonna hand-deliver it to one now.”
No, no, no, no. Don’t worry, you don’t have to hand it to a Stark. He’ll just use future ones after your dead-ish and time travel back to the past to steal them from 1970 to get them. It’s totally different. You kept good on your promise, but it didn’t change the outcome. Also, your protégée hands them over to him and a bunch of others, including a talking raccoon.
(42:52) Hank to Scott: “This is your chance. The chance to earn that look in your daughter’s eyes. To become the hero that she already thinks you are. It’s not about saving our world. It’s about saving theirs.”
This one is kind of cheating but also not. We know Morgan Stark exists and we see her at Tony’s funeral in Endgame, but there is a deleted scene you can see on Disney+ that has Tony interacting with grown-up Morgan and their having this same conversation. She forgives him and gives him for sacrificing himself for the world because I really don’t think Tony did it for Doctor Strange, Quill, Sam, or any of those guys (especially Bucky). He did it to save his daughter’s world. Sure, he wound up saving the present in the process, but my point still stands.
(51:03) Hank to Scott: “You would enter a Quantum Realm… you would enter a reality where all concepts of time and space become irrelevant.”
Boom. There you go. No need to make sense of how time travel works in the Quantum Realm because no one knows. It’s the biggest Magoffin in film history and I couldn’t care less.
(1:31:20) Scott: “It was never just a heist.”
Because Scott labels Endgame as a time heist, there is an immediate connection to this line. The difference is that in Endgame, there wasn’t really a “what next” plan. They kind of figure it out on the fly. In Ant-Man, they had a plan: steal what they need and blow it all up and here’s how it’s done. It’s kind of crazy that there was more though put into the plan in Ant-Man than in Endgame, but there are many reasons for that.
(1:36:13) Scott: “Not just me” as he appears with an army of ants.
This reminded me of three different scenes in the future, although two of them can be mixed together. The first two are the female empowerment scenes from Infinity War and Endgame. Scarlet Witch is pinned down and Okoye and Black Widow show up and she says something fairly similar to this line, “She’s not alone.” Then, of course there’s the scene in Endgame where all the women are together and Okoye says, “She’s got help” even though 1) the scene makes no logical sense of space and character placement and 2) Captain Marvel is OP and really doesn’t need help anyways. But I digress because I think it was a powerful scene, even though it took me out of the movie.
The other example is the famous “Assemble” shot. Because Scott is running from left to right with an army of ants behind him in a very similar shot to when Cap runs from left to right with literally everyone ever behind him.
(1:49:33) Hank: “I realized, you can’t destroy power. All you can do is make sure that it’s in the right hands.”
“I used the stones to destroy the stones.”
Also, the ending of Endgame perfectly fulfills this. The stones in the hands of Thanos are disastrous, but the stones in the hands of, say, Tony Stark is a completely different ending. As many stories have told throughout time, power is power and it can corrupt or empower, it all depends on who is the one in control of the power.