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 Endgame in 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. Finally, the goal is to see how they set up the end of the Infinity Sage in terms of characters and development. This article won’t contain 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 Easter Eggs and I want to find them with the Endgame in mind. Of course, SPOILERS.
(13:42) Palmer: “No one could have done better.” Strange “I could have done better.”
Upon first watch, one of my biggest criticism was that this movie is essentially a remake of Iron Man plus magic. The characters of Stark and Strange seem to have the same arcs from arrogance and selfishness to empathy and selfless. But the more I watch this movie, it goes a different direction than Iron Man. Tony turns into a character that wants to take control and keep everything in his hands while Strange works with a team, empowers others, and trusts them. The biggest example of this is Strange’s willingness to give up the Time Stone knowing that he would be dusted and hoping that everything would go according to plan in order to defeat Thanos once and for all. Strange at the start of this movie would not have made that choice, he would have had this thought of “I can do it better” but by the end, we are left with a character who trusts.
(26:28) Strange: “You’re talking about cellular regeneration!”
Just a little line that made me giggle as we have only seen people re-appear in from The Snap in the silly montage from Spider-Man: Far From Home. In a way, there had to have been some sort of cellular regeneration. I have so many questions. Do they simply appear, like the targets do in Looper? Do they form from the dust that snapped them away? Do they return exactly where they were? What about dogs? Because if Thanos harmed my boy Cheddar, I swear to God I would make him swallow his own foot!
(28:10) Strange: “You’re nothing but a tiny momentary speck within an indifferent universe.”
This reminds me of two things, one being pretty small, and the other being fairly deep. The first is that this acknowledges the existence of multiple parallel universes. There are several different lines that confirm this, but this is the first mention. The second reminds me of The Ancient One during The Battle of New York explaining the way the Infinity Stones effect the flow of time. The very existence of this line in contrast with this one shows either growth or ignorance in The Ancient One because the fact that she mentions even a moment of disturbance can have infinite possibilities, but also this shows the power that each and every one of us could have. Each of us has the chance to change our realities and I believe that is the power of us and our stories. We may be a tiny momentary speck, but that does not take away the power of that speck.
(32:45) The Ancient One: We never lose our demons, Mordo. We only learn to live above them.
This line mane me think about something that I’ve been pondering lot recently. Endgame did a spectacular job at wrapping things up. I remember thinking as soon as I walked out the theater that I would be completely satisfied with only one more movie in the MCU, that being the continuing adventures of the Asgardians of the Galaxy (Hopefully including Rocket’s past girlfriend Lydia). Sure, Captain Marvel set up the Skrulls, but that doesn’t need to go anywhere. And there are so many things I want (everything currently on the schedule, X-Men, a comedy series of the New Asgard staring Valkyrie and Korg, intersection of the Netflix Marvel shows, Adam Warlock, The Leader, Deadpool in the MCU, Secret Invastion, and so much more). But the one thing that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is how much Endgame sets up for the future. Of course, it sets up for the Loki series, Peter and Gamora’s relationship, and Thor’s future but it sets up so much for the characters that we already know and love. There is a scene where once everyone comes back from the past before they even bring back the snapped, the group mourns the death of Black Widow, especially Hulk and Hawkeye. Where do they go from there? How does the team react to Tony’s death (aside from what we already know from Far From Home)? How do Falcon and Bucky cope with the loss of Steve? There is so much set up here that we can only theorize and see where these stories take us. In Feige we trust.
(48:11) Mordo: “Fight like your life depended on it. Because one day, it may.”
Doctor Strange is such an interesting character because of his Hippocratic Oath. This is addressed later in the movie, but Mordo convinces him now that he needs to fight. He saves the day in Hong Kong by choosing not to fight, but to bargain. On Titan in Infinity War, he chooses not to fight and to surrender the stone to save Tony’s life and put the plan in motion. Strange’s most important moves are the ones that go against everything we attribute too superheroes.
(57:38) Kaecilius: “Mister Doctor?” Strange: “It’s Strange.” Kaecilius: “Maybe? Who am I to say?”
Again, as I noted in the Spider-Man Homecoming article, there is this recurring joke about names and when you have a name like Doctor Strange, you can only expect that and there are so many different variations we can have to keep this joke running and fresh.
(1:04:52) Strange: “Dormammu made you a murderer. Just how good can his kingdom be?”
A kingdom built on death doesn’t really seem like a kingdom really worth being part of. Same with Thanos. Does anyone really enjoy that reality except for Thanos? Everyone we encounter are in low spirits and sadness. Sure, Thanos may be right and the planet might have been better off (look at the effects the COVID-19 lockdown has had on the environment). But either way, do you want to live in a kingdom built upon death?
(1:23:40) The Ancient One: *monologue about time and preventing so many terrible outcomes, but each one leading to her death and she cannot see past it.
This leads me to question how Strange perceives all the timelines. I wonder if out of the 14 million outcomes, Strange could only see past one which made it easier for him to experience. It also sparks my curiosity of what those other outcomes might have been. 1 in 14 million isn’t the worst odds, but I’m also just curious to see the most ridiculous scenario played out. Maybe we’ll see some in the upcoming What If… series.
(1:24:28) The Ancient One to Strange: “It’s not about you.”
A lesson that I seem to have to re-learn several times a year. And it also seems a lesson that most of our heroes need to learn. Aside from Cap, this is something that at least subconsciously our heroes seem to learn. Strange even learns it so much that he barely plays a role in Endgame.
(1:35:09) Kaecillius: “You can’t fight the inevitable.”
Well, as it turns out, members of the Avengers have fought the inevitable and defeated all three of them. (Granted one of them got away with their plan before being defeated).
(1:37:18) Strange (2nd time) “Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain.”
I wonder how many times Doctor Strange went through this. Also, given that this takes place in 2016 and Infinity War is 2019, I wonder if Strange essentially used this as a training ground for combat, since he fights about half of them. Strange has a pattern of re-living scenarios many many times before finishing whatever conflict he is involved in.
(1:43:33) Wong to Strange: “Best not to walk the streets with an Infinity Stone.”
Sure, we all knew it, but we have to note this. Wong confirms this, leaving the last stone set in motion except the soul stone. The Tesseract (Space Stone), Power Stone, Aether (Reality Stone), and Mind Stone have all been revealed so far, so this is the final piece of the puzzle revealed beforehand. What’s interesting about this too is that we see our heroes use all of the Infinity Stones before Thanos. Captain Marvel (plane explosion and transfusion) and Cap (trapping Red Skull) both interact with the Tesseract. The Guardians (stopping Ronan on Xandar) do the Power Stone. Thor does with the Aether (really Jane does, but Thor interacts with her possessed by the Aether). And Vision wields the mind stone for several years. Come to think of it, the only heavy hitter that doesn’t interact with them at all before the events of Infinity War is Tony, who eventually wields them all at once.