The Marvel Cinematic Universe has many beloved movies, and one of the most acclaimed is Avengers: Endgame, with many considering it one of the best MCU films ever. It served as a rather satisfying ending for the MCU's Infinity Saga, which the studio had built for a decade. However, not everyone agreed with the praise it got, with some diehard MCU fans even having massive problems with it.
These fans found a lot of elements about the movie annoying and some of their grievances are pretty valid. It may have been one of the highest-grossing movies of all time but that doesn't make it perfect and immune to valid criticism.
10 It Nerfed Thanos & Then Made Him Amazingly Powerful Again
Thanos is easily one of the MCU's greatest villains but one wouldn't know that from the beginning of Endgame. He basically allowed the Avengers to kill him and they did it very easily, almost ridiculously so considering how powerful he was without the Gauntlet. Even taking injuries into consideration, the movie nerfed him heavily.
However, later in the movie, when the past version of him attacks, he's back to being amazingly powerful again considering that he doesn't have the Infinity Gauntlet. If he's powerful enough to take that kind of abuse from the Avengers, how did they kill him so easily, even with him letting them?
9 Professor Hulk Just Sort Of Happened & It Felt Like A Non Sequitur
Professor Hulk was a change to the Hulk that comic fans were used to and one that the MCU had seemingly been slowly building towards. However, after the Hulk refused to show up in Infinity War, it seemed weird that the next time fans saw Banner he was not only the Hulk, but a Hulk completely in control. The worst part is it all happened off screen with little to no explanation.
For such a massive change to happen with such a scant and frankly lame explanation is very unlike the MCU and was a letdown for a lot of fans. It felt like it didn't follow at all.
8 Hulk Was Pretty Much Just There To Snap & That's It
Speaking of the Hulk, not all fans were very happy about his extremely meme-able portrayal in the movie. It was a very different approach to the character and while it fit with his new personality, it felt like beyond the humor, the science, and the Snapping, he had nothing else to do.
Many fans would have liked to see him get a re-match against Thanos or something similar, a bit of redemption for the last movie's beating. Instead, he was just comic relief with the power to snap his fingers, which didn't make his fans happy.
7 Iron Man Just Giving Up In The Five-Year Gap Seems Like Plot Convenient Character Regression
One of the hallmarks of Iron Man's character leading into Infinity War was his unerring sense of responsibility that stemmed from his Chitauri attack-induced PTSD. He was all about more efficiently protecting the Earth and while he failed at that in a massive way, it would make sense for him to throw himself into his work with even more zeal.
Instead, Endgame has him completely quit and leave it to the remaining heroes, all so he can get a family that will make his eventual death in the movie even sadder. It all feels a little plot convenient, so he can turn down Cap and Natasha, then come in and save the day, polishing his heroic résumé a bit more before killing him off.
6 Killing Black Widow Off Did Nothing But Anger Fans
Black Widow never got to shine on her own, always appearing either in team movies or as a sidekick to the main character of a solo film. However, she was a beloved character that fans were hoping would get her own movie. While she is getting her own movie, it's posthumous and her death angered fans immensely.
Killing off Black Widow in Endgame felt like the worst possible thing that could have been done in the movie and the fact that she sacrificed herself so Hawkeye didn't have to—because he had a family—was actually validating her feelings that she wasn't important because she couldn't have a family, as revealed in Age of Ultron. It was just a bad thing to do that sent a terrible message.
5 Captain America's Retirement Was Completely Out Of Character & Another Example Of Plot Convenience
Captain America's retirement at the end of Endgame wasn't exactly a huge surprise—Chris Evans's contract was up—but from an in-universe stance it made exactly no sense. Captain America giving up, especially after an event like the Snap and the battle against past Thanos makes no sense and there were plenty of better ways to let him bow out of the movies.
In fact, even if for some reason he wanted to go hangout with Peggy for a while, he could have just done it by keeping the Time Stone, live with her until she died, then just de-age himself, drop it off with the Ancient One, and come back to the present. It just felt like a way for the filmmakers to close the door on Cap but it didn't make sense for his character.
4 How Exactly Did Iron Man Get The Infinity Gauntlet?
So, in order to end Thanos's threat, Iron Man had to get his hands on the Gauntlet, which he did. Now, that's taking into consideration that Thanos had just been taking massive damage without fliching and smacking around a god, yet somehow Iron Man was able to survive long enough against Thanos with his broken helmet.
Put all of that aside and just ask the question: where did he get the Gauntlet? Did he program it to come to him? How did he get it from Thanos? It was a cool scene but it didn't exactly scan.
3 Captain Marvel Didn't Live Up To The Hype
Captain Marvel was hyped to the moon for Avengers: Endgame. She was supposed to be the difference maker, the one who was going to prove that she was the most powerful hero in the MCU. She did some impressive stuff but she just didn't live up to the hype. Honestly, it wasn't even close.
If Marvel Studios was trying to position her as the next massive franchise hero, it was hard to tell. Beyond destroying Thanos's ship—which Thor or Scarlet Witch could have done, for instance—and flying the Gauntlet away from the Mad Titan, it's hard to argue that she was as essential to the movie's final battle as she was hyped to be.
2 The Time Travel Rules Are Among The Worst In Cinema
Time travel was a big part of Endgame and it wasn't exactly a good part of the movie. To begin with, the whole thing was contrived so it couldn't be used as a cure—that they couldn't just get the Stones and bring them to the present, which would have prevented Thanos from getting them. Instead, they went another route, where it wouldn't affect the main timeline at all.
The whole thing just felt weird. If the movie was going to include time travel at all, making the rules of it so obtuse seemed like a way to both nerf it and to set up Captain America's ending. So, it made sense from a writing perspective but that doesn't mean it was any good.
1 The Entire Time Travel Plot Was Just Annoying In General
The other problem with the time travel was that it just wasn't needed. Was Thanos getting killed at the beginning of the movie shocking? Sure. That doesn't mean it was a good idea. In fact, killing Thanos off in the beginning of the movie and then making a past version of him the movie's big bad just feels weird.
On top of that, it just felt like it was there to pad the run time and create cheap emotional moments meant to masquerade as character development for characters that were getting killed anyway.
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