Film

All The ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Moments That Ruined Our Lives

Try not to cry. Cry a lot.

by Jenna Guillaume  8 May 2019
Avengers: Endgame sad deaths

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Avengers: Endgame was always going to be an emotional viewing experience for Marvel fans.

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As the title suggests, it’s quite literally the endgame for several characters we know and love, not to mention over a decade’s worth of storytelling.

Coming off the back of the devastation of Avengers: Infinity War just made the prospect of it even more harrowing.

And while Avengers: Endgame is full of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s trademark humour, and it goes some ways towards healing the wounds of Infinity War, it also more than delivered on those touching moments.

I, for one, cried multiple times while watching it…

Let us list all the saddest moments:

Clint’s Family Gets Snapped

The movie opens with Clint enjoying some family time.

He has his house arrest ankle bracelet on, so we immediately know this is pre-snap — and what a horrifying feeling that is. Made worse when we see those dust particles and realise his WHOLE FAMILY has vanished into thin air around him.

Cue the trauma flashbacks from Infinity War. I’m not even a huge fan of Clint, and this moment got me.

The phone call from his wife after everyone is brought back also made me tear up.

Scott Lang Finds Cassie

Scott Lang is frequently the comic relief in the MCU, but it was a gut-punch when he returned from the Quantum Realm only to realise he’d been gone for five years — and half the world had disappeared in the meantime.

His search for his daughter is brief but harrowing, and when he finds Cassie it’s incredibly bittersweet. She’s alive — but he’s missed out on half a decade of her life.

Black Widow’s Sacrifice

I have a lot of issues with the way Black Widow died. I still mourned her death, though.

When Clint arrives back from time travelling and the others realise Nat is not with him, it’s a heartbreaking moment. Thor’s denial is perhaps the most potent aspect of the grief scene that follows.

Thor’s Moment Of Closure

Thor’s incredibly fatphobic plot is another aspect of Avengers: Endgame I had many problems with.

Still, the scene where he sees his mother back on Asgard and realises he’s arrived back in time on the very day she dies is moving. The fact that he gets a chance to talk to her is beautiful. It’s a shame it’s undercut by terrible jokes, as it would have been even more powerful.

“On Your Left”

We barely have time to process the fact that the Un-Snappening worked before Thanos pounds Avengers HQ into the ground, and we’re thrown into a tense sequence in which the team are forced to fight their way out of the rubble — and face Thanos.

It’s easy to forget amidst the chaos that there should be a lot more characters coming back. So Sam’s “on your left” — calling back to how he first met Steve — comes through at a crucial moment. Especially when it’s followed up with basically the entire cinematic universe of heroes arriving at the battle scene. It feels so good to see all those faces again, alive and thriving and not remotely dusty.

Peter Goddamn Parker

Peter gets his own special mention because the moment he swung back to Earth I sobbed extra hard.

His death scene was the most brutal in Infinity War, and haunted me as much as it clearly haunted Tony Stark. “I lost the kid” is one of the saddest lines in all of Endgame, and I can’t even talk about the part where Tony looks at the photo of him and Peter before deciding to give this time travel thing a go.

Of course, it just makes it hurt all the more when Tony dies (more on that in a moment) and Peter is right there, echoing the way Peter “died” in Tony’s arms in Infinity War. Honestly, I never thought I’d care about a Spider-Man so much again, but Tom Holland’s Peter sure does get under your skin.

“Avenger’s Assemble!”

Cap finally SAYING THE LINE was a small moment and kind of unnecessary because, uh, the Avengers had already assembled, but after waiting for it to happen for nearly 10 years it was hard not to be moved by it.

I screamed, I laughed and I cried all at once.

Tony And Cap Sorting Their Shit Out

The feud between Tony and Cap has been one of the most heart-wrenching plots in the MCU, with huge ramifications — not least of which being their loss against Thanos.

When Tony lands back on Earth after being stranded in space and is greeted by Cap, you can see there’s still love between them. But then Tony has a bit of a meltdown and blames Cap all over again, and the rift between them seems wider than ever.

Which means it’s even more of a relief when they finally set aside their differences and reconcile in time to save the world together one last time.  

Tony Stark’s Whole Damn Plot

We all knew there was a high chance Tony was not going to survive Endgame. That doesn’t make it any easier to watch him die.

Even leading up to that moment, his whole journey is an emotional rollercoaster. I’ve already touched on his scenes with Peter, but there’s also his daughter Morgan and their “I love you 3000”. There’s also his time with Pepper, his connection with Rhodey — and most of all, the closure he gets with his father.

To top it all off, there’s Tony’s funeral scene in which basically the entire MCU turns up to send him off — including the little boy he bonded with in Iron Man 3. The whole movie is one long and beautiful goodbye to Tony Stark, and he deserves nothing less.

Cap And Peggy Finally Getting That Dance

Tony isn’t the only MCU hero who gets closure in Endgame.

After years of mourning Peggy and yearning for what they lost, Cap gets a glimpse of her when he travels back to the ‘70s. I honestly thought that would be the only moment with her he would get, and that already made me tear up.

Then, of course, we learn at the end that after returning the Infinity Stones to their original times and places, Cap travels back to the past to finally get his dance with Peggy — and to live the life with her that he always wanted.

If you heard someone crying loud, guttural sobs at this point in the movie — it was definitely me.

Jenna Guillaume is a Sydney-based writer who loves all things TV and pop culture. She tweets @JennaGuillaume, and her new book, ‘What I Like About Me’ is available now.