From Texas Standard:
After 11 years and 21 movies, the epic conclusion to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, hit theaters Thursday, and it sent shockwaves through the internet.
Evan Narcisse, a writer for io9 and a comic book author himself, says "Avengers: Endgame" is an unprecedented moment in cinema.
“This is the first time a film franchise has been explicit about being an interlinked, continuous story,” Narcisse says. “And now we’re getting to see the climax of that story.”
"Endgame" completes the 22-movie “Infinity Saga,” which kicked off with Jon Favreau’s "Iron Man" in 2008. Future MCU films will include some of the same characters, but the studio has said "Endgame" is the end of this phase of storytelling.
Narcisse says in addition to making billions at the box office, these movies have proven a point.
“Superhero comic books were dismissed as juvenalia and junk culture for so long,” Narcisse says. “Seeing the best of these movies transcend that kind of stigma has been really rewarding to the audiences.”
Although he encourages fans and newcomers alike to see "Endgame" in theaters, Narcisse also advocates smaller-budget superhero films such as "Fast Color," an indie film telling the story of three generations of black women with superhuman abilities.
“Superheroes are just big metaphors,” Narcisse says. “They can stand in for these ideas about our responsibilities to ourselves and others, and what you do with power and what you do without power.”
Narcisse says he doesn’t see the superhero craze slowing down anytime soon.
“If you treat the source material with respect and you interrogate it and try and ground it in real human emotional and psychological dynamics, it will pay off,” Narcisse says.
Written by Sol Chase.
