I'll wager it's already safe and pitchforks and torches are secured and stashed...
ADDRESSING THE HULK ISSUE
IMO they wanted to do the Hulk justice, but with the screen time they had it just wasn't feasible to cram it in, so we got Prof Hulk kinda threw in as a homage to the comic fans without much of an explanation and without much of a payoff.
Was i sort of disappointed we didn't get any of the strongest versions of the hulk, like Worldbreaker hinted at Thor: Ragnarok or even just regular Planet Hulk green meanie in shining anachronic late roman-era armor? Hell yeah, i got to see a few minutes of that in Ragnarok and it's like heroin and i crave just a little bit more.
BUT... Hulk isn't the only character in the MCU, and sadly, for many different reasons, we only got one solo Hulk movie... Which is poppycocks.
I really wish they'd gone the Deathly Hallows route and just split the movie into two so we got to see all of the amazing plans the Russo's had for every character. One movie where it's just post-snap leading up to the ending where they kill Thanos just to find he'd destroyed all the infinity stones and a post-credit where it's hinted at that time travel might be the way forward, and the second movie where it's the internal conflict of Iron Man and the time travel plot with the preparation of Earth's heroes for the time heist, with some character building missing for some of the background characters, and finally it all culminating into the actual Endgame.
That's the problem with having a cast so large and so diverse as Marvel's with so many beloved characters being pretty much MC's, and a screen time that's limited because Silver Screen. Suicide Squad suffered from trying to give everyone roughly equal screen time and not having enough time left for a cohesive plot, and the Russo's solved that by distilling it all down into the essentials and, of course, you can't please both greeks and trojan's, and of course some people are left disappointed.
What baffles me is that Marvel could've addressed this by making more one-shots like the Ben Kingsley one to help build hype and also have some character development that they knew they didn't have enough time to include into the main movie.
Hell, they could've even gone the Animatrix route and have some animated tie-ins. But they didn't, and i suspect that this is due to how contracts were worded and how scenes filmed were/weren't allowed to be used and, well, a studio's resources can only be stretched so thin, and with billions of dollars in shareholder's money at stakes and a very feasible shot at breaking records at box office...
Well, let's just say that money talks a lot in these situations, and that we still have that weird 5 year timejump where they can do all of the things i've said in many different platforms after all the legalese is worked out, so being conservative and just snipping everything not crucial to having Endgame have a cohesive enough plot and a satisfying enough build-up and conclusion is a much safer bet than risking treading new ground with a multi-movie payoff with tie-ins (that not everybody in the fan-base will have access to/be willing to go watch).
So they shipped a product they knew would work, and it worked beautifully, and they still have plenty of ways to milk the fan's expectations regarding the performance of underused/underdeveloped cast members.
As long as we're being vocal about wanting X and Y, Marvel will surely be more than happy to provide it provide it makes Disney money. Because of course, that's all that matters in Hollywood, after all. Expecting a "Director's Cut" Endgame like we got with Peter Jackson's LOTR sometime in the future, plus many assorted material that neatly wraps up any inconsistencies and fan outcry. We'll gladly gobble it all up, and it will be almost assuredly glorious.
Actually, now that i think about it, i'd be willing to bet money that splitting Endgame and realizing more movies in-between parts was very seriously discussed and considered before filming stopped, and the reason we didn't have that is scheduling and money related. In an ideal world, that's what would've happened, but, alas, we have to be happy we got something as good as we did get, and really...
Actually celebrate that, finally, after decades upon decades of flops and bad superhero movies, we finally got something that truly made even those that mocked comics as "childish" recognize it as a force to be reckoned it and as valid as storytelling as any other.
So yeah, we didn't get Peak Hulk, but now that he's more or less crippled... We have a lot of room for Making Hulk Great Again.
ADDRESSING THE PORTRAYAL OF THOR
Really liked it, but realize why some people hated it. Without flashbacks and build-up, it felt shoehorned in, but i didn't feel that it was really that out of place. Thor's an alien superhero. The other heroes know him when they team up and face threats, but they really don't know Thor in a personal level. Out of any character, he's the one that's lost the most, and the one that has the biggest reason to just sulk and be miserable. He's actually earned the right to get depressed and power-down and just... not give a fuck anymore, because giving a fuck would mean facing up to his many, many failures and shortcomings leading up to him not landing the final blow after so much work getting the power to rival the Mad Titan.
He lost his mother. He lost his girlfriend. He lost his father. His brother's a dick and even then he likes him but then he's lost too. He has to cause Ragnarok to make sure something even worse doesn't happen and he never got validation for any of the things he did. He just failed, over and over. No payoff, no pats on the back. Just life fucking him, over, and over, and over again. He's the goddamn god of thunder but lost his signature weapon. He gets a shiny new weapon, and where it counted he didn't pull through.
No one, anywhere, likes the dude. The dude is as lonely as lonely can be, and, considering all the shit that happened to him, it's kind of really mild that all he did was sulk and drink himself to oblivion and play videogames with other outcasts and shut-ins.
It's a very Thor-like response and really highlights how childish and unprepared he is compared to his father, and even his Brother, who could pass for Odin so well he fooled a whole race into thinking he was the actual Odin. He doesn't think himself worth it anymore and would rather someone else shoulder all responsibility.
It's perfect. We had nearly a decade of people saying he's a teenager, and he goes ahead and behaves just like one. It's proper character development, even if it's backwards character development.
Like with the Hulk, i say this makes room for a lot of growth with the character. De-powering characters is often a prelude for they overcoming their shortcomings and becoming stronger, and it's a staple of fantasy.
Was it kinda shoehorned in and everyone wasn't expecting it at all? Yes, and that makes it powerful. Out of the entire ensemble, he's the only God, and as he stood the tallest, he also fell the farthest. Thought it brilliant. No complaints here.
ADDRESSING THE DEATH OF TONY STARK AND RETIREMENT OF CAPTAIN AMERICA
RDJ had to go. Really, he did. He represents the first part of the grander MCU project and a fitting finale is him stepping down. Captain America, same deal. They became too important, too DMPC-like to be allowed to exist going forward. We need to focus on new additions, on the X-Men, on the Fantastic Four, on the B-Crew and aftermath of multiple timelines existing.
On the same note, Black Widow represents old-shield, as does Fury, and they were always puppeteers and string-pullers and they gradually were pulled down from their roles as figureheads to background characters. They can't do shit when things hit the fan, and they know it. They had to make themselves useful. Fury had the presence of mind to signal Cap Marvel before dusting, and Black Widow took one for the team because she replaced Fury post-snap.
Perfect, no loose ends here.
CONCLUSION
We got a pretty good payoff, and although far from perfect, it was perfect for what it's intended purpose was: to smash the box office records, to hype up the new MCM multiverse-spanning arc in the making, and to neatly wrap up 22 movies worth of storytelling. It is unheard of, a massive undertaking and achievement, and to nitpick it to death is just being ungrateful for what essentially amounts to redeeming decades worth of shit superhero movies and mockery of comic book fans.
It felt satisfactory, if a little too blockbustery, but that was always what these movies were. A cool departure of our lame, powerless, magicless, limited reality, into something truly outrageous and fantastic.
Here's hoping i'm right about a director's cut like we got with LOTR, with not a few minutes but dozens of new footage, and tie-in material in the vein of Animatrix.
