Avengers: Endgame

This epic-length super-hero team-up concludes more than a decade of 22 intertwined Marvel movies featuring Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk, and Thor, among others. Endgame begins right after the conclusion of Infinity War, in which evil Thanos (Josh Brolin), who possesses the Infinity Stones, snaps his fingers and vaporizes half the world’s population, including Spider-Man, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and Star-Lord. The remaining Avengers include Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), who are all suffering from survivor’s guilt. After soul-searching grief and the blame-game—along with a time-shifting narrative involving Thanos’s daughter Nebula (Karen Gillian)—Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) surface, and the cathartic action begins in earnest. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo deftly juggle the complex storylines and surprise cameos in this long, nostalgic goodbye that has no sly post-credit teasers. Highly recommended. [Note: Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by directors Anthony and Joe Russo and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, an intro by the Russos (3 min.), and the production featurettes “A Man Out of Time: Creating Captain America” (12 min.), “Remembering Stan Lee” (7 min.), “Black Widow: Whatever it Takes” (7 min.), “Setting the Tone: Casting Robert Downey Jr.” (5 min.), “The Russo Brothers: Journey to Endgame” (5 min.), and “The Women of the MCU” (5 min.), as well as deleted scenes (5 min.), a “Bro Thor” segment (4 min.), a gag reel (2 min.), and a bonus digital copy of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a fine conclusion to the long-running series.] (S. Granger)