NOTE: There are no specific details (spoilers) about the film or its ending in this blog post. But really, if you are planning on seeing the movie, see it before reading anything else about it.
- Avengers Endgame makes a boatload of money, surprising no one
The Avengers finale has been in release for 14 days as I write this, and it has so far made $660 million domestically, and more than $2.3 billion total global box office. That puts it at #5 on the all-time domestic box office list, but by the time you read this, Endgame may have passed Avengers Infinity War for the #4 spot. And ok, it’s no real surprise that Endgame will beat its predecessor – but remember, it took Infinity War 20 weeks to make $678 million. Endgame did almost that much in two… - How To Remain Spoiler Free for the World’s Biggest Movie for Two Weeks
As I have mentioned on several occasions, I love seeing big movies in big theaters. So of course I had to go see Avengers Endgame at the IMAX theater in Council Bluffs, where I often see the big releases. (There are several directors who are shooting their movies either exclusively or primarily in IMAX format, including the two most recent Avengers, along with Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk.)But given that the IMAX is about 180 miles from me, I would have to delay seeing the movie till I would drive past the theater on my way to visit my dad and attend my youngest’s grad school graduation. That meant I would have to remain spoiler free for nearly two weeks.
Short of going off social media, how was I going to do this?
My first step was to hide every post I saw about the movie on Facebook. This kept me from seeing any comments that could contain spoilers even if the original post was clean. While I can’t be sure, it seemed that that after I hid enough of these posts, Facebook got the idea and stopped trying to feature Marvel posts on my timeline. (The algorithms also probably wondered what had changed for me. Normally I would click like a trained rat on Marvel Cinematic Universe content.)
My second technique was put forward by a friend on Twitter who suggested I use Twitter’s mute function to hide any posts that included “Marvel,” “Endgame,” or “Avengers.” That didn’t keep everything at bay, but it certainly cut down on how much was showing up on my feed. (I hear that Facebook is testing a similar feature in some markets.)
Finally, I had to personally resist clicking on anything from the news sites about the movie. But I found it interesting that with those relatively simple procedures, I could maintain my Endgame innocence while still being active on social media.
- Spoiling the ending after you’ve seen it
If you have already seen Endgame at least once (and, yes, I’m planning to go back to see it again at my local cinema), you may have had questions about the ending. Unlike some movies where there is a solid explanation for ambiguous ending, Vox’s explainer of the Endgame ending will clear up a few issues for you, but quite frankly will end up heightening any logical frustration you had with it. To which I say – forget about it. It’s the end to a massive superhero movie series that couldn’t possibly all make logical sense. (Patrick O’Brien, in his legendary Aubrey and Maturin novels about a British ship’s captain and a doctor/spy during the Napoleonic war era, had to create several fictional years in order to fit in all the action of his 19-novel series. And he couldn’t use the Time Stone as a possible explanation of this issue.) Accept that this has been some masterful storytelling on a grand scale that forces us to set aside logic and simply enjoy the ride.