Category Archives: Marvel Movies
Beyond the Billions: Who Really Deserves the Box-Office Crown (Part 1)
An evidence-based comparison of Avatar 1 and Avengers: Endgame
The Avengers: Endgame rerelease is still underway. Having watched the original film three times already, I decided to see it once more. With the release of Avengers: Doomsday on the horizon, I wanted to revisit the story and see whether I could connect a few more dots in the ever-expanding Marvel multiverse. Besides, there was the promise of something in the post-credits scene that I was particularly eager to see.
The rerelease certainly seems well-timed to rekindle excitement for Doomsday. But let’s be honest—could a rather petty subplot also be unfolding behind the scenes? Perhaps another battle is being fought, one that has nothing to do with superheroes saving the universe: the race to reclaim the No. 1 spot at the all-time worldwide box office. And should Endgame close the gap on James Cameron’s original Avatar, the Marvel–Disney machine might just pull off another spectacular comeback.
Would James Cameron eventually retaliate by rereleasing the original Avatar, perhaps under the convenient pretext of promoting the franchise’s fourth installment, while quietly plotting to wrest the crown back from the Avengers? Well, that remains to be seen. As they say, the plot thickens! And with Spider-Man web-swinging toward the top of the leaderboard, the plot might thicken even more.
Now, if I were to decide the winner purely on sentimental grounds, the verdict would be easy. As a big fan of Iron Man—and being a “Tony” myself, just like Tony Stark—I would gladly hand the crown to Avengers: Endgame without a second thought. But the researcher in me refuses to let personal attachment dictate the outcome. He insists that I set aside my superhero loyalties, put sentiment on the sidelines, and examine the evidence through a set of reasonably objective and measurable criteria. After all, if I am going to crown a champion, I had better make sure that my judgment is guided by more than my admiration for the man inside that red-and-gold suit.
Sorry, Tony Stark. This time, even your genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist credentials won’t earn you extra points.
But jokes aside, who truly deserves the cinematic crown if we look beyond the staggering mountains of cash these movies have accumulated? To answer that question, I developed a multidimensional framework to evaluate these box-office titans on a more level playing field. After all, the final box-office gross is not the be-all and end-all of cinematic success. There is much more to the story than the billions printed on the scoreboard.
So, let the cinematic showdown begin.
PART TWO
The Thanos Effect
It was surprising that nobody moved from their seats when the movie AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR ended. I wasn’t sure if they just wanted to see the post-credits scene which Marvel has been using as teasers or they could not believe how easily Thanos defeated the team of Avengers that stood on his way and turned many of them into dust after merely snapping his fingers.
I’m used to seeing a few people beginning to move to the exits of the movie theatre when the post-credits start rolling. But that time it was different. It was like Thanos applied his reality-bending power on us and welded our a – – es where we were seated.
Nobody stood. Like me, they were glued on their seats perhaps with jaws dropped and eyes wide open not believing what just happened. They probably didn’t expect it to end the way it did. Spoilers have already warned the movie goers (who do not mind reading them) that Avengers would die trying to prevent Thanos from getting all the infinity stones. However, they and I never thought it would be that many.
It seemed that just like me, the moviegoers stayed for they were hoping that instead of a teaser what Marvel designed for the post-credit scene is to have everything Thanos did getting undone. Perhaps the gods and goddesses (creators) of the Marvel “movieverse” could have possibly used it as an opportunity to introduce time-travelling LORD IMMORTUS who would have moved back everything to the time that Thor attacked Thanos, tell Thor in the process to change his aim and make him target, not the titan’s chest but his arm with the gauntlet so he would not be able to put his thumb on his middle finger and do that infamous finger snap.
The post-credit scene which Marvel cruelly put at the very end was not something I hoped for though. There was no LORD IMMORTUS, not even one of the TIME-KEEPERS who may have possibly not approved of Thanos’ intentions. What we saw instead was a confirmation that Gamora’s stepfather succeeded in “murdering half of all life in the universe.”
At least those among us in the theatre that time who previously read spoilers had the idea that certain Avengers would die. But the spoiler-phobic movie fans there who may have intentionally shut themselves off any information about the movie, and might perhaps avoided watching the trailers (which I sometimes do), were gravely disappointed for perhaps they were expecting an ending similar to the first two installments of the Avengers’ series where all of their favorite characters survived (except for Quicksilver in THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON) and emerged victorious.
It was possible that not a single one of us in the theatre was heartbroken when Loki died. Moviegoers dislike him anyway. That’s the unfortunate role of bad dudes like him in stories – to be hated. None probably minded when after killing the Trickster Thanos said, “There would be no resurrection this time.” But I was thinking if everyone of us went back to that line and started wondering if that applies to all of the super, mighty and seemingly invincible Avengers who disappeared in thin air after Thanos made that murderous snap of his fingers.
The Winter Soldier was the first to flake into nothing. I, possibly the other moviegoers also, waited with bated breath who would go next after him.
Then one by one the other Avengers disintegrated – the Black Panther, the Scarlet Witch, and the Falcon. Those whom Thanos defeated in Titan were not spared. Dr. Strange, the Guardians – Star-Lord, Groot, Drax and Mantis were also reduced to dust.
Also killed by Thanos, aside from Loki, were Gamora, Heimdall, and the Vision.
The silence that engulfed the movie theatre after the post-credit scene reminds me of a funeral.
I am not sure If anyone of us cried. I didn’t. I was just a little bit moved when Peter Parker sobbed unabashedly clinging to dear life when it became obvious to him that he was randomly chosen in Thanos’ selective slaughter.
But the post-credit scene offered a glimmer of hope. Before Nick Fury disappeared, he successfully sent what appeared to be a distress signal to Captain Marvel paving the way for “AVENGERS 4.”
Of course, some of the Avengers, if not all, will be resurrected in the next Avengers movie. As to who among them will be brought back to life is anybody’s guess.
