Well, consider when the first Iron Man came out. I would’ve been… I dunno, 18 I think? I thought it was a really cool movie, but it wasn’t like I was “signing up” for anything. I liked the idea of superhero movies.

Then they start making their little references between them. That’s cool, I’d seen some of the cartoons do crossover episodes before. The Avengers came in, and it started to feel like “not only is this a fun movie, but it feels like it’s starting to build to something bigger…”

All these movies — 22 in all, I think? — come and go, some better than others, but it feels like an actual investment at a certain point. And I’ve been “investing” in these movies longer than any job I’ve ever had.

So imagine you spend 10+ years with a company, and they decide to hold a special dinner for the company to show their appreciation.

Now, if they just make it a regular lunch outing, or maybe they just order some pizza for the office, that would feel kind of lame or kind of a let down, right? Or they give you some “award” they clearly just picked up at Walmart.

Now compare that to your company reserving dinner at some super fancy place. They’ve even invited old coworkers that left that you got along with. There’s a toast in your honor, and maybe instead of just an award, they give you something sort of sentiment — maybe your original cover letter has been framed?

The latter dinner is about you, and pays homage to your investment in the company.

That’s how Endgame felt for me. Like, this isn’t just “another big-budget movie”. And hey, I LOVED Infinity War! But Infinity War was “for everybody”.

Endgame wasn’t.

Endgame was for me.

I even said when I walked out of the movie, I actually don’t know that someone who wasn’t a huge MCU fan would actually enjoy the movie. But for me, it felt like something truly special. It wasn’t focused on appeasing all the newcomers that had never watched a Marvel movie before; it was about paying homage to a series of movies that I’ve been watching since I was legally an adult. As all these different callbacks and references happen, you can’t help but get a flash of memory, where you were (as a person) when you saw what was being referenced.

Like I said, I can’t imagine this movie holding any weight for people who didn’t keep up with the MCU. But this isn’t a movie for those people; it’s for the people who’ve kept up with them all these years. And for people trying to judge it as a “stand alone film”, I think it’s a huge disservice because it was never trying to be that. That would be like trying to judge a book on it’s final chapter, robbing you of all context and meaning behind the events that unfold.