Avengers: Endgame has broken a fuckton of box office records and frankly everyone is ranting and raving about how awesome it is. Mostly because Avengers: Endgame was awesome but also because it was super hyped up and it did actually meet a lot of people’s expectations, and it also closes off a chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has spanned over 10 years.

But for me, something feels off. As much as I enjoyed Endgame, I found that I enjoyed Infinity War much, much more.

Before I continue though, I want to warn you that there will potentially be spoilers ahead. If you haven’t watched Avengers: Endgame yet, turn away now.

LAST CHANCE. POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW.

Avengers: Endgame was a good movie. I can’t deny that. But there are two things that… bother me.

The first thing is the plot. Come on, no matter how you look at it, Endgame was FILLED with plot holes. That just happens when you mess around with time. Sure, there were attempts to explain how the whole universe hasn’t collapsed in on itself, trapping everyone inside a massive, ceaseless paradox, but none of them were really good enough. It doesn’t matter that you went and put the Infinity Stones back where they came from, the Avengers AND Thanos and his armies altered so much that there’s no guarantee that anything would work.

I mean, there was a whole massive theme in Doctor Strange about how time was dangerous, and we all just kinda ignored what we learned.

Infinity War in comparison, sure it had some plot issues (like seriously, we only HEAR about Xandar being destroyed and the stone taken!) but it is a much tidier package, split into basically three parts that mostly come together at the end for that horrific conclusion.

The second thing is a little harder to explain. I saw both Endgame and Infinity War in the cinema. Endgame was way more busy than Infinity War was, but both were pretty packed theaters filled with a wide range of people young and old, including Marvel newbies and Marvel nerds. The atmosphere was great in Endgame, people were cheering along at all the cool bits. The atmosphere in Infinity War though… It was harsher. Less certain.

You see, we all knew that Endgame would probably turn out for the best. No matter what happened, there was like a 99% guarantee that the good guys would win in the end. Infinity War was never as certain. Okay, sure, a nerd like me, who has read Infinity War in the past, knows what’s going to happen in some way. Not everyone did, and that’s a special kind of moment that you can’t really repeat.

Even if Endgame’s plot was a mess, we all knew that everyone would come back and there’d be a massive battle and the good guys would win, probably with some sad losses along the way. Really, now that I think about it, my enjoyment of the bitter end of Infinity War clouded my enjoyment of Endgame.

There’s just no real way you can beat murdering half an entire universe…