From Avengers Endgame to Doomsday, Marvels's farewell feels less final each time

2019 was the best of times and  it was the worst of times for Marvel fans. It was the age of glorious fan-service with Avengers Endgame and it was the age of bidding mournful goodbyes to Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man, Chris Evans’s Captain America who had shaped the Marvel legacy for over a decade.

 In Endgame, our exhausted heroes try to reverse the wrongs committed by Thanos from Infinity War, to complete the Infinity Saga. For context, the Infinity Stones are six powerful artifacts—Space, Mind, Reality, Power, Soul, and Time—each holding immense cosmic power. Thanos’ goal throughout the saga was to collect all six stones and place them in his Infinity Gauntlet, giving him the ability to wipe out half of all life in the universe with a single snap.

 However, for the first time, the ‘good’ side had actually lost. There had been a raw, gnawing grief at the end of Infinity War, because some of the deaths seemed absolute, especially Gamora, who was flung from a cliff by Thanos as part of the sacrifice needed for the Soul stone.

 Endgame was about bringing them all back, or rather only those who had been snapped away, through a complicated time heist. It was a journey to the past and through the older films, especially the much condemned Thor films, bringing fans the closure that they didn’t know that they needed.

And that  war scene: The Avengers against Thanos and his army. It was made for the whistles and hoots from fans, and it landed.  It felt bittersweet watch the final scenes of Endgame. It felt final. Captain America holds Thor’s Mjolnir, which was one of the most delightful twists of the film, Pepper Potts and Iron Man fight side-by-side, Wanda returns to wreak revenge against Thanos for destroying the love of her life, Vision. And, fans would distinctly remember the sobbing in theatres when Iron Man sacrifices himself for the sake of humanity. I love you 3000, was quoted everywhere.

The film ended with his funeral and Captain America returning to live his life with Peggy Carter, with another quiet time heist, something that fans pointed out could really upset the timelines, because it didn’t add up back then. But the devil is in the details, and if you have the option, ignore the devil, if you can.

 But for a moment, the signatures of the original Avengers in the final credits reminded audiences: final really felt final.

And so Marvel seemingly did for the next six years, there wasn’t much hope of either Evans or Robert Downey Jr returning to reprise their roles. They seemed to have hung up their suits for good, and the focus was on the newer heroes: Shang Chi, Moon Knight, while wrapping up the threads of Black Widow in her standalone film, and Wanda’s consuming grief in Wanda Vision, that was later undone by the chaos of Multiverse of Madness. The all-powerful witch was reduced to a mother looking for her children.

 And there was the promise of The Eternals, a brilliant concept but choppy execution as the complicated story of cosmic beings deserves 10 episodes and not just one film.

 Disappointment began creeping in as newer films, while visually impressive, often lacked the buzz of the original heroes’ finales. Thor: Love and Thunder featured Christian Bale’s praised performance, yet reception was lukewarm. Black Widow set up the Hawkeye series with Florence Pugh stepping in as the next Black Widow, pursuing Jeremy Renner’s arrow-slinging hero, who had been forced to make the painful choice of watching Natasha die in Endgame to obtain the Soul Stone.

 Loki offered more hope. Season 1 followed the variant Loki—captured after stealing the Tesseract in Endgame—as he was recruited by the Time Variance Authority (TVA), a mysterious organization that monitors timelines. He discovers his actions have created alternate realities, meets a variant of himself (Sylvie), and ultimately confronts “He Who Remains,” the TVA’s enigmatic creator, who warns of chaos if removed. The season ends with Loki trapped in a shattered TVA and a multiverse on the brink of collapse.

Season 2 continues the multiverse chaos, introducing new variants and deepening the exploration of identity, destiny, and free will, while connecting to larger MCU storylines.

Cameos, cash grabs, and Doomsday

Yet beyond these bright spots, much of the MCU felt unmoored. Cameos piled up in films like Multiverse of Madness, but often led nowhere. Peggy Carter appears briefly as a ‘female’ Captain America, only to be destroyed in seconds. Chris Evans returns in the cameo-heavy Deadpool vs Wolverine, delivering a monologue that impresses in the moment but fades quickly. Post-credits scenes—Harry Styles in Eternals, Charlize Theron in Multiverse of Madness—were intriguing, yet lacked follow-through.

Perhaps Doomsday will tie the threads together, but for now, as one disgruntled fan put it, it feels like a nostalgic cash grab. Robert Downey Jr. returns as Doctor Doom, while Chris Evans is back as Captain America. Rumors swirl about how these original Avengers will confront each other—a reunion shot designed to excite fans.

Suddenly, Endgame feels rewritten. The emotional farewells we once celebrated now seem almost superfluous. And what was the point of introducing characters like Moon Knight or Shang-Chi if they aren’t going to play a bigger role in Doomsday? Why revisit the same familiar faces instead of building on the new heroes meant to carry the MCU forward?

Marvel can keep bringing back familiar faces, teasing new multiverse chaos, and packing films with Easter eggs—but if the stories don’t give new heroes the spotlight, the saga risks becoming a nostalgia loop instead of a true next chapter.