Avengers: Endgame‘s climactic battle against Thanos and his army of extraterrestrial goons boasted many a standout moment. First off, the crackling of Falcon’s voice through Cap’s radio; shortly thereafter the long-awaited assemblage of Marvel’s magnificent collection of superheroes proper. Of course, we can’t forget Pepper and Tony fighting side by side, nor Steve Rogers proving himself worthy of wielding Thor’s hammer Mjolnir. But the below video is devoted to another memorable, much-talked-about instance from the battlefields of Upstate New York: the banding together of Marvel’s women superheroes.
Okoye, of course, incites the sequence, played in her cherished stone-faced fashion by Black Panther breakout star Danai Gurira. She reassures a nervous Peter Parker that Captain Marvel’s “got help” to get her through the hordes of attacking aliens. As she delivers the line, the heroes so often given the second fiddle by Marvel Studios and Disney line-up get to showcase their readiness for the feats ahead. Present and accounted for: Scarlet Witch, Valkyrie, Pepper Potts, Mantis, Shuri, the Wasp, Gamora, and Nebula. (Black Widow, unfortunately, had already given her life to save all of humanity—and her pal Clint—at this point.)
Audience response to the scene ranged from utter delight to skepticism. Some fans felt the scene pandered; the studio didn’t earn it after a decade of the movies misusing their women heroes. Still, the energy of the cast on set in the above video sure seemed enthusiastic. Stars Letitia Wright, who plays Wakandan wunderkind Shuri, and Evangeline Lilly, who plays the quantum realm-hopping Hope van Dyne, noted that this marked the first ever meeting for some of these characters and actors. Nevertheless, the spirit of heroism bound the warriors together. It’ll go down in as one of the Avengers’ most impressively coordinated missions. A banner moment in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s a winner.
Images: Marvel Entertainment
