31 Day Disney Challenge

Day 31

Your favorite ending

Well, like all good things, this had to come to an end. Before I write, I want to thank you. This is a time of high stress and intensity in the world, and this has been so much fun to do, even when I stress about finishing on time. Thank you everyone for reading. And a very special thank you to yunofangirl. You have no idea how much you really mean to me, Kait. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to join you in this.

Now then, before I get really sentimental and all that, let's talk endings. Favorite endings specifically. Favorite Disney endings specifically...er. This criteria is strict. It has to wrap up every plot line, end the story in a satisfying way and leave the viewer complete and having gained from watching. With that said, my choice is a bit unconventional, even though it's still technically Disney. My favorite ending is the end of Avengers: Endgame. Obvious spoilers below, but I'll also mention that my favorite traditional Disney endings are from Tangled and Monsters Inc for those exact reasons (the epilogue of Monsters Inc always makes my heart sing).

Alright! Now then.

SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: ENDGAME BELOW THE CUT!

Wow...what a perfect ending of the MCU. Stark manor is completely destroyed, Thanos has the upper hand, and all Hope seems lost. Tony tries desperately to stop Thanos from snapping away all of humanity, instead of just half. He is unsuccessful. Thanos throws Tony aside like he did with Steve and Thor and calls back to the start of Endgame.

"I am...inevitable"

Thanos snaps his fingers...

But nothing happens. Shocked, Thanos looks at the gauntlet to find the infinity stones missing. The camera snaps back around to find Tony, placing the stones in a makeshift Iron Infinity gauntlet. Power courses through his veins. Tony knows fully well that the power of the snap will kill him. Yet, it'll all be worth it for this last gambit. The line Tony declares is absolutely perfect, calling back to the very beginning.

"And I...am...Iron Man"

Tony snaps, and Thanos' army is reduced to ash. Tony gazes over the aftermath, and leans against some wreckage, dying. Spider-Man swoops in with Pepper Potts, completely heartbroken. Peter hugs Tony goodbye, and Pepper leans in.

"It's okay. You can rest now."

The entire MCU, since the first Avengers movie, was proving that Tony Stark could never rest. Now that everything is done, now that the world- no, the UNIVERSE- is safe, he may rest for the final time.

The shot cuts to sometime in the future. It's Tony's funeral. Everyone whose life he personally affected is there: The Avengers, agents of SHIELD, his family, even the kid from Iron Man 3. The camera pans to Happy, and Tony's young daughter Morgan. Morgan wants cheeseburgers, and Happy comments that Tony loves cheeseburgers, a reference to the food that saved Robert Downey Jr.'s life. Pepper pushes an assortment of plants onto the water, and with it, Tony's first arc reactor. It reads:

"Proof that Tony Stark has a heart"

The rest of the scene is mostly epilogue things, along with one last goodbye to Tony, but wow. Seeing it all happen, growing up with this saga of movies, watching it all come to an end...I wept. It was Tony's arc since 2012 finally coming to an end. Endgame wasn't the full end of the MCU, and I did watch Spider-Man: Far From Home (how could I not) but as far as I'm concerned, the MCU is done.

Everyone got a happy ending. Thor gets to roam the stars with the Guardians, everyone on Earth is fulfilling their own stories, and Steve finally got to live out his life with Peggy. It's a wonderful shot to end on: the (at the time) young couple dancing to a song on their gramophone. This ending is perfect.

With all of that said, I would like to thank you all for joining me on this month-long journey of Disney goodness. May we meet again!