Justice League: Endgame

Justice League: Endgame is a 2021 American superhero film, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, written by Ben Affleck, produced by DC Entertainment, New Line Cinema, distributed by Warner Bros Pictures, and stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Zachary Levi, Gal Gadot, Jeremy Renner, Stephen Amell, Ray Fisher, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Cara Delevingne, Danai Gurira, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Caity Lotz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jared Leto, Dwayne Johnson, Joe Manganiello and Ray Porter. The film was released on 29 October 2021.

Plot
The story start in Inverness, Clint Barton, who is still under house arrest, is training his daughter Lila in archery at his homestead as she scores a bullseye. Nearby, Laura Barton prepares a picnic while the couple's two sons play catch. Clint turns his back for a few seconds to retrieve an arrow and when he looks again, the entire family is gone, having disintegrated from the Decimation.

Three weeks after the Decimation, Bruce Wayne and Amy Pond are adrift in space on the Benatar, running out of supplies. The two have become unlikely friends, as Amy helps Wayne heal his wounds and they attempt to survive the trip back to Earth. Wayne records a message to Alfred Pennyworth in his helmet before falling asleep. Amy places him in the pilot's seat, and Wayne wakes up to see a shining light in front of him. From the light emerges Carol Danvers, who takes the ship back to the Justice League Headquarters on Earth. Wayne is reunited with Alfred and the remaining Justice League who survived including Diana Prince, Arthur Curry, Barry Allen and Victor Stone. Clark Kent tells Victor Stone that he lost Spider-Man upon seeing him. Rocket Raccoon sees Nebula alone and realizes that all his friends are also gone. The two sit together and hold hands in silent grief.

In the New Avengers Facility, Wayne asks Curry if he has any clues as to where Darkseid may be, to which Stark furiously snaps back at him for the unresolved issues that happened in their civil war, telling him that if they had stood together, instead of apart then they may have been able to defeat Darkseid. After this outburst, he faints, exhausted from his trip through space. Clark Kent is given a sedative that will put him out for a day.

Returning to the topic on trying to find Darkseid, Lex Luthor, Black Adam, Harley Quinn, and Joker, Danvers says she will reach out to her contacts on other planets. Nebula says there is no need because she knows where Darkseid is, referencing "The Garden" that Thanos had planned to retreat to after achieving his goal. Based on her information, Rocket pulls up a 3-D diagram of its location and states that when Darkseid used the stones on Earth, it let out a large burst of energy. The same signature, he states, appeared two days ago on a planet. With this new clue, the Justice League set out to confront Thanos to retrieve the Infinity Stones in hopes of bringing half the universe's population back, while Stark is left behind in the infirmary. Arthur Curry blaming himself for what happened as he ignored his chance to kill Thanos before he unleashed the Decimation, leads the team on their mission determined to make up for his mistake.

Tracking the signal to Darkseid's farm on the Garden, Danvers first heads onto the planet to scout the planet. She finds that no defenses exist and that Darkseid is alone and unguarded.

In his simple house, Darkseid goes about his daily routine however he is now seen to have been afflicted with horrific burns. Suddenly the Justice League burst into the house, quickly pin an already weakened Darkseid down after which Arthur severs Darkseid's left arm and Gauntlet completely with Stormbreaker. To the Justice Leauge's surprise, Darkseid's gauntlet does not contain any of the Stones.

Under interrogation, Darkseid explains that the Stones would offer "nothing but a temptation," should he keep them. He explains that after completing his goal, the Stones had served their purpose and thus why he used them to destroy themselves so that what he did could never be reversed. Justice League accuse him of lying, to which Nebula responds that while her father is many things, he is not a liar. Darkseid thanks his "daughter" for believing him. Enraged, Arthur decapitates Darkseid, killing the Mad Titan. When Rocket asks what he has done, Thor replies that this time, he "went for the head." Justice League are left with no choice but to accept there is no way to bring back those who were lost.

Five years pass and Earth's remaining population has attempted to recover from what happened, without success. Everyone on Earth is traumatized from their losses. At the Avengers Headquarters, Diana Prince is heading a meeting with Sara, Nebula & Rocket, Okoye, Danvers, and Rhodes checking in and updating her about the repercussions/chain reactions still occurring after Darkseid's snap throughout the universe. After the conclusion of the meeting, Victor tells Diana about being in Mexico and finding the deaths of cartel members that all point to Barton as the assassin. Darkseid asks Victor Stone to get back to her again when he has information about Barton's next whereabouts. Rogers enters and he discusses with Diana how despite them trying to help others move on from what happened, neither of them ever can. Bruce Wayne is revealed to be living in a simple cabin with Alfred Pennyworth and their young daughter Morgan and now feels a sense of peace despite the weight of what happened five years earlier.

In San Francisco, Scott Lang escapes the Quantum Realm after a rat trips the switch to activate the portal in Luis' long-abandoned van, which has since been moved into a storage facility. To Scott's perspective, he has only been gone a few hours, so as he wanders through the city he is shaken to the core to find the wreckage and changes caused from the Decimation without understanding how the event came about. Piecing together what happened, he comes across several large memorials reading the names of 'The Vanished'. He frantically searches it, praying that he doesn't find his daughter's name. He doesn't, but he does find his own name among the missing. He rushes to Cassie's house and rings the doorbell. She answers and Scott is shocked to find his daughter, who was a little girl last time he saw her, is now a teenager. She breaks down in tears upon seeing her father again after thinking he was dead, and the two share an emotional hug.

After realizing that Hope van Dyne, Hank Pym, and Janet van Dyne were snapped out of existence, Scott travels to the New Avengers Facility in New York. Upon announcing his arrival to Diana and Wayne, he discusses with them about how the Quantum Realm might be the key to bringing back half the universe's population based on his own experience there. The trio, with limited knowledge about the Quantum Realm, travel to Amy Pond's home to consult him.

Wayne argues against the idea of time travel, fearing that altering the past could erase their very existence and what currently stands. Stark tells them he's finished with the Avengers and does not want to "talk shop" any further. In response, Clark, Diana, and Lang leave and meet with Bruce Banner at a restaurant. After the Decimation, and both Hulk's and Banner's defeat at the hands of Darkseid, Banner restarted his research into gamma radiation and used it to morph his body to have the appearance and strength of the Hulk while retaining the intelligence and control of Banner. Despite his meager knowledge of quantum physics, Banner agrees to help them experiment with the idea.

As Tony wanders around his house, he comes across a picture of himself and Peter Parker and uses F.R.I.D.A.Y. to run different possible configurations for time travel in the Quantum Realm. Despite hoping that he would fail, he discovers the key to it, solving how to navigate the time-travel stream using a Möbius strip design. After having done so, he discusses with Pepper about the morality of time travel and about what he should do with his latest discovery: whether he should lock it up in a box and throw it into the bottom of the lake or not. He feels that he and Alfred were lucky that they were both spared and now have made an amazing life together, but he can't deny that everyone around them has suffered unimaginable horrors and should be helped. Alfred encourages him to do what is right.

In the meantime back at the New Avengers Facility, Banner, Kent, and Diana run an experiment with time travel by trying to send Lang back in time. It only works to the point that they send Scott's body back in time, turning him into a kid and then an old man and finally a baby before only just managing to restore him to normal. Rogers contemplates outside of the building about what to do next. Wayne having a change of heart, shows up then to extend his help and asks if the "whole team" are getting back together. Wayne tells Rogers that he's agreeing to help on the condition that trying to reverse what Thanos did won't reset what has happened since, as he doesn't want to lose his daughter. Rogers agrees that's how it should be. The two men finally put their differences behind them, and Wayne returns Diana's shield to him.

Banner and Rocket head to Tønsberg, Norway which is now home to the few Asgardians who are left. They meet up with Valkyrie, who tells them Thor is not doing well. Thor is revealed to have sunk into a depression following his failures; he has gained considerable weight, become an alcoholic, and spends much of his time playing video games with Korg and Miek. Although Thor tries to put on a carefree attitude, he nearly breaks down upon Darkseid's name being mentioned. However, Banner and Rocket convince Thor to help them in time-traveling back in the past to find the Infinity Stones by offering him beer.

Barton is seen in Tokyo killing off Japanese Yakuza members one by one, telling them its unjust that they got to live while half the world died, finishing off a Yakuza boss. Diana approaches Barton and tells him of the Justice League plan. Barton agrees to rejoin the Justice League, having found hope again. They return to headquarters together. There Barton, not really caring if he lives or dies since his family is now gone, offers to be the one going in the first to see if time travel is really possible. Clint finds himself back on his farm before the Decimation. He calls out to his daughter but is brought back to the present before she sees him.

With Barton successfully being sent back to the past, the Justice League have the "how" method and begin to make a plan on the "when and where" to take the Infinity Stones from the past and bring them back to the present to restore all the people killed by the Decimation. Rhodes asks why they don't just go back and kill 'Baby Darkseid', but Banner explains that affecting the past will not change the present but will instead create an alternate universe. Therefore, they must bring the stones back to restore everyone. A complication is the lack of Pym Particles required to make the trips; although a few are available, with Hank Pym dead there's no way to make more so they can only make a few trips.

Everyone discusses when and where they each encountered the six Infinity Stones. Upon being mentioned that the Time Stone was in the New York Sanctum back in 2012, the team realizes that theSpace, Mind, and Time Stones were all close to each other at the Battle of New York so only one trip will be required for those three. Meanwhile, the other three Stones will be taken from different places and time periods: the Reality Stone can be found on Asgard in 2013 when Thor took Jane Foster there while she was infected with the Aether, while in 2014, the Soul Stone is still on Vormir and the Power Stone is currently on the planet Morag at that time.

Justice League only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip for each, so they split into three separate teams: Arthur Curry and Rocket to Asgard, Nebula and War Machine to Morag, Diana and Barton to Vormir; and Wayne, Banner, and Lang to New York.

In New York City, Banner meets the Ancient One and explains to her their predicament. The Ancient One educates Banner on time travel, telling him that she and everyone around them will be affected by the loss of the Time Stone in their reality. Banner convinces the Ancient One into giving him the Time Stone by revealing to her that Stephen Strange, whom she knows will be her successor as Sorcerer Supreme in a few years, willingly gave it up to Darkseid knowing it was the only way to possibly win. Bruce promises to return the Time Stone and the others once they've finished with then, then returns to headquarters by himself. Stark and Lang enter Stark Tower following Loki's defeat to steal the Tesseract. Shadowing the Tesseract as it is removed by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and the past Justice League, Scott causes a distraction by interfering with the arc reactor worn by 2014 Wayne, allowing the present Stark to retrieve the Tesseract. However, as soon as Wayne is about to leave, 2012 Hulk (angered at using the stairs) bursts into the room and causes him to drop the Tesseract. In the confusion, Loki manages to grab the Tesseract and use its power to escape.

Wayne is tasked with retrieving Loki's Scepter, which contains the Mind Stone within, however, it has been intercepted by Brock Rumlow, Jasper Sitwell, Jack Rollins and other agents of HYDRA. Entering an elevator with them, Rogers claims that he has been ordered to take the Scepter. Rumlow initially refuses, but relents when Rogers whispers "Hail Hydra" in Rumlow's ear. Confused, Rumlow is convinced to give up the Scepter. Rogers, however, finds another obstacle in the form of his 2012 counterpart who presumes that he's facing Loki in disguise. The two fight, and are evenly matched until Waybne reveals to his past self that Bucky Barnes is still alive. Caught off guard, 2012 Rogers is knocked out with the Scepter.

When the remaining three meet up, Wayne and Lang admit they botched their mission and there's no way to find the Tesseract now. However Tony gets an idea on how they could acquire both the Tesseract and more Pym Particles. Scott is given the Scepter to return to the present, while Wayne and Arthur travel to Camp Lehigh in 1970.

Clark and Rocket, having been able to locate Jane Foster on Asgard, set out to use a device to extract the Aether from her body. Clark Kent, however, gets distracted at seeing his mother and knows that she will die later that day. He manages to spend some extra time with her and she realizes he is from the future and has suffered. She gives him some encouragement and is ready to meet her fate even if it is just around the corner. Upon Rocket retrieving the Reality Stone and escaping Asgardian guards, Thor's talk with his mother gets interrupted, but he takes the chance to reclaim Mjølnir before he and Rocket return to the present.

Victor Stone and Nebula are dropped off on Morag and watch Star-Lord infiltrate the temple holding the Power Stone, both of them remarking on what a carefree idiot Quill is before knocking him out. However, aboard the Sanctuary II, Thanos plans his retrieval of the Power Stone with Gamora and Nebula when suddenly the two Nebula's systems start interfacing with each other. Although present Nebula is unaware, past Nebula sees what her future self is seeing. Darkseid has his daughter examined and sees images of his sucess from the future. Past Nebula swears her loyalty to her father, and Darkseid decides to use her to achieve his aims quicker than he ever thought. The retrieval of the Power Stone goes off without a hitch, but when Rhodes travels back to the present time, a malfunctioning Nebula is left to be found by Darkseid and her younger self, who uses Nebula's time-traveling device to travel forward in time and impersonate her future self.

Diana and Barton are greeted on Vormir by Red Skull. Once they are informed of the sacrifice they have to make, the two are ready to sacrifice themselves for the other. The two fight as they each try to throw themselves off the building, and although Hawkeye makes the jump Diana saves him and ends up hanging by his hand. She convinces him to let her go, as there's no way to save her now, and she falls to her death. A devastated Barton claims the Soul Stone and returns to the present without Diana.

In 2007, Wayne and Clark split up to respectively locate the Pym Particles and find the Tesseract. Before they meet up together again, Clark sees Lois Lane while Wayne runs into Howard Stark. After a long conversation, the younger Wayne sees his father in a new light and, now a father himself, understands what he went through raising him. He manages to indirectly thank Howard for everything whilst still maintaining his hidden identity before returning to the present with Wayne.

Everyone regroups with the successfully acquired Infinity Stones. Upon learning that Romanoff did not make it back, the rest of the five original Avengers mourn her sacrifice and set about utilizing the Stones with a new determination. Stark, with the help of Banner and Rocket, creates an Avenger-version of the Infinity Gauntlet. Then comes the question over who should use it. Thor is ready to do it himself, but the others argue that using the gauntlet at full power unleashes a burst of gamma radiation that would kill most living beings; even Thanos barely survived using it. Banner decides to reverse the Decimation himself, as he is the only one who could withstand the gamma radiation and has a higher chance of surviving. Banner puts the gauntlet on and it causes him intense pain as the energy from the stones surges through him, but eventually, he manages to snap his fingers. Banner suffers major damage to his right arm and shoulder but believes he was successful in restoring the universe's population. This is proven true when Laura calls Clint on the phone.

Meanwhile, 2014 Nebula activates the Quantum Tunnel to allow Darkseid and his army to arrive in the present day. After destroying the facility with the Sanctuary II's weapons, he unleashes his army of Chitauri, Outriders and more while being led by Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive, and Cull Obsidian. Aboard the Sanctuary II, Gamora asks the future Nebula what happened between them. Nebula admits that she was determined to kill Gamora at one point, but the two eventually formed a bond as sisters and as friends. Ultimately, Gamora is convinced to turn on Darkseid and frees Nebula.

In the rubble, the Justice League are separated, with Batman, Flash, Superman, and Stark resolving to stop Darkseid. Barton finds the Gauntlet, and fights to keep the Outriders from taking it before past Nebula arrives and tricks him into handing over the gauntlet. Before past Nebula can leave, Gamora and the future Nebula intercept her. Although they attempt to convince her to leave Darkseid, she refuses, and Nebula is forced to kill her past self.

Darkseid easily defeats Sahzam, Superman, Flash, and Batman after they confront him. Darkseid admits that their actions have proven to him that his plan to wipe out half the universe was flawed, as the survivors were too busy dwelling on what was lost and trying to reverse it to make the most of the 'opportunity' they were given. Instead, Darkseid now intends to wipe out all life in the universe and then rebuild it in his own image, with no one having any knowledge about what came before. During the struggle, Darkseid manages to pin Thor down and prepares to kill him with Storm breaker when suddenly Rogers summons Mjølnir and uses it against the Mad Titan. Despite a valiant effort, Darkseid subdues Wayne as the Suicide Squad descends from their ship with their army. Even with his shield broken, Rogers prepares to make his last stand when reinforcements arrive in the form of sling ring portals revealing the previously fallen heroes, including Falcon, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Drax, Groot, Rip Hunter, Wasp, Star-Lord, Mantis,Shuri and Winter Soldier. Pepper Potts joins the fight in her own armored suit along with Valkyrie, Okoye, Korg and Miek. They lead the forces of the Masters of the Mystic Arts, Dora Milaje, the Wakandan Army, Ravagers, and Asgardians in the Battle of Earth.

In the midst of battle, the newly assembled Justice League manage keep the Gauntlet away from Justice League and his forces with objective of sending the Infinity Stones back in time. However, with the Avengers Quantum Tunnel being destroyed along with the Avengers' facility, their alternative is to use the one housed in Luis' van, which is among the rubble. The Avengers' forces gain the upperhand, and even restrain Darkseid, momentarily until he orders the Sactuary II to fire upon the battlefield. As artillery fire rains down on both forces, Shazam finally arrives, destroying the Sanctuary II, and pushes back the enemy forces.

Justice League continue to trade possession of the Infinity Gauntlet among each other, all the while evading Darkseid as the proceed towards the device. Just within reach of their goal, Darkseid destroys the Quantum Tunnel device and secures the gauntlet for himself. The Avengers swarm Darkseid, whose attempting to activate the Infinity Stones. Strange signals Stark with eye contact, reminding him of their earlier discussion. With the last Avenger defeated, Superman leaps at Darkseid and tussles with him before being thrown off. The Mad Titan revels in his supposed victory declaring himself 'inevitable' before snapping his fingers, but nothing happens. Darkseid sees the gauntlet is empty, as Iron Man has already taken the stones for himself and his nanotech suit forms a new Gauntlet around them. Clark makes a similar declaration, telling his nemesis "I... am... Superman" before snapping his fingers. Darkseid then witnesses his entire army turning to dust, and is forced to accept defeat before he himself finally dies.

However, Wayne is mortally wounded from his wounds and radiation poisoning from using the stones and collapses on the battlefield. After sharing brief and silent goodbyes with Rhodes and Parker, he is comforted by Pepper who assures him she and Morgan will be all right.

With the universe restored, the heroes reunite with their families and friends. Tony's funeral is held outside his home, where a goodbye message he recorded the night before time travel was invented, finishing with the hologram of him walking right up to his daughter, Morgan, and saying that he loves her 3000, echoing a scene earlier in the film where Morgan originally says that line to him before bed. A service is then held with all the Avengers in attendance, including other important individuals like Happy Hogan, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Thaddeus Ross, May Parker, the Pyms, and even Harley Keener, as they all recognize the sacrifice that Tony made to save them and the universe.

Barton and Wanda comfort each other by the lake after the funeral, both suffering from their own losses. Barton expresses that he wishes Natasha could know that they won. And Wanda assures him that she does know, as does Vision, who was still lost in the conflict.

Thor joins the Guardians of the Galaxy, naming Valkyrie to be the new Queen of New Asgard. On the Benatar, Quill can be seen looking for Gamora. Quill and Thor have a quick argument, as everyone else presumes Thor will be captain now, and Drax suggests they have a ritual knife fight to the death for the position of captain. Although Thor reassures them that Quill is still the captain, the sly look on his face indicates that he still believes otherwise.

Rogers is nominated by Banner to return the Infinity Stones and Mjølnir, retrieved alongside the Power Stone in 2013, to their proper places in time. He bids farewell to Barnes and Wilson and then disappears. They send him into the past with all the Stones, but he does not return on the expected count of five. Instead, they notice an elderly Rogers, sitting alone on a bench by the river. Wilson walks over and talks to Rogers, who says he had decided to stay in the past and experience "some of that life Tony was telling [him] to get". Wilson accepts this, but muses sadly that he will have to live in a world without Captain America. Rogers then passes his shield and the mantle of Captain America to Wilson, saying that he should take it, despite Wilson's protests. As they shake hands and say their goodbyes, Wilson notices a ring on Rogers' left hand, and asks if he'll tell him about her. Rogers simply responds, "No. No, I don't think I will."

Meanwhile, many decades earlier, in a suburban American home, Clark and Lois Lane slow-dance together, finishing with a kiss.

Cast

 * Ben Affleck
 * Henry Cavill
 * Amy Adams
 * Zachary Levi
 * Gal Gadot
 * Jeremy Renner
 * Stephen Amell
 * Ray Fisher
 * Paul Rudd
 * Brie Larson
 * Cara Delevingne
 * Danai Gurira
 * Jeremy Irons
 * Diane Lane
 * Karen Gillan
 * Bradley Cooper
 * Caity Lotz
 * Jesse Eisenberg
 * Jared Leto
 * Dwayne Johnson
 * Joe Manganiello
 * Ray Porter