A/N: So, I did this page for mainly a few reasons. The first being that yesterday, The Russo were about to go live on twitter and there were people saying no (they literally only replied with no), The Russos made consideration on doing a Wolverine movie (though they should definitely let X-Men rest for a long while before doing that attempt).

I just want to get something out first, I'm not trying to change minds or opinions, it's just that I've seen people say that the characters were treated bad and I've never really seem to give a full version of what I thought yet, I kinda thought on doing it already. And considering there's already a few of articles that say that endgame ruined characters such as Cap, Black Widow, Hulk and Thor. Well, I thought to at least give a nice change of direction this time and give what I thought about how all of these characters were done in their film and how their story arcs ended.

I'll of course be going by the characters in which people have complained were ruined by endgame.That being Black Widow, Captain America, Professor Hulk and Fat Thor.

(I'm aware thor is still has one more movie, which will put a full end to his story, but, I'm still adding it in here).

With that out of the way, let's start off with our first character on here.

Black Widow:

Before I talk about Natasha and the sendoff to her story, I need to bring up a quote from one of the Russo Bros:

"The theme of the movie is, can you change your destiny, and what does it cost to do it? And are you willing to pay that cost? It's a resounding yes from the Avengers. In Infinity War they said, 'We don't trade lives,' and there was a desire to protect. And in this movie, there's now a desire to sacrifice in order to accomplish the goal."

During Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos' collection of the stones seemingly could have been prevented fairly easily. Vision was willing to sacrifice himself to destroy the Mind Stone, but the Avengers refused to let their comrade go without a fight. Shuri wasn't able to finish her work before being attacked, and it seemed like Vision was always destined to perish. Even the very moment he was created by the assistance of the mind stone, it seemed inevitable.

In contrast to all of that, the surviving Avengers were willing to lay down their own lives in Endgame. For the first time in the films, it seemed like the team were living up to their own name as they went out of their to Avenge the fallen who were victims to Thanos' snap.... whatever it took. That included Hawkeye's entire family.

Natasha and Clint's relationship was consistent throughout the Avengers films, and was able to really take the spotlight when the two of them traveled to Vormir for the Soul Stone. She ended up sacrificing herself in hopes that they'd reverse the snap, reuniting Hawkeye with his wife and children. During his conversation with EW, Joe Russo went on to say:

"We open the movie on Hawkeye's family. She reminds him of it in the scene. They both may have the mission in that moment where, 'I'm not going to let you kill yourself,' but Hawkeye has mixed agendas there, which I feel takes the edge off his focus in a way that she doesn't."

In many ways, Black Widow had always been the soul of The Avengers. Aside from Clint, she's got strong personal connections with Captain America, Iron Man, and Bruce. And following the snap and Thanos' death at the hands of Thor, she took lead and kept in communication with their allies around the world. So the Soul Stone was a fitting means to an end, even if it was hard for moviegoers to watch. Like I said before in a previous page, She came from such an abusive, terrible, mind-controlled background and she had acts that she wished to atone for when she was part of a Red Room Academy. So when she got to Vormir and she had a chance to get the people who've she's come to know as like one big family next to others who fell victim to the snap, back. She nobly traded her own life so others could live on, atone her past for some of her past actions and "erase the red in her ledger".

However, I do honestly wish more to her backstory was shown to give a lot more to her, Hence why I'm hoping the Black Widow solo film follows through on this.

Captain America:

It's definitely no surprise that Endgame's ending didn't exactly make a few Captain America fans happy. With Some of them even saying that what Steve Rogers did was a selfish act. But, from all I've seen from the MCU films involving him, I don't see it as that.

Steve had a date. In The First Captain America, Steve promised to take Peggy Carter dancing. Unfortunately for him, it was a promise he wasn't able to keep: To save the world, he crashed into the Arctic and stayed frozen for nearly 70 years. And when he woke up and learned of his new reality, he was more regretful than happy. While he was in Times Square, his first thought was of the missed date, not being in the 21-st century.

It didn't really come as much of a surprise when Cap sought out Peggy at the End of Endgame. After spending most of the film leading the reassembled Avengers in search of the Infinity Stones to defeat Thanos, Cap wrapped up what was basically his last mission. After returning the stones back to the places and times they were taken and returning mjolnir to its correct time before finally taking some personal time, He traveled back to the '40s, went on that date that he promised so long ago, built the relationship both of them had been denied, and lived the married life. When he appeared again in the present as an old man who offered Sam a self-deprecating explanation involving Tony. Hence the line he said in the movie.

"I thought, Maybe I should try some of that life Tony was telling me to get."

And In The Second Cap film, Steve visited an aging Peggy, who left him with a piece of advice.

"All we can do is our best, and sometimes the best that we can do is to start over."

To some, starting over was sort of the worst way for Steve Rogers's story in this universe to come to an end. One of those reasoning being the time travel stuff. Some people wondered if Steve's return to the past meant he erased Peggy's original one, which included what was shown in Winter Soldier, that being a family. I don't think so however, The Russo's explained that Steve created an alternate reality and found Peggy there. Even ignoring that quote, the film made things clear. As Explained in Endgame by Bruce before and during his conversation with the Ancient One, it was made clear that changing something in the past doesn't change the future. Instead, that past becomes your future and your former present becomes the past. However, if the time travelers didn't put the Infinity Stones or another important item right back where they got them from, time would have splintered into new offshoots. 

(Which now that I think about it, Endgame could also play into Marvel's What If series. But, back on topic).

The Ancient One gave Bruce the Time Stone once she was certain he understood the danger. And after the defeat of Thanos and Tony's funeral, Steve took the Stones back to where they came from and fixed that.

(As for how an old cap was seen in the present of the timeline we know if this is the case on how time travel goes in the mcu, well, I'll try to give a quick explanation. Cap traveled to the 40s and met Peggy, thus, making a new timeline, He got old because of how long lived his life with Peggy before coming back to the timeline we know via the spacetime GPS tony made on the suits and showed up in the exact time he left to the past to give sam his shield. In other words, while the cap we've been seeing throughout the MCU films prior to endgame was saving the world and stuff, the other cap lived his life with Peggy and laid low).

With the time travel stuff out of the way, let's get back to cap's stuff regarding how his story ended.

For another, some felt that the choice he made was out of character since Steve had said to Bucky that that he'd be with him until the end of the line.

To answer that, he's kinda already kept that promise more than enough times, through three different films. According to the Russo, Bucky even knew what Cap was about to do. And as far as I can tell, he wasn't gonna stop him either. After all the battles cap went through, through all the struggles and everything during the final battle, Cap wrapped up his story the way he wanted to, by being as loyal as he's always been and fulfilling a promise he once couldn't keep and finally getting rest. And that to me was a satisfying ending to Caps story. Now, a new captain america's story will eventually begin.

Hulk:

Hulk's arc from the beginning has been with Bruce Banner trying to control the raging beast within him known as the hulk. The MCU had always treated Bruce and Hulk as distinct personas, hence why Bruce referred to Hulk as "the other guy" during the first Avengers. In human form, Bruce is in control, but, when angered, he becomes the hulk, who then becomes the one in charge. They were basically two minds within the same body. While Bruce would of course let hulk out for situations such as the battle of New York and The battle against Ultron. But, as far as things go, Bruce didn't trust hulk because of how destructive he was. Though, that's not to say hulk was without any empathy, as he did in fact cut communication with Black Widow when she tried telling him to turn the jet back around. Doing so, he did it to try and keep away from harming anyone on the planet. Sometime eventually, Hulk would end up on Sakaar. Where he would act as a Gladiator in the arena for the next few years until Thor eventually ends up on the planet during the events in ragnorak. 

While hulk still very rough in places, he had clearly matured quite a bit during his tenure on Sakaar. During his conversation with Thor, he was speaking In full sentences and revealed his attachment to his new, Banner-free life. Most of his time on sakaar had him keeping banner suppressed this time as he was the one having fun for all that time. Sometime afterward, the two eventually visit the Quinjet, where the recording of Black Widow helped Bruce regain control for the first time in years. From there, He joined Thor and a few others and headed off to Asgard to help Thor battle Hela and her army. It's at that point, on Asgard, that the first portion of the character's Arc concluded when Bruce willingly let Hulk regain control with no guarantee of ever coming out again, all in the name of saving Asgard. And, near the film's end the character was still Hulked out and on the ship with the surviving Asgardians, headed for Earth. Until a certain titan came around. 

This of course leads into Infinity War. After Hulk was beaten down by Thanos, Hulk didn't come out to help throughout the rest of infinity war. The truth was, Hulk had been little more than a pawn in the Avengers' plans up until that point in time, only being unleashed to save the day when danger was happening. His time on Sakaar gave him a taste of freedom and he loved it. It was after he got beat down by thanos that Hulk decided that he was done helping Bruce or the avengers. He was done playing hero to others. Then, once we get to the time of Endgame, Bruce and Hulk finally came to terms with one another, merging brains and brawn together into a strong but smart being in one. Professer Hulk also plays an important part in the film as he kicked things off when he's tapped to head the Avengers' initial time travel efforts in the absence of Tony at that time and even explained the basics on how time travel works in their universe. As Endgame played out, so did the third and final portion of Hulk's three part story arc. 

Looking back, Hulk, just a handful of years earlier, had maintained a successful gladiatorial career a half a galaxy away. By Endgame, Hulk was refined, thoughtful, and caring. He saw his past-self smashing his way through New York City and thout it was "gratuitous." The Bruce part of his intellect also allowed the Hulk character to finally interact as a normal adult human being. He was instrumental in convincing Thor to stop sulking and pick up Stormbreaker for another go. He also was able to process the loss of Black Widow with the only physical damage from his sorrow being a bench he tosses into the water in grief. Most important of all, it's Hulk who tracked down the Ancient One and ultimately convinced her to give the Time Stone willingly (Even if it was technically bruce in spiritual form). Consequentially, Hulk was also the only one shown the negative effects that removing the Infinity Stones would have on time. This placed the responsibility in his hand to make sure that everything gets put back in place upon their victory.

And finally, what was probably one of Hulk's more heroic moments in the MCU: Undoing Thanos' Snap and bringing half the entire universe back to life. Ultimately, it ended up being Hulk alone who weld Stark's Nano Gauntlet and safely brought everyone back who was snapped away. It was selfless move, and one that Hulk probably wouldn't have volunteered for had they done this a years earlier. And yet, it's both the Hulk's and Banner's personalities at work, ready to sacrifice themselves, for the good of the universe.

Plus, the fact that the radiation emanating from the gauntlet was "mostly gamma" lent a great touch of destiny that set up the peak of Hulk's personal story as he put on the gauntlet and snapped. To put it in his own words, it's like he was "made for this."

Hulk continued to play a part in the story from there. He held up the destroyed rubble of the Avengers HQ to save Rocket and War Machine, and did his part in the final battle. But really, the climax of his own arc comes when, regardless of the consequences, he snapped his fingers and made sure that everybody came home. To me, it felt like a beautifully triumphant, breathtakingly and worthy way to end a story that began all the way back in a few glimpses during Age of Ultron.

But, I will admit that my only problems with what went on was that we didn't get to see banner and hulk finally come to terms with each other and become Professor hulk. Nor did we get to see much of Professor hulk during the final battle, just a few quick moments, but, I that doesn't change my opinions on him in this film.

And now for the last of them.

Thor:

Now, some people hated how thor got depressed and Fat before eventually giving rule of the Asgardians to Valkyrie. But, looking through Thor's movies, I don't think it too far off from why theses happened.

He was a god who lived 1,500 years who battled and even killed twice as many enemies before experiencing real pain. In some ten years since he interacted with the humans of Midgard on a deeper level, he grew from Point Break to Big Lebowski , hat tip to Tony Stark for his Thor nicknames snf experiencing tremendous loss. In just ten years, he fell in love and broke up with a woman who made him rethink his priorities. He was stripped of his Mjolnir-wielding powers and had to become worthy again. His mother and father died, and he's had to fight his brother (who had "died" multiple times, and betrayed him at every turn). Just as he was finished up with all of that, helping the Avengers fix things on Earth, and mopping up other intergalactic conflicts, he discovered that he had a ruthless sister that nobody warned him about. She destroyed Mjolnir and Thor had to let surtur burn Asgard to the ground and destroy it in order to beat her. And it didn't even stop from there as ehen he fought Thanos the first time, he lost Heimdall and Loki for good, as well as plenty of Asgardians before that. And even then, he wouldn't give up, telling Rocket that nobody has fought him twice and won. He went through tremendous physical pain to create Stormbreaker, and he saved the day at Wakanda. If only he went for the head like thanos said. But, he didn't know and Thanos just beat him a second time, with far more dire consequences this. Of all the heroes who fought Thanos, Thor probably blamed himself the most for not beating the titan, because he's the only one who got close to Thanos next to perhaps star lord and the others on titan. He ultimately went for the head out of rage early in the first Endgame act, but that didn't help deal with the pain. Trillions of people were still dead and they didn't have a way to bring them back.

Once the dust settled over the Snap, and it became clear that it couldn't be undone, Thor found himself feeling responsible for the deaths of trillions of living beings across the universe. And he was all alone. Frigga, Odin, Loki, and Heimdall were all dead. Moreover, many of the Avengers that fought by his side were also gone. I don't really blame thor for getting fat and depressed like that. He may have been a god, but, he dealt with these events no better than a regular person would. He wasn't like steve, who was usually known for having a giddy optimism to help heal him. The only way for that to happen would be to fix things. And I do feel that it was the tremendous pain that made Thor relatable in that film. He lost so much over the years and when he tried to save the lives to half the universe, thanos still won and blamed it on himself for it.

And now for why Thor gave up his throne as leader in endgame to Valkyrie if he supposedly embraced it in Ragnarok. I have at least two reasoning to why he did these things.

The first one goes like this: looking back into all that happened within Ragnarok, I don't think Thor truly embraced his role as leader at all. He's been groomed for leadership his entire life. Odin was dead and his home and his people had been taken over by his evil sister, Hela. He couldn't stop her on how own, and the only way he could was to resurrect Surtur with the eternal flame and bring about Ragnarok. This was the plan, and his people were now homeless as a result of it. What choice did he have? He had to try to find peace for his people, so he took on the role of leader to try and find them a new home. Between Infinity War and the end of Endgame, he hadn't exactly been leading, by the looks of things, because his people haven't needed him. I mean, yes, he's been there, so whenever a problem requires "the King's attention" he'd make a call, but it looked as though Valkyrie had been running things just fine without much of his help. Now Thor was unburdened by much of the guilt and sadness that weighed him down, and his people didn't need him yet so he could finally be the person he wants to be and not what was expected of him. That person, contrary to what the question implied, isn't the King of Asgard. That person got to travel the universe, doing what he wants and fighting the good fight without people to lead or any responsibility to bear, so when Rocket offers him a chance to become exactly that, how can he turn it down?

The other one is a little shorter, however, I think it be because of the conversation he had with his mother, where she said:

"Everyone fails at who they are supposed to be," And she even tells him. "The measure of a person, a hero, is how they succeed at being who they are."

Even though by calling his long lost Mjolnir to him, he realized he was still worthy, Thor ultimately also learned something very important: He doesn't know who he is. In the Previous MCU Films, Thor always followed something. In the first thor, it was the will of Odin, in The Dark World, He follow his quest for his mother, in Ragnarok, he followed his place in a prophecy and in Infinity War, he followed his quest for vengeance. And even after all of that, even after everyone was finally brought back and Thanos was no more, that one question still haunted him. Who REALLY was Thor? In his speech of handing over New Asgard to Valkyrie he said "He doesn't know who he is." and that's why he handed Asgard over till he finds that out who he truly is. He wants to know who is is exactly, not what was expected of him. But, the reason why this isn't the end yet is because either Thor: Love and Thunder or Guardians of The Galaxy 3 will wrap up Thor's story arc and bring it to an end and will close the book for all of the original avengers.

At least, that's what I believe these two are the reasons to why thor gave Valkyrie the role of King. Honestly, the first one seems a lot more close to what had all happened in the film.

And, that's all the my thoughts on the story arcs for these 4 characters. For me, I think their stories ended very well. And while I do think Black Widow does feel like she could use a little more to her story, I still think it ended well. Not as good as some of the others, but still well. 

And I should probably get this out of the way as well, I've kinda been posting a lot of MCU stuff as of late in a few days. But, I mostly did those because most of what I've seen from the Recent news or whatever seemed interested and felt like I should show it off to a few people. If you guys want, I can tone it down a little with the MCU stuff, like posting some news here and there like once or twice a week while still posting other stuff on here. But, that's all up to you guys.