7) Avengers: Endgame
It’s officially the highest-grossing movie of all time and that should be enough reason why it made the list but “Avengers: Endgame” is a funny and surprisingly moving film.
If you haven’t seen it yet then you should probably keep scrolling.
Granted, it took twenty-one prior films in order to structure Tony Stark’s character arc but it was well worth it. One of the reasons why this movie sings isn’t the “Back to the Future 2” structure – going back through MCU to collect the infinity stones, albeit, it’s fun – it’s specifically because of Stark’s character arc.
Stark goes from being a loving family man but he’s also selfishly not willing to sacrifice that in order to bring back everybody they lost five years earlier. After figuring out time travel, he tells Captain America that he has to keep what he has “at all costs,” referring to his family.
But when he goes back in time, he has a moment with his biological father that says it all. He says to Tony, “the greater good has rarely outweighed my own self-interest.” A beat happens and then he reveals he hasn’t met his son yet (because Tony is still in the womb at this moment) and says, “there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.”
Finally, the two exchanges between Dr. Strange and Tony Stark that completes the arc. Tony asks Dr. Strange “You said one out of fourteen million. Tell me this is the one.” Dr. Strange responds, “If I tell you it won’t happen.”
At the highest point in the climax, with nobody else to stop Thanos from snapping his fingers, Dr. Strange holds up the one finger signifying “you’re our only shot.” The look on Stark’s face says it all. He has to sacrifice what he needed to protect at all costs.
This is also why Dr. Strange gives Thanos the Reality stone in “Infinity War” to spare Tony’s life. It’s because five years from that moment, Tony will be the only person to save the universe from Thanos.