Fanfic / Avengers: Endgame (Dragonis Prime)

Spoilers for all chapters of Avengers: Endgame are unmarked. Spoilers for the movie Avengers: Endgame are marked.

"Thanos has won, and the universe has been culled. It's up to the Avengers, their old friends, and their new allies to piece it all back together. However; to win the war against Thanos and make the universe whole once again, sacrifices will have to be made."

— The story summary attached to the fic

Not to be confused with the actual fourth Avengers movie, Avengers: Endgame is a fanfiction by Dragonis Prime first published on Archive of Our Own on August 5, 2018, and is the first story in his Marvel Cinematic Fanfiction Universe. It can be found here.

This story contains examples of:

Tropes #-F

• 11th-Hour Superpower: Steve Rogers lifts Mjolnir in time to wield it in the final battle.
• Act of True Love: Rocket's sacrifice on Vormir is rooted in his faith in Groot and the Avengers to bring his family back without him.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In Avengers: Endgame, Carol and Rhodey apparently never met until Carol came to Earth in the aftermath of the Snap. Given their seemingly familiar interactions in the fanfiction, the two apparently knew each other before the Snap in the MCFFU. Captain Marvel: Phalanx confirms they knew each other during their Air Force days, also having slept together.
• All Deaths Final: While characters who were killed in past MCU movies can and do return with relative ease, the characters that die in Endgame are all given very specific reasons as to why they can never be brought back as well.
• An Arm and a Leg: Tony loses his left arm in the final battle in one last Callback to the Running Gag of it being injured.
• Anyone Can Die: Of the villains, both Thanos Prime and Thanos-842667 perish, along with the entire Black Order from Earth-842667 with the exception of Gamora and Supergiant. Not even the original Avengers are safe. Rocket, Bruce Banner, and Clint Barton all die on page, while the death of Maria Rambeau is discussed.
• Arc Words: A few forms.
  • Avenge/Avenging/Avenged/Avenger: Finds multiple uses.
    • Natasha, Steve, and Thor all reference "Avenging them" in reference to the victims of Thanos.
    • The alternate Thanos talks about Steve's role in the world being solely to avenge people.
  • Whatever It Takes: Uttered by characters whose status quos will change massively in the story.
    • Clint, Rocket, Bruce, and the alternate Thanos die.
    • Steve passes the mantle of Captain America to Sam.
    • Strange passes the duties of the Sorcerer Supreme to Wanda.
    • Tony, like his arm, is cut off when saying it.
    • In the final line of dialogue of the story (Not including The Stingers), Wanda changes the phrase to something far more hopeful.
      Wanda: "Whatever it brings."
• Apocalypse How: Earth-842667 experiences Universal Scale, Physical Annihilation thanks to Ebony Maw wielding the Eternal Flame and the Skull of Surtur.
• Armor Is Useless: Thoroughly averted, as it allows such characters as Ares, Black Widow, and Thanos-842667 to survive potentially fatal blows.
• Arrow Catch: Thanos-842667, in a move echoing Hela's in Thor: Ragnarok, catches Mjolnir by the head. It ends far better for the enchanted hammer this time.
• As Long as There Is One Man: Invoked word for word before Steve stands up to the alternate Thanos alone.
• Ascended Extra: Wanda Maximoff, Corvus Glaive, and Carol Danvers get much more play in the fanfiction than in the movie.
• The Atoner: Corvus Glaive for a good chunk of the fic, mostly due to the loss of his wife and brother giving him perspective on just how wrong Thanos had been.
• Bash Brothers: Thor and Beta Ray Bill. They even have their own group name, Oathbrothers.
• Back from the Dead: Bruce Banner reverses the Snap with one of his own, also bringing back a few characters that died during the Infinity War and Quicksilver, who died during Avengers: Age of Ultron.
• Badass Army: Like in the film, every Badass Army from across the universe comes to bear. The fanfiction maintains the Wakandans, the Asgardians, and the Sorcerers, but drops the Ravagers in favour of the Skrull, the Agents of SHIELD plus Ghost Rider, the Korbinites, the Dwarves of Nidavellir, the entirety ofTeam Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Supergiant's contingent of Outriders.
• Badass Boast: As usual for MCU related material.
  • Loki gets one that serves as a Callback to his Last Words from Avengers: Infinity War during his and Ghost Rider's fight against Thanos-842667.
    Loki: I told your counterpart. You will never be a god!"
  • The final showdown against Thanos-842667 is chock full of them.
    • Wanda gets one when the alternate Thanos tells her that he will be taking the Time and Reality Stones and calls her an irritating witch.
      Wanda: "I much prefer Sorcerer Supreme nowadays. And you won't get them without a fight."
    • T'Challa gets one immediately after Wanda's, pulled almost directly from a speech he gives to Doctor Doom in the comics.
      T'Challa: "Your reign is over today, Mad Titan. And it ends with us."
    • The alternate Thanos has one to Wanda after an offensive from the heroes.
      Alternate Thanos: "Your parlour tricks and cheap magic did not stop me when your teacher used them, and they will not stop me now."
    • Tony and the alternate Thanos have an exchange once the alternate Thanos believes he has claimed the Stones.
      Alternate Thanos: "You came close to victory, Stark. But close is not enough. I am inevitable."
      Stark reveals the Stones are in his remaining hand and not Thanos' Gauntlet.
      Tony: "Eitri put an enchantment on my suit allowing me to absorb the Stones from the Gauntlet. And you may be inevitable, but I… am Iron Man."
• Battle Cry: In the final battle, every major group of heroes shows up with a battle cry.
  • The Wakandans make use of both "Yibambe!" and "Wakanda Forever!"
  • Beta Ray Bill yells "For Korbin, for Asgard, and for Nidavellir!", rallying all three armies behind him.
  • Peter Quill calls back to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 with "Show time, a-holes!"
  • Talos goes with "Skrull, fight as one and all!"
  • "Let's be the shield." is Nick Fury's chosen order as he emerges with Maria Hill, Sharon Carter, Phil Coulson's team, and Robbie Reyes.
  • Doctor Strange invokes the Vishanti with "In the name of Agamotto!".
  • Ant-Man tops off the portal reinforcements with "We don't have a battle cry!"
  • And, of course, the final battle cry of the chapter comes courtesy of Captain America: Avengers Assemble
• Battle Couple: Tony and Pepper become one for a chunk of the final battle.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Both justified and averted. Carol Danvers tanks hits from Thanos-842667 with nary a scratch due to her immense durability, while Wanda's nose is broken and bloodied by a single headbutt from him.
• Big Badass Battle Sequence: The final battle is essentially a series of them, with multiple teams of heroes taking on massive chunks of Thanos-842667's army.
• Big Damn Heroes: Two instances.
  • In Chapter 4: Hulk gets one when he finally shows up to help Thor, Beta Ray Bill, and Valkyrie with Ares.
  • In Chapter 20: The Avengers' army arrives to help Thor, Tony, Natasha, Hulk, and Steve against the forces of the alternate Thanos.
• Big Damn Kiss: Steve and Natasha have two. One on Vormir after declaring their love for each other, and one after Steve almost kills Thanos-842667.
• Break the Badass: Chapter 1 all features examples of Manly Tears from Hawkeye, Thor, and Captain America after they have all seen loved ones fall victim to Thanos' snap.
• Broken Tears: Shuri, Nakia, and Ramonda share a moment of broken tears together when they find out that T'Challa has died, but unlike after the fight with Killmonger, this time it's real.
• The Bus Came Back: Phil Coulson, not having appeared in a present day movie since The Avengers (2012), and Sharon Carter, whose last appearance was Captain America: Civil War, both return for the final battle.
• Callback: There's... Quite a few.
  • Thor rounds out the trifecta of "We have a Hulk" as said by both Stark and Loki.
  • In a conversation with Carol, Steve paraphrases Nick Fury's "There Was An Idea" speech from the first Avengers.
  • Hulk once again compares himself to a raging fire again while talking to Bruce Banner as he did in Thor: Ragnarok.
  • Ebony Maw asks what makes Steve Rogers so special, to which Thanos-842667 says "Nothing."
  • Captain America once again says "Hulk", but this time Hulk is the one to add "Smash".
• The Chessmaster: Stephen Strange, Corvus Glaive, and Thanos-842667 all qualify. Strange plays a Thanatos Gambit in order for the right heroes to be around to fulfill the restoration of the universe, Corvus Glaive plays a both a Batman Gambit and a Deliberate Injury Gambit because of he knows about Thanos in order to give the Avengers an opening to get the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos-842667, and Thanos-842667 plays a Xanatos Gambit where he either wins in the final battle or forces the Avengers to deal with the problems that the Infinity Stones of his world create. Due to Corvus and Thanos being the driving tacticians of their sides, the final battle is essentially a chess match.
• Closing Credits: As setting the standard for the MCFFU. According to Word of God, they're in the story to allow for new characters to have a named actor/actress and to include credits scenes.
  • And Starring: With Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Brolin, Clark Gregg, and Chris Pratt. Samuel L. Jackson gets the 'And'.
  • In Memoriam: Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Stan Lee get the treatment.
  • Special Thanks: The list in this story's credits is long.
    • Kevin Feige, Executive Producer of the MCU.
    • All the MCU Directors: Jon Favreau, Louis Leterrier, Kenneth Branagh, Joe Johnston, Joss Whedon, Shane Black, Alan Taylor, Anthony and Joe Russo, James Gunn, Peyton Reed, Scott Derrickson, Jon Watts, Taika Waititi, Ryan Coogler, Anna Boden, and Ryan Fleck.
    • Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, writers of multiple MCU films.
    • ArtistAnilu, a prominent artist in the Black Order fandom.
  • The Stinger: As is usual for the MCU.
    • The mid-credits scene is Kevin Feige meeting with Stan Lee, taking his place as the Watcher Informant.
    • The post-credits scene is Victor von Doom and Ultron meeting.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Averted hard.
  • Both the original and alternate Thanos refer to Carol as Captain Marvel, as does Peter Parker.
  • Clint is called Ronin by Akihiko.
  • Wanda refers to Pepper as Rescue when in the field.
  • For the sake of simplicity, every hero with a codename is referred to as such in the text.
• Dead Man Writing: Clint records a video message for his wife and family.
• A Death in the Limelight: Bruce gets play regarding his arc of wanting to be rid of the Hulk before Snapping using Stones that give off the very gamma radiation that created the Hulk.
• Delaying Action: Steve, Thor, Tony, Natasha, and Hulk vs Thanos-842667.
• Downer Beginning: Chapter 1 is a bit of a downer in its entirety, but even it starts with a massive downer: Clint Barton enters his home, and hears his daughter yell for him. He enters the kitchen to see his wife and sons dissolving into dust. He then hugs his daughter before she too is dusted.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Half the reason Thanos-842667 is so brutal in the final battle is because Gamora's heart was broken by her sacrifice of Nebula.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Two notable examples.
  • Steve shaves his beard before the Reality Heist, positing that past him didn't have it. It's part of his speech about him not truly moving on.
  • During the Timeskip, Wanda returns to her natural hair colour and cuts it shorter to signify the passage of time and her increase in both self-confidence and magical power.
• Face Death with Dignity: Tony, Thor, Natasha, and Hulk when they stand face to face against Thanos-842667 and his army in the smoldering remains of the Avengers Facility.
  Thor: "Avengers, this is it."
  Natasha: "Just like Steve said. We win together, we lose together."
• Fish out of Temporal Water: An incident involving reality jumping causes every Avenger other than Wanda, Vision, Supergiant, and Pepper to be three years out of the loop regarding time.
• Forging Scene: The Avengers left on Earth when the rest are lost in other realities travel to Nidavellir to have Eitri forge them weapons in the event something goes wrong. Eitri obliges and forges new weapons for all the Avengers, including remaking Mjolnir and giving Tony the means to steal the Stones from the alternate Thanos.
• Forgot About His Powers: Thoroughly averted, specifically in relation to the alternate Thanos in the final battle. He uses all the Stones to shut down various powerhouses, especially Carol.

Tropes G-M

• Heel–Face Turn: Corvus Glaive makes one, pulling his wife and brother along with him.
• Hold the Line: Steve, Thor, Tony, Natasha, and Hulk go to hold off Thanos for long enough to allow the other Avengers to reverse the Snap and gather their backup.
• I Knew There Was Something About You: Thor's reaction to Steve Rogers catching Mjolnir before the final battle, and Tony's reaction during the final battle.
  • Thor and Beta Ray Bill try to get Cap to prove this theory by placing Stormbreaker on a file Steve was reading in an earlier chapter, but Steve doesn't touch it.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Steve Rogers kneels before Thanos-842667 in order to get a clean shot at killing him. He almost succeeds.
• Kick the Dog: Thanos-842667 is rather prone to this, belittling heroes he had already fought and killed, forcing Carol to relive Maria Rambeau's death, and trying to manipulate Steve into joining him by showing him painful memories.
• Last Stand: The Avengers Facility is a smoking pile of wreckage, Steve is MIA, and every other hero has been sent out to gather whatever aid can be found. Thor, Tony, Natasha, and Hulk face down the entirety of Thanos-842667's army, fully prepared to die in one last valiant moment. Fortunately for them, The Cavalry arrives with a promise of sunshine.
• Literal Split Personality: Bruce Banner and the Hulk are separated via the Mind Stone.
• Love Confession: Steve and Natasha confess their love for each other on Vormir. Both see it as their Dying Declaration of Love before they sacrifice themselves for the Soul Stone before realizing that Rocket took the plunge instead.
• Meaningful Echo: Loki quotes his words to Thor that the sun would shine on them again.
• The Multiverse: The story makes use of the multiverse mentioned in Doctor Strange (2016) as a means for the Avengers to obtain copies of the Infinity Stones.
• Now, Let Me Carry You: Natasha, Tony, Thor, and Hulk are battered after their fight with Thanos-842667 and now stare down his army. You can imagine their relief when Loki's voice signals that they are not alone.

Tropes N-T

• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Corvus Glaive, Beta Ray Bill, and Peter Parker accidentally alert Thanos-842667 to their presence, which sets into motion the later half of the story.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Thanos-842667 argues that he and Steve Rogers are remarkably similar.
  You and I are two sides of the same coin. We are survivors. We are leaders. We fight for family.
• Numerological Motif: The number three. The Reality Stone occupies the third knuckle on the Infinity Gauntlet, Peter Parker talks about being a normal teenager three years ago, the time-skip that occurs is three years long, and there are three Snaps made with the completed Infinity Gauntlet.
• Off with His Head!: Thor kills Thanos Prime this way.
• Paradise Planet: The Garden. It was built by Thanos' father, the ruler of Titan.
• Planning for the Future Before the End: Hulk and Bruce discuss what comes next for them after the battle, including Bruce encouraging Hulk to return to Sakaar. Bruce doesn't survive the battle, sacrificing himself to undo the Snap.
• Plot Armor: Largely averted. When Thanos-842667 bombards the Avengers Facility, most of the Avengers are far away. Those still within are either remarkably durable (Cull Obsidian and Proxima Midnight), immortal (Corvus Glaive), or wearing nanotech armour (Rhodey, Pepper, and Peter Parker).
• Possession Implies Mastery: Played with regarding Steve and Mjolnir. He uses it mostly as a blunt weapon to empower his shield. When he does do a few crazier things with the weapon, it's because he saw someone else do a similar tactic, such as pinning someone down with the worthiness enchantment.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
  • When the Original Six Avengers (Minus Clint) go to take on Thanos-842667 to buy their teammates some time.
    Thor: "Let's kill him properly this time."
    Hulk: "Together."
  • Steve, of course, gets the big one.
    Steve: "Avengers... ASSEMBLE!"
  • Loki gets one that serves as a Callback to his Last Words from Avengers: Infinity War during his and Ghost Rider's fight against Thanos-842667.
    Loki: I told your counterpart. You will never be a god!"
  • T'Challa gets one immediately after Wanda's, pulled almost directly from a speech he gives to Doctor Doom in the comics.
    T'Challa: "Your reign is over today, Mad Titan. And it ends with us."
• The Protagonist: The Original Six Avengers, with Steve Rogers and Tony Stark having the most play.
  • When he shows up, Thanos-842667 acts as a Villain Protagonist to a certain extent.
  • Corvus Glaive is a sort of Deuteragonist, as Strange names him as the final vital piece to the Avengers' victory.
• Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter": Thanos-842667 says that he looks forward to killing many of the other Avengers again.
  Thanos-842667: "Across every world I have conquered, I have met resistance. They've ranged in size and power, but all have fallen to me. In all my years of conquest, violence, slaughter, it was never personal. But this little blue marble you call Earth? In my reality, it cost me my goals and rendered the great sacrifice my beloved daughter Gamora made invalid. She and I have both sought vengeance against your world. I have killed many of you before, and I look forward to having the chance to do so again."
• Sequel Hook: The Guardians are given the Soul Stone, Steve Rogers passes his shield to Sam Wilson, Carol Danvers is given the Mind Stone and the knowledge that Maria Rambeau has died, T'Challa and Shuri ascend to the throne of Wakanda as joint rulers, and Thor and Loki decide to rule the New Asgard as co-kings.
• Sheathe Your Sword: Steve throws Mjolnir away before kneeling before Thanos-842667. It's all part of his ploy to try to kill the Mad Titan, though.
• Shockwave Stomp: The Avengers' charge against the forces of Thanos-842667 leads off with one that serves as a Callback to Thor's during The Battle of Wakanda, with Thor, Steve Rogers, Beta Ray Bill, Vision, Carol Danvers, and Wanda Maximoff all taking part.
• Single Tear: Corvus Glaive sheds one after looking at a picture of himself and the rest of the Black Order playing with the young Gamora.
• Slice of Life: Quite a few scenes are dedicated to the Avengers in their Facility, dressed casually and working together to solve both Thanos Prime's Snap and the personal issues each is facing in the aftermath.
• Someone Has to Die: Three examples.
  • Steve, Natasha, Rocket, and Groot travel to Vormir, where they are informed of the price for the Soul Stone by the Red Skull. Steve and Natasha have a long winded argument about it with declarations of love from both sides that ends with Steve strapping his shield to Natasha's arm... Only for them to discover that Rocket is on the edge of the altar.
  • Carol, Valkyrie, Bruce, and Clint discover the only way to get the Tesseract is to pierce the energy shield around it. The problem is that the shield will kill whoever puts their hand in. Carol, Bruce, and Valkyrie deliberate for a moment, but Clint decides that the three of them are more valuable to the fight than him.
  • Later on, Bruce is a victim anyways due to being the one to undo the Snap. Since there are two copies of the Soul Stone and the Avengers don't have time to figure out a way to safely harness a cosmic-level use of the Infinity Stones, whoever uses the Stones will be killed and have their soul torn apart. Carol and Corvus both ponder their ability to survive it, but Bruce makes the sacrifice.
    • Word of God confirms that Bruce specifically traded his soul for Gamora, as the Soul Stone requires an exchange.
• Story-Breaker Power: Thor and Captain Marvel are both examples of it, which is the reason they are either depowered or absent for a chunk of the final battle. Thor takes up the job of protecting and stashing away the extra set of Infinity Stones so Thanos-842667 can't get them whilst Carol fights Thanos until he manages to depower her with the Space Stone.
• Survivor's Guilt: A reaction many of the heroes have to their loved ones dying in the Snap, most notably Carol and Clint.
• Takes One to Kill One: The Infinity Stones operate in this manner. They can only be destroyed by their own power, and it takes a remarkable amount of strength to do it. Vision manages to destroy the Reality Stone of Earth-842667 with his copy, while Thanos de-powers Carol with his Space Stone.
• Thanatos Gambit: Strange made one of these. He put an enchantment on the Time Stone to ensure that himself and Wanda would fall victim to the snap so they could fight from within the Soul Stone, and to ensure that Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man wouldn't.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After the remarkable chain of suffering she went through in Infinity War, Wanda is one of the first four restored from the Snap, doesn't spend years trapped in the past, gets Vision back, and learns insanely powerful magic to boot.
• Time Skip: The heroes, with the exception of Wanda, Vision, Pepper, Korg, Miek, and Supergiant, end up stuck in the past. They return after three years.

Tropes U-Z

• Unholy Matrimony: Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight had this before Proxima's death. It changes to Happily Married after their redemption.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Invoked. Strange refuses to tell Tony if this is the timeline they win against Thanos-842667.
• Wham Line: A few happen throughout the story.
  • Thanos Prime says one right before destroying the Infinity Stones.
    Thanos Prime: "I'll give you your vengeance, God of Thunder. But this universe? That is mine to keep."
  • Wanda says one when the Avengers return from their trip through parallel realities and Tony asks how long they've been gone.
    Wanda: "Three years."
  • Pepper has one to Tony soon after.
    Pepper: "Tony, meet Morgan Maria and James Edwin. Morgan, James, meet your father."
• Witch with a Capital "B": Thanos-842667 and Gamora-842667 respectively refer to Wanda and Ancient One-842667 as a witch in moments of annoyance and rage.
• World Half Empty: The effect of Thanos Prime's Snap.
• World of Badass: The Asgardians, Korbinites, and Dwarves of Nidavellir are all elite warrior races. The trope is invoked with the Avengers and their army.
• Wrecked Weapon: Loki unleashed the Casket of Ancient Winters to demolish Thanos-842667's sword, while Earth-842667's Infinity Gauntlet is destroyed along with its master when Tony Stark snaps his fingers.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Rhodey name-checks Indiana Jones when entering the Temple of the Power Stone as a mention for it being full of traps. He's wrong, as the temple's lack of traps was seen in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).
• You Can't Fight Fate: Thanos-842667, like his main universe counterpart, is a firm believer in this trope. He borrows his main universe counterpart's "Destiny Still Arrives" speech, and his Last Words are warning them that Entropy comes for all.

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