Sandbox / Avengers Endgame Nightmare Fuel

All spoilers on this page are left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

Serving as the Grand Finale of the original Myth Arc of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it certainly has a great dose of horrors that will keep you awake at night (at least when you aren't crying).

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Probably keepable

• The beginning of the film takes place during the decimation in Clint's POV. He was just spending an ordinary day with his family when they suddenly disappear without explanation while he wasn't looking. Adult Fear couldn't describe how he felt during that moment. What really hits it home is that we see wisps of dust billowing away, but it's such a minuscule amount that it is only because we know what happened in the previous film that we recognize it. To those without that knowledge, like Clint, it's a literal Blink-and-You-Miss-It — his family disappeared without a trace.
• The confrontation with Thanos in the Garden features a few.
  • Thanos is shown to have most of the left half of his body singed, greatly resembling Two-Face in The Dark Knight. When the Avengers find no Stones in his Gauntlet, he explains he used them to destroy each other, deeming them an unnecessary temptation upon his reaching his goal. The immediate realization is that the Decimation cannot be undone and the Avengers this time have failed permanently.
  • Thor actually does decapitate Thanos using Stormbreaker upon this realization. His arm was only severed to take the Gauntlet off of him; this time Thor is in a sufficient rage to truly "[go] for the head". What's worse is the buildup: firstly, Thanos congratulates Nebula on noticing his honesty, and even regrets his abusive treatment of her. Then all of a sudden, the familiar sound of Stormbreaker activating, with it's blade glowing blue and Thor's cry of rage, are all signs that warn viewers towards Thanos' quick end.
    Thor: ...I went for the head.
  • Past Thanos viewing the same scene in Nebula's memories actually shows the cut where Thanos' head was for a split second, though its being seen through a hologram partially censors it.
    Mostly seems pretty OK
• Everything about Nebula's terrible experience in the past. While everyone else (but Clint and Nat) get adventures in the past that are either lighthearted, fun or heartwarming in some way or another, Nebula's takes a deep turn into misery when Thanos finds out what the Avengers are up to. It says a lot that Nebula, usually unflappable and emotionless, reacts with unbridled terror upon realizing that he's cottoning on. We once again see how he treats his so-called children: he tortures Past! Nebula in order to figure out what appears to be nothing but a simple glitch. And her own past self, desperate for her father's recognition, brutalizes and nearly kills her in turn — and can't even break free even when it's clear on some level she wants to. As Nebula isn't one of the primary Avengers, the whole sequence comes with the very real fear that she's about to be killed at any moment, especially when Thanos decides to do what was very nearly a Kill and Replace to sabotage the Avengers' efforts.
  • The bookends of the segment really sell it. Nebula begins it by desperately trying to warn everyone that Thanos is aware of what's going on, but fails. It ends with her captured, and her psychotic past self heading to the future in her stead with her unable to do anything but beg Past! Gamora to stop it from happening.
    This was a pretty tense scene, I imagine that more sensitive souls might find it pretty scary.
• The full extent of the damage the Infinity Gauntlet exerts on its wearer is shown. The initial surge of radiation upon the Stones ingratiating with the wielder causes Hulk to double over in pain, though he survives activating it at the cost of his hand due to the radiation already in his body. Tony's use of it while being a normal human is what causes his death: after donning it he only has enough strength to speak his Pre-Mortem One-Liner, while after activating he dies where he stands, with his final word being "Pep".
  • As Tony wields the stones, you can actually see the energies tearing through his armor. After the snap, his body is so badly damaged, his ear has burned off. And Tony can't even speak to Rhodey or Peter when the two discover his damaged state.
    The results of using the Gauntlet were pretty gruesome. I could stand keeping these.
• In the immediate aftermath of Thanos’ bombardment of the compound, the explosion has trapped Banner (who's effectively down an arm due to using the Gauntlet), Rhodey (who is paraplegic and now stripped of his mechanical leg braces) and Rocket (who despite his enhancements is still a raccoon and physically pretty weak) under tons of rubble as water from the river pours in. For anyone suffering from claustrophobia or hydrophobia, it’s a terrifying sequence. Rocket in particular is freaking out.
  Rocket: [crushed under debris and straining to speak] I can't breathe, I can't breathe!

Undecided

• The film also shows how places like NYC and San Francisco look like after the Decimation: completely lifeless. The weather is murky and dark, showing how low the atmosphere has fallen with only half of life on Earth. Keep in mind that Thanos wanted to erase half of life in the universe to have resources last and reduce the risk of the Overpopulation Crisis that befell his home planet, Titan. And this is the end result: Earth didn't thrive, but is utterly silenced and rotting.

  Not sure about this

• Immediately after this, Clint has been knocked somewhere into the ruined bowels of the base along with the Infinity Gauntlet. He seems fine, picks up the gauntlet and prepares to find a way out – then fires a light arrow at the darkness behind him, revealing a screaming pack of Thanos’ Outriders charging him, out for blood. The cramped setting, red lighting, and snarling monsters evokes images of Aliens.
  I could go either way on this.
• Dr. Strange being Creepy Good in the Marvel Universe has always been constant, but his role in Tony's death makes him a good bit scary. The shot of Tony staring at Strange just before he marched at Thanos to switch the gems, especially the ominous image of him raising that finger signalling to Tony about what he should do and the fact that he had seen this come to pass, makes him look like the Angel of Death stringing Tony along to his final fate.
  • Made even worse by his completely blank face at Tony's funeral. It's almost certainly due to the guilt from having to manipulate a good man into a Heroic Suicide, but it doesn't make his emotionless stoicism look any more comforting.
  • And remember his minor Heroic BSoD in his own film? "It's not Mister Strange, it's not Master Strange, it's Doctor Strange! I swore an oath to do no harm and I've just killed a man! I'm not doing that again." Strange may not have killed Tony, but he arranged a situation where it was the only option.
    I don't really understand what this example is trying to convey.
• Thanos's ever so casual admission that, due to the Avengers refusing to accept the loss of half of all life in the universe, he has decided to do the facile act of destroying all of the universe and making it anew just so that way there will be no one left to remember the old one, and the new universe will believe that The Extremist Was Right all along. It goes to show that Thanos may bill himself as a Well-Intentioned Extremist, but in reality he simply cannot accept that his methods are completely twisted and wrong and just doesn't really want to save the universe as much as he seeks admiration from, and control over all life. He even also admits that he has grown to despise Earth simply because of the Avengers' efforts to stop him, going into Brutal Honesty mode and saying that he will take great pleasure in annihilating the planet. This is the true Mad Titan, folks. This is the inner beast hiding behind a well-meaning mask. He may not be dating Death itself like he does in the comics, but he's still pretty damn close to that point.
  Thanos: In all my years of conquest, violence, slaughter, it was never personal. But I'll tell you now, what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet... I'm gonna enjoy it. Very, very much.

  I can envision someone finding this scary, but didn't find it scary myself.
• Something that’s not often talked about is how Thanos switches to Berserker Rage when beating the Avengers. We’re so used to seeing Thanos being Affably Evil that it’s jarring to see him just wailing on Steve, managing to hack his iconic shield to pieces with his sword and previously throwing Tony in front of Mjolnir like a rag doll. If it wasn’t for Sam bringing in the cavalry, the Avengers would have been done for. It then happens again when he’s up against Carol Danvers, where he manages to hold his own against her.
  • Keep this in mind, Carol’s power comes from the Space Stone which is one of the most powerful stones and it’s how she’s able to withstand a headbutt from the Mad Titan. Thanos manages to grab the power stone, which burns itself into his hand, and smack her halfway across the battlefield with one punch.
    • Carol Danvers' Death Glare when he headbutts her is absolutely terrifying. It basically says, "You are going to die. Painfully."
  • Really, Thanos in combat period during the entire climax. Just because he doesn’t have the stones doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous.
    First point is a "maybe" from me. Everything afterwards is just describing standard action movie stuff.

Probably delete

• Think about Scott Lang for a moment. He gets pulled out of the Quantum Realm by a rat randomly hitting the button needed to pull him back. From his perception, he was gone for only five hours. When he gets back, he learns that five years have passed...and the world has lost half its population, including the Pyms and the Wombats. Scott Lang found himself in a Bad Future that few could dream of. The fact that he didn't fall into a Heroic BSoD from sheer horror is phenomenal.
  • He finds a memorial to the "Vanished," and frantically searches it while uttering a Rapid-Fire "No!", hoping not to see Cassie's name. Her name isn't there, but another one is. . . his own. His little girl thinks her father, her hero, has been dead for five years. . . and Scott Lang has missed five years of his beloved daughter's life.
    This doesn't seem very scary. I think it should be cut.
• Think about the Battle of New York in the new timeline, from the point of view of the original Avengers of that period. The battle is won, Loki is in custody, the Tesseract and the Sceptre are being taken away. Then suddenly Tony has a heart attack and in the confusion Loki grabs the Tesseract and teleports away, while (as far as they can tell) someone who may be Loki or an unknown third party impersonates Captain America and tricks S.H.I.E.L.D. into giving him the Sceptre. Also keep in mind Loki's objective was to get the Tesseract to Thanos and he's probably going to go deliver it now, and the HYDRA agents inside S.H.I.E.L.D. think Steve Rogers has joined them. Whatever is going to happen in the future of this timeline, it can't be good.
  • The heart attack becomes worse when you remember that Tony alrady had a near-death experience just about an hour ago. The others might be worried if it's a side effect of whatever happened to him in space.
    This looks like speculation mixed with In-Universe fear.
• As screamingly awesome a moment as it is, Spider-Man going all-out and activating Instant Kill mode (Pictured above) turns him into an eight-legged whirlwind of death, stabbing Outriders to death with his mechanical arms almost faster than the eye can see, complete with Glowing Eyes of Doom. One shudders to think what such a function could be used for if not facing an enemy as monstrous as Thanos and his armies...
  • This needs some elaboration: Thanos poses such a great threat, and his armies are in such great, deadly numbers, that Spider-Man, traditionally established to follow the rule of Thou Shalt Not Kill... has no choice but to resort to killing. To be fair, these creatures are shown to be mindless monsters rather than intelligent soldiers, but it's still quite a striking image.
    This is described as "awesome". Sure, it would be scary if he used it against humans, but he doesn't, so that's just Fridge Horror. Second bullet point is a Justifying Edit. MAYBE this could be keepable if it was completely rewritten, but in its current state it isn't acceptable.

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