Hi, mitú fam! It’s the content team’s resident comic book nerd and superhero fanatic, Diego. And I’m here to remind you that we just had an incredible anniversary. 

That’s right, it has officially been one year since the culmination of a decade of superhero cinema, dozens of movies, sequels, threequels, characters, villains, quips and the tireless effort of hundreds upon hundreds of production staff… AVENGERS: ENDGAME.

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You don’t understand how much this movie meant to me. I grew up on comic books. I was around for all the reboots. The retcons of the reboots. For all the holographic foil variant covers. And of course all of the half-hearted attempts at translating these heroes who I hold so dear in my heart to the big screen. Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe started taking shape the closest we came to seeing the Avengers on screen was that one episode of the Hulk TV show with Thor in it and a Captain America movie where his ears were made of plastic and he just looked tired the whole time.

The thrilling scene where they teamed up to find out where Thor parked his ‘88 Miata.

Have you ever worn a rubber suit outdoors? You’d be tired too

The MCU had consistently delivered. For an entire decade. And this movie still promised to blow everything out of the water. Which was going to be hard to top because in the movie right before this one, they MURDERED HALF OF THE CAST. I had to see this movie.

To underscore how serious this movie is, it came out on my husband’s birthday and I straight up told him “We are going to see this movie for your birthday.” Is he a huge Marvel fan? NOPE.

So, in honor of this Avengers Anniversary, I wanted to countdown the absolute best moments that made this little Latino fanboy’s heart feel all the feelings.

1. The Big Three vs. Thanos

Fair warning that most of these moments come from the end of the film because that was when the hype was the most real. This is one of the final confrontations with Thanos, and the trio that has come to be known affectionately as THE BIG THREE: Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America. After years of drama, infighting and Thanos pulling things behind the scenes, they all came together and this was a fight that DELIVERED.

Just look at this moment: 

Thor Odinson, dual-wielding Stormbreaker and Mjolnir and calling down lightning to charge up Iron Man’s armor for a devastating combo move. I could watch this forever.

2. Cap Wielding Mjolnir

To really understand the gravity of this moment, you have to know a few things about this hammer. Thor’s hammer Mjolnir is enchanted, so that only someone who is “worthy” can wield it. “Worthy” in this case meaning pure of heart and intention. Basically only someone who is inherently good and who would never use the power of the hammer for selfish reasons can even lift the damn thing.

So in a desperate moment in the fight when things look grim. Captain America reaches for the hammer and proves why he is the GOAT. Watching this moment in theaters, when that hammer started to lift off the ground, we all knew what was about to happen. And we all went INSANE.

Not pictured: Me. Crying hysterically.

And Captain America not only lifted Mjolnir. He used it.

He used it like a damn professional.

3. “Avengers Assemble”

A bit more context for this moment. So Thanos had previously killed half of all life in the universe by assembling the magical McGuffin that allowed him to do that. The remaining Avengers had spent most of this movie reassembling said McGuffin to UNDO the killing off of said life. Which they did, right before Thanos blew up their house with his big bad spaceship. So they (and we) weren’t sure if their cosmic CTRL+Z had worked or not. Until this scene. Just when Thanos’s army arrives and things look totally FUBAR, all of the heroes who we watched die just one movie ago started reappearing to save the day.

And then. And THEN. A bit more context. The classic and quintessential catchphrase for the Avengers is when Captain America gathers them with his battle-cry of “Avengers Assemble”. It was a comic book staple of the team. And although they had hinted at it in previous movies, Cap had never said the phrase on screen. EVER. But then, with Thanos and his army looking on with all the heroes reunited.

Omgomgomgomgomg

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

4. The Women of Marvel

So full disclosure, I couldn’t choose just one moment featuring the many badass women of Marvel, so I’m using this spot on the countdown to highlight a few of their key scenes from Avengers: Endgame. Whether it was the moment above when basically ALL of them gathered to help protect the cosmic McGuffin.

Black Widow’s tragic sacrifice on the planet Vormir so that the team could save the universe.

When Scarlet Witch took on Thanos by herself and KICKED HIS ASS (He murdered her robot boyfriend so she was understandably upset).

Or when Captain Marvel one-shotted Thanos’s intergalactic warship all by herself. 

Big shout out to all the women of Marvel: Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Valkyrie, Gamora, Nebula, Pepper Potts, Wasp, Okoye, Scarlet Witch, Mantis, Shuri, Nakia, Ramonda, Aunt May, MJ, even cute little Morgan Stark. 💖

5. “I… AM… IRON MAN.”

This final moment was THE defining moment of ten years of cinematic storytelling. In the face of Thanos regaining the power to end all life in the blink of an eye. Iron Man, the first hero who introduced the MCU all those years ago, makes the ultimate sacrifice, using the cosmic power himself to end Thanos once and for all, at the cost of his life.

Y’all. Y’ALL. I was weeping in the theater after this moment. No shame or any of that machismo BS. I was straight up not ok. 

But these emotional highs and lows are why we love superheroes. We live for the hype. We live for the sheer drama of it all. Thanks to Marvel for delivering us this masterpiece one year ago. I love being a comic book fan. 😭