Hot off the presses from Titan Books, and continuing their series of Marvel movie tie-ins, is the Avengers: Endgame The Official Movie Special. However, whereas some of their previous specials have added insight and depth to the action seen on the cinema screens, this book falls a little flat.
Rather than offering any special insight to the juggernaut that is Avengers: Endgame, this is more a preview of the film that could have been released shortly after Infinity War premiered. There are no sneak peek pictures, no extra information about the characters or the plot of the film and nothing really new that has not already been seen in any of the trailers or press junkets. Obviously, Marvel likes to keep their cards close to their chest when it comes to the MCU films, but this book just feels like a letdown and something only a completionist would want.
The book is not really much more than a collection of interviews with some of the cast, crew and people behind the film’s creation. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige leads the way in talking about the current state of the MCU, but again the focus is more on the impact of Infinity War and Thanos’s Snap before it leads into interviews with some of the “Survivors”. Quite tellingly, despite being listed as one of the Survivors, there is no interview with Brie Larson who plays Captain Marvel. This gives more to the idea that this book was thrown together last year at a time before Captain Marvel had been released and therefore studio secrecy meant that nothing could be said about it. Lastly, there is an interview with the Co-President of Marvel Studios, Louis D’Esposito, and one of Endgame’s executive producers, Trinh Tran. There’s no interview with either of the Russos though, if you were hoping to hear from the directors.
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The actors interviewed are the original six Avengers: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), with Don Cheadle (War Machine), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), and Karen Gillan (Nebula). It is good to see interviews with both Paul Rudd and Jeremy Renner, given that their characters were absent from Infinity War, but again the interview questions do not allow for much depth to the answers, there are no hints as to where they have been and what they have been up to. Some of the interviews are very short and there is also a feeling of repetition throughout all the interviews as the same questions are asked again and again, despite being phrased in different ways. With the two films, Infinity War and Endgame, being made back to back, this book feels like a rush job when it could have been so much more. It does not add anything to the viewing of Endgame, nor does it allow for exploration of or prompt further discussions based on the events of the film.
If you have bought all the other Official Guides, that Titan Books have released, then you might want to pick this up to add to your collection, but do not expect to be dazzled.
Avengers Endgame: The Official Movie Special is available now from Titan.
