Still trying to understand why the Avengers continued to pursue Thanos in melee combat in EG…

I can’t say how many times I’ve watched IW/EG, but the most recent was yesterday. I can completely get their approach in IW - they don’t truly know their enemy. But come Endgame the Avengers haven’t changed their approach - acknowledge there was a bit of Iron Man/Thor/Cap combo with some ranged attack, but Wanda was probably the best (even if she came in too close for a bit there).

Thanos was a master of melee… why continue to play to his advantage?

Edit: After “Avengers Assemble” - not before 😊

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Commentaires

sharkykid2025-12-01 10:44

Goes hard

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 10:52

💯

nbperfect2025-12-01 10:44

I mean they weren't expecting an ambush from the 2016 version and half the place was falling down. Didn't know if their snap worked but even then help wouldn't come immediately. They didn't have much of a choice!

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 10:51

Question is centred more around when everyone arrives - probably should have been clearer there!

Totally get they were on the back foot until then, but they could communicate with each other across the battlefield - curious they couldn’t coordinate a barrage or two.

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:21

Apologies if that was offensive!

nbperfect2025-12-01 16:28

Oh nah not at all, the downvotes weren't from me! Just reddit things

Flying_Mohawk2772025-12-01 13:18

When did you want them to strategize? When the giant hundreds deep was staring at them in the huddle.

Instead of saying avengers assemble Steve should have called a timeout and the entire hero team huddled!

juances192025-12-01 13:26

At that point they had already given up on beating Thanos and the plan just became "get the stones to the quantum van".

It's not just Thanos, if any of the Black Order gets the gauntlet it would be game over so the gauntlet took priority.

LMkingly2025-12-01 15:00

They did know that their snap worked. Or at least Hawkeye and Ant-man did.

nbperfect2025-12-01 16:27

Well yes but not the three mentioned in the post when they were initially attacking Thanos..

Thomas_JCG2025-12-01 10:46

Because most Avengers are melee fighters and it also looks better as an action scene

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:19

This is true… like Hawkeye and his sword and gauntlet racing skill…

Edit /s - I wanted to add arrows (struck out) before sword but didn’t know how to do that

PaintAccomplished5152025-12-01 10:47

All the times they did ranged attacks, didn't do much to stop him. Besides, the two armies were charging at each other. Can't maintain range with that sort of attack.

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:15

Maintain 100%? Agreed. Do more though? I’d argue that they could, because a couple of them did.

PaintAccomplished5152025-12-01 17:48

What's the point of trying to maintain the range if it didn't do much and only half the team can do?

Joshawott272025-12-01 10:48

What choice did they have? Captain America is a close-range fighter with a mid-range ~~frisbee~~ shield, so he’s limited with what he can do. Thor also very much wanted to make things right with a rematch, so that rules him out of crowd control.

Iron Man could have potentially played support like Rhodey did in Infinity War, but their numbers were limited. Even though they had reversed the snap, Thanos’ army was a surprise attack, and they thought that they only had the survivors on their side until the portals scene (Strange wouldn’t have told anyone about his plan or what he saw). Wanda wasn’t in play until the portals scene, and there wasn’t a chance to regroup and talk strategy.

The boring answer is also that Iron Man, Cap, and Thor were the Infinity Saga’s main characters, so it just made sense for them to fight the big bad.

ShyguyFlyguy2025-12-01 10:48

Because marvel studios movies arent exactly top tier in the writing department

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:13

They’ve done pretty well for the most part - I have enjoyed just about every one 😊

ShyguyFlyguy2025-12-01 11:20

Theyre visually amazing. But the writing and stories are pretty simple cookie cutter stuff. Nonenofnthem have any depth. Theyre fun to watch but there all nearly identical.story wise.

Extra_Age25052025-12-01 10:54

Because they wanted the spectacle of the Avengers and Thanos’ army charging towards each other. As much as I enjoy Endgame, I think it has a lot of writing problems, including the final battle. Why do they take the Gauntlet further into the battlefield, rather than keeping it behind them? Why doesn’t Carol use her light speed powers to immediately deal with Thanos and his army? Why not have her take the Gauntlet across the universe until Thanos is dealt with? What exactly was the plan by having Carol fly into the quantum machine in the van? Does she know what to do with the Stones and where to go? Why doesn’t Doctor Strange put Thanos and his army in the mirror dimension straight away or weaponise the portals against them? There’s a lot they could but they wanted the set piece of that fight

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:00

Agree and have thought of many of those points - my question was more targeted at lack of development when it comes to how the Avengers worked together against Thanos himself.

Pretty sure people remember the caning they got the first time (yes, with stones) but his “moves” would tell any fighter that he knows his stuff.

Extra_Age25052025-12-01 11:09

There’s no good in-universe reason for why they all directly attack Thanos in close quarters combat. It’s just because the filmmakers wanted the scene to play out that way but didn’t do the work in justifying it and the story had to bend around that

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:38

Thanks, it bugs me that a team that has worked together for years (albeit sometimes broken) would not develop a more unified strategy.

Extra_Age25052025-12-01 11:44

There was more strategic thought about how to fight the Chitauri in the first Avengers film than there was against Thanos in Endgame, it’s just annoying when spectacle is prioritised above a coherent story

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:53

I thought so too - it’s like they never recovered from AoU/Civil War…

BosPaladinSix2025-12-01 11:18

I maintain that Endgame was simply a collection of hype moments and fan wish fulfillment, and a rather disappointing end to the story that was building for literally half my life.

And I'm also so sick of that fucking "1 out of 14 million" shit, it's become Marvel's version of "Hey kid, it ain't that kind of movie" from the Star Wars side of fandom and is simply used to stifle any sort of criticism anyone might have.

Extra_Age25052025-12-01 11:35

The 1 in 14 million thing didn’t make sense at the time. There’s no way that there was only one chance of them winning, there were so many ways that they could have defeated Thanos in Infinity War. Strange using a portal to cut off his head or arm, or doing the astral projection tap, or opening a portal inside his body to fill him up with acid or lava or water or bees etc. Or Nebula tackling Quill when he was punching Thanos. Or if Thor had buried Stormbreaker in Thanos’ head or arm. And a lot of the post-Endgame projects have introduced things that you’d think could have led to victory in Infinity War or Endgame (the EDITH drones, Agatha and the Darkhold, the No Way Home memory spell, the ability to turn water into wine, Omnipotent City, Eternity etc) so it’s even more implausible

Diff_equation52025-12-01 14:48

Who turned water into wine?

Extra_Age25052025-12-01 15:52

Doctor Strange did it to Christine’s drink at her wedding in Multiverse of Madness

Diff_equation52025-12-01 18:45

Oh, ok thanks! I assumed it was a Doctor Strange or Loki thing, but I couldn’t remember.

CaptHayfever2025-12-01 17:18

> There’s no way that there was only one chance of them winning

People forget the modifiers on that: There was only one chance of them winning *from that point on* (if things had happened differently prior to the Avengers & Guardians reaching Titan, that would've opened up more possibilities), *that Strange saw before the others interrupted his time scanning* (he clearly wasn't done yet), and *that Strange would survive to witness* (we know the Ancient One couldn't see past her own death, even with the Time Stone).

Extra_Age25052025-12-01 17:37

But there can’t be only one possible win in the 14 million possible futures that Strange saw, it just doesn’t make sense there could be. If Nebula stops Quill from punching Thanos, do they not get the Gauntlet off him? If Strange uses a portal to cut Thanos in half or to cut his arm off, do they not win? If Thor had managed to strike Thanos in the head or the arm, do they not win? If Strange portalled Carol onto Titan from wherever she was at the time (bear in mind that she was in the future in which they win and that it’s possible to open a portal directly to someone), do they not win? And it’s a similar thing with Ava Starr. Surely she could mess Thanos up if she’d been portalled in

And the stuff that was introduced after Endgame should surely lead to a win too. Everything I mentioned in my previous comment and more. Even if Strange wasn’t done yet, there’s no way that only one of the 14 million possible futures led to them defeating Thanos. And if Strange had said that there were a relatively small number of possible futures in which they win, that would have been believable but there only being one was just a bad writing decision

CaptHayfever2025-12-01 17:41

How could the stuff introduced after Endgame have helped in Endgame? That's like saying "if we had modern medicine in the middle ages, the black plague wouldn't have happened". It's technically true, sure, but useless.

Extra_Age25052025-12-01 18:02

That’s not an accurate comparison. Modern medicine wasn‘t known about in the Middle Ages. Agatha and the Darkhold exist during Infinity War and Endgame. The EDITH drones surely existed during Endgame and possibly Infinity War. Strange likely knew how to do the No Way Home memory spell during Infinity War and Endgame. Omnipotent City existed during Infinity War and Endgame. And so on. These things didn’t pop into existence after Endgame, they existed before that. Why did Thor not go to Omnipotent City, instead of Nidavellir, after the Guardians found him when he knows about it? Why didn’t Strange turn the water in Thanos’ blood or brain into alcohol if that’s something he can do? Wong will portal in the Ravagers to fight Thanos but not Agatha? Natasha didn’t consider asking Red Guardian or the other Black Widows for help in Infinity War?

I guess my criticism here is directed more at the post-Endgame projects that introduced these things than Endgame itself but this is supposed to be a cohesive universe, they weren’t used or brought in by characters who absolutely knew about them and there’s no accounting for why they weren’t involved in Infinity War or Endgame

CaptHayfever2025-12-01 18:16

Again, Strange's predictions are limited by what he can witness, from where he already was, in the time available to him before Thanos arrives.
For example, Strange probably doesn't even know Omnipotent City exists, & he never interacts with Thor throughout the two films to find out about it, so he can neither learn about it from Thor nor influence Thor to go there.
Similarly, he never interacts with Natasha to learn about or lead her towards the other Widows.
The EDITH drones are on Earth; from the time Strange makes his predictions to the time Stark snaps, Strange is on Earth for maybe 5 minutes.

Extra_Age25052025-12-01 18:33

I’m not saying that Strange should have influenced anyone to bring in what I’ve said. I’m saying that there would surely be possible futures in which Thor might have recruited some of the gods from Omnipotent City or Agatha was brought in or Tony used the EDITH drones in Endgame, all of these possible futures would surely have ended in defeating Thanos. I don’t believe that there was only a 1 in 14 million chance of winning. That was already unbelievable in Infinity War. A lot of post-Endgame films and shows just made that even more unbelievable

And it’s retroactively messing with the character writing in Infinity War and Endgame. If Omnipotent City was an option, Thor should have gone there. If Red Guardian and the Black Widows were an option, Natasha should have contacted them for help. If the EDITH drones were an option, Tony should have used them

CaptHayfever2025-12-01 18:36

But without being there to direct their actions, how could their choices change?

Also, keep in mind that people will not always make the best decisions. The story would be boring if they did.

velicinanijebitna2025-12-01 10:58

Nah, Thanos being able to fend them off like that doesn't make sense.

In Infinity War, Ironman fights Thanos with multiple Infinity stones and manages to draw blood from him.

Thor almost oneshots Thanos with all Infinity Stones.

A team consisting of Ironman, Spider-man Dr.Strange and Guardians manages to subdue Thanos (again, with stones), only failing because Starlord got emotional.

Yet in Endgame Thanos with no stones can casually 3v1 Cap, Ironman and Thor? Even with Thor letting himself go, that makes no sense. Endgame buffed Thanos.

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:08

Pretty sure I saw a comment somewhere about OP Thanos being that way because he had a chance to study them using Nebula’s memories. Personally it seems a bit of a stretch because there wasn’t “that” much time, but who knows?

The other reason is that he may have just not tried as hard with the stones.

JDeegs2025-12-01 11:21

There was as much time as he needed; regardless of how long he took to study the memories he's still using the particles to travel to present day.
Wasn't it also theorized that the stones weakened his body?

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:35

Nebula set the portal for 2014, and used the only particle she had to come back, so I’m unsure how much time Thanos had, but they would have needed to agree on a date. Could’ve been days/weeks/months - that was all off screen.

Haven’t seen the theory about the stones weakening Thanos, but that is an interesting point of difference

JDeegs2025-12-01 12:31

Yeah I remember people discussing how the stones and their radiation put a bunch of strain on him, which you can see that he winces when gathering the last stone. So even though he was more "powerful" because of them his physical fighting was weaker. They also made him overconfident as he didnt use his armor or sword once he had the gauntlet.
So endgame Thanos was much more formidable in hand to hand combat

Liam_Roma_12342025-12-01 17:42

All this can be explained by thanos simply being bloodlusted. I don't think it's as confusing as the fans make it. Thanos saw that the universe wasn't grateful after the snap and decided he'd destroy everything this time. He even says so. He wasn't playing around this time. This thanos didn't have the misfortune of being snuck by thor, his attention was on all of them.

Fabricati_Diem_Pvn2025-12-01 11:06

Because the point wasn't to beat him in a fight. He came there to get his hands on the infinity stones. Their job is to keep him occupied until someone else gets those stones out of reach of him. The fact that it went from a simple three-on-one to a full-on army war doesn't change that.

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:10

True, but they just about shattered themselves going toe to toe, one by one, but could have just as easily coordinated and had the same effect.

Fabricati_Diem_Pvn2025-12-01 11:17

Who says they didn't? I'm saying that specifically because there is deleted footage of the main superheroes in a magic time bubble on the field doing exactly that. It was deleted because it felt it distracted more than it actually added, but it may very well be that, given their experience on Titan fighting Thanos, they decided that if the ultimate goal is to play for time, taking turns would actually make them last longer than coordinating an all-out attack.

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:24

This is a good answer. I thought they might last longer though not taking as many hits, but perhaps you are right saying they balanced force with time.

keithstonee2025-12-01 11:06

This is one of those instances where you're thinking about it too much. Cause it's just a movie. Suspension of disbelief and all.

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:12

But then I don’t get to hear the thoughts of a fine bunch of internet strangers … lol

keithstonee2025-12-01 11:26

I mean that's my thought seeing a question like this.

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:30

Fair enough. I do appreciate it.

AnonymousFriend802025-12-01 13:43

You like hearing that your thoughts are wrong? Not everything needs to be discussed, especially when the answer is extremely evident.

AnonymousFriend802025-12-01 13:42

And Rule of Cool.

Cultural_Comfort58942025-12-01 11:29

IW Thanos knew he couldn’t lose

EG Thanos knew he did lose

EG came out shooting with a bigger army and of course he prepared for those he knew were there

The unknown forced him to make adjustments. Captain Marvel and the snapped backs.

Realistic_Analyst_262025-12-01 16:32

EG Thanos knew he won. He achieved his goal. It was just a matter of keeping it that way.

Cultural_Comfort58942025-12-01 17:44

Endgame Thanos saw himself get decapitated!

Plus the time travel he realized he LOST.

That’s why he said instead of half he was going to end all life and start from there.

jojopojo642025-12-02 18:10

The funny thing is, you're both right from a certain point of view.

He won cause he successfully snapped the universe.

He lost because that "grateful universe" wasn't so grateful.

I don't think he actually cared that he got killed, only that the Avengers were trying to reset the status quo he established.

Ehero882025-12-01 11:31

When u in the bring of despair, is js an act to buy time lol....is not big science + in reality people even do worse, with the help of adrenaline for sure.

Mental_Pollution20862025-12-01 11:41

Good point - Psychsocial aspect would definitely play a part. Even Iron Man being constantly distracted by the “is this the 1 time” probably stole his groove for a bit there…

Fatwall2025-12-01 12:48

To quote General Ross, err... Harrison Ford:

"It ain't that kind of movie, kid."

Ranos1312025-12-01 14:11

So first off, in Infinity War, he had the gauntlet so he was more powerful. In Endgame, he didn’t have the gauntlet so there wasn’t as big of a concern of his power. They also needed to keep him from getting the gauntlet. Attack someone from range and they can still move away. Attack them up close and they have to engage you.

Did you even watch the movies? He gets attacked from range multiple times.

IW
- Ironman hits him with a huge hunk of rock and uses beams at various points.
- The entire fight with Dr Strange is ranged.
- Nebula hits him with a ship.
- Thor throws Stormbreaker at him.

I feel like I’m missing one or two but that’s all I can recall.

EG
- Ironman hits him with a massive beam with help from Thor.
- Cap and Thor both hit him from range with lightning, Mjolnir and Stormbreaker.
- Wanda attacks him from range.
- Captain Marvel attacks him from range.

Again, I feel like I’m missing one or two.

And how well did any of those attacks do? The only one that caused damage was Thor throwing Stormbreaker. So if ranged attacks don’t really affect him then why do you want them to use more ranged attacks?

Stormik2025-12-01 14:16

As one wise man once said: "So the movie can happen"

I mean Wanda could easily defeat Thanos if she didn't go full Oberyn. But where'd be the epicness in that?

bokmcdok2025-12-01 14:30

Because it looks cool and is entertaining to watch

Everyoneheresamoron2025-12-01 15:16

Remember in What if? When Vision/Ultron sliced Thanos down the middle with his head lazer?

Remember how anti-climatic that was?

Thats why they didn't just bomb the shit out of him and his ship. It would not make for a good story.

Designer_Pool_84532025-12-01 17:50

Thanos didnt have any stones during the fight in Endgame. That made a HUGE difference

whitepangolin2025-12-01 18:28

You guys are so video game brained it's fucking cooking your media literacy.

It looks cool. Good action to end the movie.

jfcat2002025-12-01 20:14

Captain marvel is strong enough to do the snap. Captain marvel had the gauntlet at one point. Captain marvel can fly FTL.

jsnxander2025-12-01 20:56

... because in the end they're three dudes with a serious hate-on for Thanos and wanted very much to kill him themselves, and beloved as a trio they could.