‘Avengers: Endgame’ Was Majorly Influenced by ‘Star Trek’
The Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s epic Avengers franchise has created some of the most popular and most successful films in history.
The saga is made up of a staggering 22 movies in all, culminating with Avengers: Endgame in 2019. If you’re a Star Trek: The Next Generation fan, you may have picked up on some similarities between the show and the final film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
What Happens in ‘Avengers: Endgame’?
Avengers: Endgame is the sequel to Avengers: Infinity War. It features an all-star ensemble cast, including Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/ Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), and more.
The film finds the Avengers universe decimated and in chaos after the devastation of Infinity War. Left defeated and scattered, the surviving Avengers assemble once more, teaming up with their remaining allies in a final stand to reverse the damage and potentially save those who vanished. The movie takes a look into the past, present, and future of the MCU.
Endgame hit theaters on April 26, 2019, and was widely praised for its acting, directing, action sequences, and visual effects.
According to Box Office Mojo, the movie had the biggest opening weekend of all time, grossing $1.2 billion worldwide. It went on to smash several other box office records, including becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time per Variety, making a total of more than $2.8 billion globally.
What was ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ about?
Star Trek: The Next Generation ran for seven seasons, from September 1987 through May 1994. It’s the third series in the Star Trek franchise and follows the adventures of the crew aboard Starfleet starship, the USS Enterprise.
The show was set a century after the original series. It starred Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker, Brent Spiner as Lieutenant Commander Data and LeVar Burton as Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge.
The show was extremely popular, peaking at 11.5 million viewers, according to Trek Today, during its fifth season in 1992. The series spawned four movies and several spin-offs.
How was ‘Endgame’ inspired by ‘Star Trek’?
Marvel head and Avengers producer Fiege is a self-proclaimed Trekkie. During a Vudu Viewing Party on Twitter in August 2019, he was questioned about why he decided to flash forward five years in Endgame.
Responding via the official Avengers Twitter account, Fiege revealed: “I liked the idea of allowing our characters to evolve. When I was a kid, the finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation did this very well, and more recently, Veep did a great job.”
The series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “All Good Things…”, features Jean-Luc Picard traveling through time to the past, present, and future. Picard flashes back to the show’s first episode, seven years before. He then jumps ahead to the future, when the crew is no longer together, all to stop an anomaly from destroying the universe.
The poignant episode ends with Picard in the present, for the first time taking a seat at the crew’s regular poker game. Many consider it one of the best series finales of all time.
Similarly, Endgame jumps forward and backward through time to try to change the course of history. The movie flashes forward five years, showing a glimpse of the future lives of each Avenger.
It also goes back in time, allowing fans to reminisce about where each character started, while exploring several eras of the MCU. Where “All Good Things…” is a celebration of seven seasons, Endgame is a fitting culmination of the Avengers franchise.
