MovieChat Forums > Avengers: Endgame (2019) Discussion > Endgame versus Back to the Future (Spoil...

Endgame versus Back to the Future (Spoilers)

posted 6 years ago by [deleted]
2 replies | jump to latest

On at least two occasions, Endgame basically mocks Back to the Future as 'shit'.

Well, sorry, but even if Endgame's multiple timelines take on time-travel makes more scientific sense than Back to the Future, it robs time-travel of any real sense of dramatic conflict.

Unlike Back to the Future, and most other time-travel films, where there is only one timeline, Endgame offers multiple timelines meaning that Captain America and Iron Man could go back in time, kill their past selves and trigger a nuclear war that decimates millions, without creating a paradox and thus doing any harm to themselves or their friends/family members within their own timeline.

There is no onus on the characters to be careful. Whatever damage they do had no impact.

So, I'm sorry, as enjoyable as Endgame is, and as scientifically coherent as it may be in contrast to Back to the Future (which really doesn't stand much scrutiny when one thinks of it - if there's only one timeline that means everything is set, and by going back in time to change the future you basically set up a paradoxical series of events that ultimately preclude the need to go back in time), I'd still argue the following from a dramatic/entertainment perspective:

Back to the Future trilogy > Avengers: Endgame

[–] ultravioletx (10237) 6 years ago

I'm not convinced there are no stakes primarily since the brand of time travel they use is through the Quantum Realm. I guess in the context of Endgame there aren't universe-ending stakes but for certain characters in this universe I am convinced there indeed will be those kind of stakes. Not only is Dr Strange's job going to be much harder in keeping all these timelines together but now there's a 2012 Loki on the loose. Endgame also did a good job showing how a character from a different timeline like Thanos from 2014 can come to 2023 and wreak havoc. Really it just comes down to how an individual audience member feels. But if anyone thinks about it long enough they will discover real stakes that can affect the whole MCU.

[–] movienchill31 (225) 6 years ago

I too feel that time travel was better handled in BTTF than Endgame. The idea of multiple timelines instead of one can be a bit confusing and be a real challenge to handle. Especially with Cap’s SL where he goes back and alters his life. Technically when he went back and stayed in 1945 and lived out his life there, he probably wasn’t involved in the battle in Endgame between all the Avengers and
Thanos because in that battle Thanos breaks his shield and we clearly see the shield is practically brand spanking new when he hands it over to Sam. So I’m thinking Cap retired sometime after Civil War and Infinity War.