After 11 years of having Tony Stark lead the Marvel Cinematic Universe, his chapter has come to a close in the recent blockbuster film Avengers: Endgame. May 2 was the anniversary of the release of Iron Man, the first movie to be released under the guise of the MCU. When The Incredible Hulk released a month later in 2008, it was easy to expect that the massive success of Iron Man was just a fluke. But his story wasn’t ready to end yet.

When Avengers: Endgame released on April 26, millions of people came to theaters to watch the conclusion to the story of the father of this generation of Marvel superheros. With all of the popularity and suspense they’ve created throughout the years, Marvel accomplished something never done before- a billion dollar first weekend. However, despite the undeniable excitement fans had for this movie, there was some moments that didn’t sit right with everyone.

One of the most difficult jokes that was in this movie was Thor’s “depression bod”.

After having dealt with the death of nearly all of the citizens of his kingdom Asgaard, as well as his brother, mother, and father, within a short span of time, he fell into a spiral of sadness. To represent this, as well as make sure they got their comedic effect, directors Anthony and Joe Russo made Thor become an irritable, alcoholic, video-game addicted overweight man. And although many of these characteristics can actually be signs of depression, the humorous lense the Russo brothers showed this through bordered on making fun of mental health rather than trying to normalize it.

The Russo Brothers definitely tried to fit a bunch of representation of people they didn’t know how to represent in this movie. For months before the release date, the directors teased about a Marvel character being introduced who is the first to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community.

When watching the movie, I’ll admit that even I forgot that they had even teased this because the character was.. Not a character. Their supposed gay representation was a couple of lines from an extra who was played by one of the directors who had teased it all along, explaining a date they went on with another guy. When it comes to representation, that’s not exactly enough to believe the creators of this movie actually are trying to be inclusive.

However, even if there was a couple more sore spots about the movie, the good definitely outweighed the bad. The entire movie is centered around being a fanservice ending to a generation of Marvel, which means they catered to the fans in every way. From inside jokes to long awaited storylines, the fans got the ending they deserved, even if it’s not what they wanted.

Many individual stories gathered together towards the end of Endgame that prepared the new Disney streaming service that’s coming to fruition soon. From Loki ending up with a tesseract that would enable him to continue on adventures, to Captain America passing his shield on to Falcon with the Winter Soldier in the background watching, they have plenty of content to work with.

Captain America’s storyline, though slightly bittersweet and questionable, was endlessly pleasing to fans as well. Getting the chance to see Captain America summon mjollnir in the middle of battle was an experience in of itself, and seeing him use it effortlessly for the rest of the movie felt fitting. Even when he traveled back to return the stones they used to snap half the universe back into existence, him staying with Peggy might be a little off character for him but he deserved it. After dedicating himself to the world his entire reborn life after having had to give up the love of his life, there was only so much time before he had to go back. And plus, we didn’t have to see him die. At least we have that.

Although many people are disappointed that this is the official end of Tony Stark’s personal story in the universe, it’s undeniable that his passing was completely on brand and heartwarming.

Everyone expected Tony to die, but dying to save the entire world and then passing as Peter Parker and Pepper Potts stand around him made it, oddly enough, not sad. Pepper’s words to Tony telling him he can finally rest showed how much this original snap from Thanos had affected him. He must have lived his entire five years in pain about something he was incapable of preventing, and finally got the chance to get redemption.

There’s nothing sad about that ending — only pride, love, and hope for the future.