Avengers: Endgame: Is it really as good as Black Panther?

Avengers: Endgame has not enshrined itself as the best movie by reviews of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it’s tied for first with Black Panther.

As a collective, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has some high-quality movies. None of them are rated as rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, with the lowest-scoring films still coming in fresh at 67 percent (one of them is Thor: The Dark World, which is fair). But, as IGN noted on Twitter this morning, Avengers: Endgame has something of another record for itself. As of this writing, it and Black Panther currently share the top score: 97 percent. Ostensibly, this means that they’re equally good.

But, in the technically misquoted words of Thor in the tied-for-fourth Thor: Ragnarok, “is it, though?”

We’ll start with Rotten Tomatoes’ own Critics Consensuses for both.

Black Panther:

"Black Panther elevates superhero cinema to thrilling new heights while telling one of the MCU’s most absorbing stories — and introducing some of its most fully realized characters."

Avengers: Endgame, meanwhile:

"Exciting, entertaining, and emotionally impactful, Avengers: Endgame does whatever it takes to deliver a satisfying finale to Marvel’s epic Infinity Saga."

Even here, you can notice some key differences in what’s being praised. Black Panther is about “superhero cinema” as a whole. Avengers: Endgame, despite having a much larger scope in terms of plot, is mostly about the Infinity Saga. Granted, Culturess’ own critic, Kristen Lopez, liked both, but the same question of scale is raised. Black Panther is “a legendary entry,” while Avengers: Endgame “is sure to satisfy fans.”

This doesn’t mean that Avengers: Endgame isn’t good. From all the reviews, it seems very good. But it doesn’t seem to be the game-changer of cinematic quality in a blockbuster that Black Panther was and still is. Unfortunately, that’s a lot of nuance to sift through.
In other words, it’s fine that both movies have the same score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, will we be talking about the fully-realized world and the style of Avengers: Endgame? Will we be furious years later about characters like Shuri? Or will we only be marveling about how much money Avengers: Endgame has managed to rack up and its impact on the MCU only?

Only time will tell, but we should have more answers come Avengers: Endgame, hitting the theaters this weekend.