Endgame's Return To Battle of New York Showed How Each Avenger Changed

Avengers: Endgame's trip back to The Avengers' Battle of New York showed how much the original six heroes changed. Marvel Studios' Phase 1 ended with the Joss Whedon culminating film, bringing together the franchise's top hero for the first time against Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his army of Chitauri. Its box office and critical success solidified Kevin Feige's plans of interconnected storytelling, with the film still one of the best MCU installments thus far.

Seven years later, Marvel Studios revisited The Avengers' climactic battle via Endgame. As part of the heroes' mission to collect all six Infinity Stones through traveling back in time, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) revisited the Battle of New York in the hopes of swiping the Mind, Space and Time Stone. Tony and Steve, in particular, got to see their old selves up close and personal, with the latter even battling his former self which made for some of the best bits in the 2019 Joe and Anthony Russo movie.

While the trip to 2012 didn't take that long, it showed fans how the original six MCU heroes changed from the time they first assembled to their final one. Here's how each hero changed between 2012's Battle of New York and 2023's Endgame time heist.

Iron Man

As the inaugural hero for the MCU, fans spent the longest time with Iron Man. His arc is arguably one of the best character journeys on the big screen, as Marvel Studios continuously developed it over the span of 11 years across 10 films. He's known for his snappy dialog and sarcastic remarks, and that's something evident during The Avengers. After the Battle of New York, however, Tony's narrative only became more tragic. He suffered PTSD in Iron Man 3; felt guilty over Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron; learned about the devastating reality of his parents' deaths in Captain America: Civil War; and lived his worst nightmares in Avengers: Infinity War.

Tony was at his lowest point at the beginning of Endgame, and the five-year-time-jump helped him rebuild a brand new life with wife Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and daughter, Morgan. While he maintained his sense of humor throughout the years, with so much more to personally lose, he's more focused on the mission in Endgame.

Captain America

The Avengers was Steve Rogers first foray into the modern world after being frozen in ice for decades. In the 2012 film, he was still trying to reconcile with his re-emergence while adapting to the rapidly changing world around him, having the mission to stop Loki gave him a sense of normalcy since it's something familiar to him. However, he struggled to see eye-to-eye with some of his teammates, especially as he was adamant that the team did things the way he knew how.

In Endgame, Steve was more relaxed, and better adjusted in the modern world since he's been in it for almost 10 years. He's still unwilling to compromise his morals, but he was more malleable with unexpected changes and was not opposed to being more ingenious with his schemes. As the only hero who was able to encounter his old self face-to-face, these changes were more explicit, as even he's frustrated with his 2012 counterpart earnest "I can do this all day" catchphrase.

Thor

For the longest time, Marvel Studios wasn't sure how to approach the God of Thunder until Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok established a more comedic version of the character — something that stuck with him since. He became more humorous, which was ironic considering the string of tragedies he experienced in the last several years. Endgame's trip to The Avengers' Battle of New York reminded fans how Thor was originally in the franchise — on top of the physical changes, old Thor was also more stoic and straightforward. His Shakesperean manner of speaking (something Tony made fun of during their initial encounter) differentiated him from the rest of the heroes — it emphasized how he's a god who walked among humans. As his adventures consistently brought him back to Earth, he slowly adapted to human being's way of life and essentially became an honorary Earthling. It's the reason why despite the Asgardian being more advanced than their Midgard counterparts, he opted to settle New Asgard in Norway.

Endgame revisiting the Battle of New York also highlighted just how contentious Thor's relationship with Loki was. As they wrapped up in the Stark tower, the God of Mischief made some snarky comments forcing his brother to put a mouth guard on him. In recent years, Thor was more understanding of Loki, this was particularly obvious in Ragnarok. By the time Infinity War rolled out, the brothers appeared to finally be on the same page. Of course, it also had something to do with Loki's arc, but Thor learning to handle his brother's mischievous ways was a big step in his character development.

Hulk

Hulk's biggest transformation happened off-screen during the five-year time-jump in Endgame with Bruce Banner successfully incorporating his consciousness to his alter-ego and transform into Smart Hulk. As the first 2012 hero the time travelers encountered when they returned to the Battle of New York, Smart Hulk had the chance to see how beastly and mindless his past self was, and he's quite embarrassed with his behavior. He was also whiny, more like a petulant child as seen when he's forced to take the stairs rather than the elevator unlike his better-mannered contemporary.

Aside from these glaring changes, the character has also had subtle character development since Ruffalo's version made his debut in The Avengers. Over the years, Banner has become less meek than he was when fans first met the actor's iteration in the Whedon film. Instead, he became rowdier and jittery in a humorous way, evidenced in his team-up with Thor in Ragnarok. This was a divisive creative choice for Marvel Studios as some felt that this sacrificed the nuances of the character in the service of becoming funnier.

Black Widow

Endgame revealed just how Thanos' (Josh Brolin) snap gravely deflated Black Widow's (Scarlett Johansson) spirits as she saw her second family turn into dust in quick succession. The time heist didn't show much of her, but in the brief moment in which she was featured as they were wrapping up Loki's arrest after The Avengers' climactic battle, there's an obvious carefree air from her — as if there's nothing that truly scares her. Perhaps it's Natasha Romanoff's spy training or her years with S.H.I.E.L.D., but it seemed like she treated the Battle of New York as just a typical mission, despite the fact that it was about preventing a hostile alien takeover. While she's focused on stopping Loki, she was more motivated to succeed in Endgame because the mission was personal to her; it was something that she truly cared about. It's not just about saving the world, it's about potentially bringing back her friends and family who perished five years before.

Hawkeye

Clint Barton as Ronin in the rain in Avengers: Endgame

While Hawkeye first made an appearance in 2011's Thor, it was in The Avengers that he was properly introduced. After being mind-controlled by Loki for the first two-thirds of the film, he finally joined his fellow heroes in protecting Earth. Clint Barton was also fueled by his personal vendetta against the God of Mischief for using him against his will in The Avengers. He was much more invested in Endgame, however. After his run as Ronin, he joined the rest of the team for the time heist as, like Natasha, his family's (albeit his biological one) future hinged on it. Both deadly spies were cold-blooded during the Battle of New York. Despite not having super-abilities or a flying metal suit, they were just as involved as their better-equipped counterparts. It didn't bother them that they're fighting a battle out of their league because they're somehow confident that they'll pull through. With so much more at stake in Endgame, Hawkeye, as well as Nat, knew they're once again way out of their league, but despite that, they were willing to do whatever it took to ensure they succeeded.

With the MCU moving forward from the Infinity Saga, Avengers: Endgame is the last time fans will see the original six heroes assemble — at least for quite a while. It was nice that the time heist allowed fans to look back at The Avengers and see how much they developed as characters since the first time they came together to defeat a common enemy.

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