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This post contains SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame

In Avengers: Endgame's final battle scene, 22 movies' worth of superheroes assembled to defend the universe against Thanos. The movie introduced none of them; every character had appeared in at least one prior Marvel film.

Sequels often involve new characters as foils highlighting attributes of the protagonist(s). Think of Harvey Dent and the Joker in The Dark Knight or Khan and Lt. Saavik in The Wrath of Khan. (Wait, Khan had been in that one TOS episode. KHAAAAN!)

In the case of Saavik, her regulation-following, very Vulcan personality helped present Spock as a more nuanced pointy-eared officer and friend. By the end of the movie, Kirk describes Spock in a way no one would have in the prior motion picture:

Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human.

(wipes away tear)

While the preceding Avengers: Infinity War also offered no new protagonists, it at least brought Thanos and the four members of his Black Order to the stage.

So what's the deal with Endgame, a critically acclaimed, box office success with a completely unoriginal cast?

While moviegoers had familiarized themselves with the heroes in previous Marvel movies, Endgame followed in the steps of other Avengers films by telling the story of the characters meeting each other for the first time. The Avengers (2012) thrived on the conflict of putting the contrasting personalities of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Co. in the same room. Infinity War later threw Doctor Strange and the Guardians of the Galaxy into the mix. Finally, Endgame added a little Ant-Man, Captain Marvel and the citizens of New Asgard. These well known characters acted as foils for one another. In Endgame, Tony Stark's Pym particle-assisted encounter with his own pre-parenthood father demonstrated the growth in Iron Man's character from the “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” audiences first met more than 10 years ago. Endgame didn't need any new characters because it already had 22 movies worth of foils.

Either that or so few people have seen every Marvel movie that everyone's a new character to someone.

For more discussion of Avengers: Endgame that also involves references to Star Trek, check out RedLetterMedia's Half in the Bag (NSFW for stronger language than even Dr. McCoy).

BONUS: Astute readers might be saying, “Hey, there was a new character in Endgame!” They would be correct.

So who was the one new character, and what role did they play in the story?

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