‘Avengers: Endgame’ review: This superhero battle is epic

Audiences are about to be treated to two of the most epic on-screen battles of the deca♎de — all in one week.

On Sunday comes the long-🤪awaited Battle of Winterfell on “Game of Thrones,” the first major tussle between the armies of the living and the dead in Westeros. Our favorite “Thrones” characters, together for the first t🥃ime, will duke it out to save the Seven Kingdoms.

But holding us over until then is “Avengers: Endgame,” the final showdown with Thanos, the purple baddie who decided in last year’♏s “Infinity War” that the only way to preserve the universe was to vaporize roughly half of it. What a time for a geek to be alive!

The very satisfying “Endgame,” naturally, crescendos with a deadly clash of the titans — the heroes of the first 21 Marvel Cinematic Universe films, who have formed a mighty protectorate, versus the fearsome ཧThanos (Josh Brolin). It’s as sprawling and pulse-pounding a fight as you’re hoping it will be.

The whole movie is huge, really, sometimes in a breathtaking manner, and at others like a man-spreader on the subway robbing your poor legs of space. “Endgame” is more than three hours long, and you feel it. There is no major action sequence for the first 80 minutes, and it takes directors Anthony and Joe Russo even longer to conclude that the only way to save the world is time tra𝐆vel, the same method Scott Bakula, Michael J. Fox and Austin Powers have all used before. Weirdly, the Russo brothers have the characters mock their own plot like Don Rickles.

Here is the spoiler-free-ish story: After Thanos offed half the population, Earth resembles HBO’s “The Leftovers,” with the survivors wandering around in a perpetual state of mope. There are group therapy sessions to deal with𓆉 the crushing loss of loved ones and the streets are an apocalyptic mess. All garbage men, apparently, are dead.

The remaining heroes have moved on with their pe꧋rsonal lives, too. Some for the better, like Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr. goes deeper than ever before), and others for worse. Thor now has a formidable beer belly and acts like a surf-shop owner🍌.

After some haranguing, the Avengers decide that the𓃲 damage Thanos inflicted must be reversed by recovering th♎e six Infinity Stones — with the help of science! And their new pal Captain Marvel (Brie Larson).

Captain Marvel’s return after her disappointing solo debut treats her no better. She shows up a handful of times, intervening with her amazing powers and then vamooses. We once again learn𒐪 zilch about Carol Da🐻nvers. The characters from “Black Panther” also play too small a role, considering their enthusiastic fan base.

That said, the superheroes that are still standing at the start of the film — Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hems෴worth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) — are the most emotionally honest they’ve ever been. The Russos, surely coveting that “Black Panther” Oscars slot, let their characters movingly dig into relationships, instead of merely kicking ass and spouting off plot points.

You have to hand it to the directors for their amb𝓰ition in bringing together a clown car full of characters into such a well-told and compelling yarn. And also for their bold ending. After Friday, several beloved Marvel movie franchꦇises will no longer exist as we know them; masks and capes stained with tears.