Will Avengers: Endgame Win An Oscar?
Like Thanos, is an Academy Award inevitable for Avengers: Endgame?
The Walt Disney Company and Marvel Studios are sure hoping so, as the studios have officially launched their "for your consideration" campaign for the super-sized superhero film.
Disney and Marvel are pushing for Avengers: Endgame, currently standing as the best-earning movie of all time, to be nominated for the following Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director (to filmmaking siblings and Marvel mainstays Joe and Anthony Russo), Best Adapted Screenplay (to scribes Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely), Best Cinematography (to Trent Opaloch), Best Original Score (to Alan Silvestri), Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
That's a lot of Oscars to be gunning for, though it's not at all unlikely that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will end up nominating Avengers: Endgame for all 12 awards Disney and Marvel have their eyes on. Black Panther made history when it became the first-ever superhero movie to be nominated for Best Picture, so Avengers: Endgame, which earned just as incredible reviews as Black Panther did and earned far more money at the box office, could score that particular nomination. Likewise, both the Russo Brothers and writers Markus and McFeely have more than left their mark on the cinematic landscape with Endgame, having crafted what went on to become the biggest movie in the history of film. It's not out of the realm of reality to think that Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations are in the cards for Endgame's creative team.
The same can be said for the cinematography, the score and sound mixing and editing, the production and costume design, the film editing and visual effects, and the makeup and hairstyling. Avengers: Endgame has received plenty of kudos for its stunning visuals, its incredible costume design (those silvery-white Quantum Realm suits were spectacular), its swelling score, and its amazing makeup and hairstyling — particularly on actor Chris Hemsworth, who donned a fat suit, long beard and tangled wig, and heavy prosthetics to become "Fat Thor" in the flick.
In all, it seems very likely that Avengers: Endgame will earn most — if not all — of the Academy Award nominations Disney and Marvel want it to. It's anyone's guess whether Endgame will walk away from the 2020 Oscars ceremony with a golden statue, but chances are high.
No love for Mr. Stark
Unfortunately, it seems the Oscars that won't be floating Avengers: Endgame's way are any Best Actor or Best Actress awards, as Disney and Marvel haven't submitted for any of the film's stars to be considered for Academy Awards.
This has come as quite a shock to fans, who were crossing their fingers and hoping that Robert Downey Jr. would receive at least a Best Actor nomination for his stunning work as Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man), who sacrificed himself for the safety of the world in the final moments of Avengers: Endgame.
It's even odder that the House of Mouse and the House of Heroes aren't campaigning for Downey Jr. to nab an Oscar given that Joe Russo previously went on record to state that he would submit Downey Jr. for Oscars consideration. He said shortly after Endgame opened in theaters, "His cumulative body of work from these movies is staggering. If you look at the work over just even the last four [Marvel] films he's done, it's phenomenal... He deserves an Oscar perhaps more than anyone in the last 40 years because of the way that he has motivated popular culture."
Now, the lack of Best Actor and Best Actress nominations in Avengers: Endgame's 2020 Oscars campaign could be down to Disney and Marvel not wanting to pick and choose which of the film's stars "deserve" an Academy Award. The movie's cast was practically a mile long, with dozens of beloved stars making up the main roster, so it would certainly be a major feat to nail down a handful of actors and actresses to be included in the Endgame Oscars campaign. Though it comes at the cost of not recognizing Downey Jr., someone whom many feel rightfully deserves an Academy Award win, not submitting anyone in Endgame for Best Actor and Best Actress Oscars is for the best, as Disney and Marvel have skirted around the possibility of being accused of "playing favorites."
Check back with Looper for updates on Avengers: Endgame's chances at Oscars success. Then, tune into the 92nd annual Academy Awards on Sunday, February 9, 2020.