Compilation error at line 1 in "string:" : Parse error in ":3} -->
It’s a month where stories come to a conclusion (although from where I’m sitting right now it doesn’t look like Brexit will ever end) and two of the biggest franchises in the world are definitely going to come to a conclusion in April.
Well, when I say end, for one of my picks this month, it will be the beginning of the end as Game of Thrones comes back for its eighth and final season which will only last six episodes. The show returns on April 15 but we’ll have to wait until May 20 to finally see who will end up sitting on The Iron Throne and whether Samwell Tarly finally gets to utter a sentence without stuttering.
With this in mind I’ve been on a bit of a Game of Thrones marathon of late to get myself in peak shape for these episodes. I’ve rewatched every episode (Hardhome is my favourite but The Battle of the Bastards is definitely up there) and am even reading Fire and Blood - the history of The Targaryens.
It’s made a relaxing change from watching the goings-ons in Parliament surrounding Brexit which is remarkably similar if you squint and swap castrations, battles and murders at weddings for Michael Gove.
But if the war between fire and ice isn’t enough to grab your attention there’s another franchise which is just about to reach its dusty denouement and that is The Marvel Universe with the release of Avengers: Endgame on April 25.
Although there will be plenty more Marvel superhero films over the next few years this is the finale of a story that has been brewing through 23 films over the past decade. A pretty impressive feat.
We last saw chief goodie the environmentalist Thanos - SPOILER ALERT - shopping at Homebase having just decided to paint his picket fence in his rural idyll that he retired to at the end of his last film.
As this is a sequel his plans to relax and do some home improvement are bound to be thwarted by those pesky Avengers with their one-liners and jokes about heavy hammers and how the DC comics are just sooooo 1980s.
In all seriousness though, the quality of the writing and the absolute genius of these films mark this ending to this sequence a particularly noteworthy achievement.
Over the past decade, starting with Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man, the Marvel films have elevated Superhero films another level and made them one of the most defining genres of our modern times.
I expect not all of the Avengers will survive this ‘Endgame’ so expect some tears especially from those easily peeved fanboys. It all makes a change from crying over Brexit anyway.
"