Getting to Marvel’s The Avengers was a miraculous achievement in and of itself, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe couldn’t stop there. Indeed, it was only the beginning of long-arching plans that would lead to even bigger battles, higher stakes, and tragic ends. But before getting to the epic scope of something like Avengers: Endgame, Marvel Studios had to convince general audiences that just because The Avengers happened and these disparate characters came together to defeat a common enemy didn’t mean the individual standalone movies couldn’t still have compelling and interesting stakes all their own. Luckily, …