Hayward: ‘Avengers: Endgame’ and the Golden Age of Mega-Storytelling

“Avengers: Endgame” made over a billion dollars worldwide in its first weekend, shattering just about every record the Hollywood publicity machine bothers to keep. That’s because Endgame is more than just Part 2 of a single story, but the culmination of a 22-film series (plus a few short films and loosely-connected TV shows) that racked up almost $20 billion in combined ticket sales.