Avengers: Endgame has been repeatedly described as a cultural moment. It’s the culmination of 11 years, 22 movies, and the thousands upon thousands of hours, blood, sweat, and tears given by the casts and crews of this massive undertaking. Nothing like the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever existed before.

Sure, franchises have existed before, but those always focused on one set of main characters, one villain, and one story. The MCU is the combination of multiple franchises, all set within the same continuity, all building off of one another: something that only fans of comic books could appreciate until 2012. Harry Potter is a franchise. The Avengers is something new.

I was seven years old when Iron Man came out in 2008. When the first Captain America movie came out in 2011, my friends and I walked around all day saying, “Every bond you buy is a bullet in your best guy’s gun,” over and over until we were honestly annoyed with ourselves. When Spider-Man finally made the leap into the larger universe, I was sitting in a theater bouncing up and down with anticipation. When Thanos snapped, I was devastated at seeing all the characters I’d spent years getting attached to start disintegrating. I spent the greater part of my second semester in Environment Science talking about what might happen in Endgame (sorry Mr. Spratt!).

Just like many other students at CHS, I grew up with these characters and their stories; it still boggles my mind that the first movie came out when the current freshman were only three years old! I spent Thursday night in a theater with my sister on my right and my best friend on my left, watching the first chapter of this epic saga come to an end. I laughed, I cheered, and I cried, and by the end of the night, my voice was coarse, my eyes were heavy, and the only thing I wanted to do was watch the whole thing over again.

When superhero movies work well, it isn’t because of the huge final battle or the epic storyline, but because behind all the fantastical powers, every hero is human (or racoon, or andriod, or alien). Avengers: Endgame would mean nothing to anyone if we didn’t care about the characters, and the reason that it’s making so much money is because of the emotional connection the audience feels to all of these characters, even the Mad Titan himself.

To many, Avengers: Endgame is more than just a movie. It’s the culmination of 11 years, 22 movies, and countless hours of ignoring lectures about algal blooms to discuss the contents of the newest trailer and wonder how Scott Lang could have possibly escaped the Quantum Realm. It’s the bonding over the shared connection to this fictional world.

For current high school students, it’s the end to the first chapter of a saga that’s been running the vast majority of our lives, and the delivery on the promise of a certain purple dude at the end of 2012’s The Avengers.

To me, Avengers: Endgame was everything I ever hoped it would be and more. I loved every second of it and I honestly can’t wait to see my little brothers geek out over it in basically the same way I did on Thursday night.

Endgame broke the record for highest grossing opening weekend of all time, making $350 million domestic $1.2 billion worldwide. Some even think this may be the first ever movie to make over $1 billion domestic. But above all of that, the real reason that it made so much money is because Thanos has a sword. I mean, come on, how cool is that?