2019: The Year of Endings (AKA What I’m Looking Forward To in 2019)

2019 will be upon us in a matter of hours, and there is already so much to look forward to. It is a tradition of mine every time the new year rolls around to look over all the things that I have to look forward to in 2019. Now that I have this blog, I thought “why not share it with everyone?”

Then I suddenly realized that a lot of the things I have to look forward to in the new year involve the end to stories that I have followed for years. So I decided to call 2019 “The Year of Endings”.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly

BROLY’S LEGEND FIRST BEGAN IN 1993, WITH BICEPS BIGGER THAN GOKU’S HEAD AND A HEART THAT LONGED TO BE FREE!

Broly Chronicles, Team Four Star

This is the Dragon Ball film that fans have waiting for. The reason can be summed up in a single, five-letter word: B-R-O-L-Y.

Debuting in the 1993 film Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan, Broly has proven to be among the most popular villains in the Dragon Ball franchise. This is in spite of the criticism to his backstory, which Team Four Star has summed up as being “really dumb”. So when it was announced that a reworked version of Broly was going to be the main villain in the next Dragon Ball film, fans went bananas. It premieres on January 16th in the US, and I got tickets for opening night. And you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m going to write about it after I’m done! If the reviews are any indication, though, I am not going to be disappointed.

Kingdom Hearts III

To say that I have been waiting for this game would be an understatement. It has been six years since Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. That’s the same amount of time since Square Enix first announced this game. On top of that, it’s been nearly fourteen years since Kingdom Hearts II came out. So, I have been waiting for a long time.

I’m gonna get that game, then I’m going to play it until I beat it on the hardest difficulty. It’s as simple as that. And I hope that it is one of the best games that I have ever played, or I am going to feel an empty hole in my heart for the rest of my days.

Captain Marvel

First referenced in the post-credits scene of Avengers: Infinity War, she is going to be playing a big role in Avengers: Endgame. Before that happens though, Marvel is going to take us back to the origin of Captain Marvel.

Taking place in the 1990s, the movie is going to give us the origin story of the titular hero as she uncovers the secrets to her past as she protects Earth from an intergalactic war. It also shows more about the past of Nick Fury and how he came to know Captain Marvel. Plus, Phil Coulson will be coming back! He’s been plenty active in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but the last time he was on the big screen was in the original Avengers movie. This will be a welcome return.

With this being the only film left before Endgame, there’s a lot riding on this film. Knowing Marvel and Disney, I am not worried. It’s going to be weird seeing Blockbuster again, though.

Avengers: Endgame

Dear god, where do I even begin with this. There’s not enough time in the day. This is part two to the story that the MCU has been building up from since the very beginning. Everything we have seen, everything that has happened, has all led to this moment. Infinity War ended with the Avengers be completely defeated by Thanos as he wiped out half the universe. This movie is going to be about picking up the pieces and figuring out how to fix things. The stakes have never been higher.

I know that Thanos’ actions will be largely undone. The fact that there’s another Spider-Man film coming makes that clear. Still, there is no guarantee that not every hero is going to make it out of this movie alive, which makes it all the more agonizing to have to wait for. If you’ve read the comics this is based on, you can get a bit of an idea of how this might end, but I am still excited to find out.

This film is going to mark the end of the MCU as we know it, with a new status quo being set up afterwards. It’s the end of an era for Marvel. Perhaps the most bittersweet thing about this film is that it will be one of the final confirmed appearances of Stan Lee doing his cameo. Something in my gut told me that the story of Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet was always going to be Stan Lee’s final cameo, and I was right. It’s fitting that the finale to this stage of the MCU will include a final appearance behind one of the men who created Marvel. I think I might cry when I see him.

Game of Thrones Season 8

For nine years, Game of Thrones has shocked and captivated audiences around the world. I could spend an entire blog talking about how big the show has become. But the Song of Ice and Fire will be coming to its end in April 2019. And it is going to be one of the biggest events in television history.

So many questions are going through my head about the final season: who is going to live? Who will die? Will Westeros survive the White Walkers or not? Given the show’s history, I will not be surprised to see some of the remaining characters die, but we simply don’t know which ones will! Everyone is on the chopping block in the finale; literally everyone. While I wish for either Jon or Daenerys to make it out of the show alive, I am trying to make peace with the fact that they may not.

There’s only one thing I want more than anything in the final season: to see Cersei Lannister die. If she dies, I hope it’s by one of the following:

• Jaime Lannister kills her himself.
• Arya Stark kills her
• If she is pregnant, she dies giving birth to a dwarf.

While I’d love for her demise to be violent and painful (she deserves it), I’m hoping it’s option three for ironic reasons. The best kind of reasons. If Westeros freezes over, I’ll at least have the satisfaction of seeing her get what she deserves.

Star Wars: Episode IX

The new Star Wars Trilogy will be coming to an end in 2019. Disney is keeping a really tight ship in regards to that, though, so I don’t have anything to show of it. What I do know is that it takes place one year after Episode VIII and that it claims it will be the final chapter of the Skywalker saga. I don’t know about that, but if this is the finale to Star Wars as we know it, then it’s going to have to work extra hard.

I’ve been on the fence about the sequel trilogy since the beginning, to be honest. I thought that Return of the Jedi was already a great way to wrap up the story of the Skywalkers. That, and the franchise had been carried on by books, TV shows, and video games that spanned into the future of the original cast and thousands of years into the past. It felt like a waste to see most of that shoved to the side. So I have taken the sequel trilogy with a grain of salt.

I also didn’t like how they turned Luke into, in my own words, a whiny old man. He was almost the complete opposite of the Luke I watched and read about as a kid. I just hope that this is going to be good.

End of the Road

The end of the road is always a bittersweet moment, but one that we have to deal with, eventually. I have so many things to look forward to in 2019, and many of them involve endings to stories that I have followed for years. Mind you, they are not ending for good. Game of Thrones already has a prequel series planned. I think Square Enix will continue Kingdom Hearts someday. And I know that Disney is not going to give up on Star Wars or the MCU. They already have the next Spider-Man film set for July.

It’s going to be an interesting year for everyone, and I honestly can’t wait to see what 2019 brings us. So, from me to you, HAPPY NEW YEAR!