'Avengers: Endgame' reviews praise an epic, emotional conclusion

Nothing will prepare you for Avengers: Endgame.

The culmination of over 10 years of MCU movies will release in a matter of days but until then, spoiler-free reviews of it are finally in.

Mashable's own Angie Han has dubbed it Marvel's biggest flex, and understandably so. It manages to wrap up with an immensely satisfying end.

For more spoiler-free goodness on what to expect, read on: 

Keep those tissues handy

A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Settling scores, wrapping up loose ends and taking a victory lap — the main objects of the game this ostensibly last time around — generate some comic sparks as well as a few honest tears.

Brian Tuitt, USA Today

Endgame is tragic and uplifting, rousing and grounding, while leaving minds racing and making everybody cry (even the toughest guys).

The payoff for long-time fans is worthwhile indeed

Anne Cohen, Refinery29

As in Infinity War, it’s a ton of fun to see characters we’ve never seen interact finally meet. But this movie takes the crossover conceit to the next level, playing on a decade’s worth of accumulated material in inventive way that plays on old assumptions, but also winks at our knowledge of this complex and intricate universe.

Michelle Jaworski, Daily Dot

Endgame mostly sticks the landing with a satisfying conclusion, providing a final act to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that emotionally resonates in surprising ways. It’s full of thrills on an even grander scale than ever before (and the bar was already pretty high to begin with), and it’s a massive love letter to everything that came in the MCU before it.

David Sims, The Atlantic

For devoted fans, it functions as a greatest-hits clip-show package. It’s filled with hat-tips and winks to the audience—forgivable pieces of indulgence given the goodwill the series has built up with millions of viewers. The film works to resolve conflicts beyond Thanos, fights that were first kindled in movies such as Captain America: Civil War or Thor: Ragnarok

Oh yeah, Endgame will rely on time travel (lookin' at you next, Game of Thrones)

A.O. Scott, The New York Times

The story, which involves time travel, allows for some greatest-hits nostalgic flourishes, and the denouement is like the encore at the big concert when all the musicians come out and link arms and sing something like “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” You didn’t think it would get to you, but it does.

Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

But there is an Ant-Man with a plan: Paul Rudd’s ageless, shrinkable Scott Lang may have the seeds of a time machine that would allow the crew to go back and gather the Infinity Stones that triggered the original, terrible snap. 

Peter Debruge, Variety

Thanos has destroyed the stones. That means the universe is stuck like this unless someone invents time travel. Spoiler alert: Someone invents time travel — which feels like a skill so far beyond the reach of modern science that maybe it should’ve qualified as a superpower and, if memory serves, might even have been among Doctor Strange’s abilities, except that the super-wizard (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) was one of the casualties of Infinity War.

Jason Guerrasio, Business Insider

It's hard to not have fun with a time-travel plot. That includes figuring out how the time travel works as well as putting a spin on it that makes fun of classic time-travel movies. (Sorry, in the MCU time travel doesn't work like Back to the Future.) Add a heist aspect — again, not going to get into details — and you have gold.

The action is truly mighty

Brian Tuitt, USA Today

Endgame unleashes the largest and most fist-pumping, goosebump-causing, insanely destructive action climax in a superhero movie yet. Good luck to anybody trying to surpass this one, because the mold’s been broken.

Alex Abad-Santos, Vox

Endgame’s climactic battle sequence is easily the most colossal and spirit-soaring superhero brawl ever created. It’s made of that Marvel miracle stuff that hits you with chills and throws your heart into your throat.

Jason Guerrasio, Business Insider

And you don't get cheated on the action either. The movie has one of the most fulfilling, all-out battle sequences that I've seen in a long time.

Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26.