Face-Negotiation Theory in Avengers: Endgame

The movie Avengers: Endgame demonstrated a very defeated cast of characters in the wake of the previous Avengers movie. The main antagonist, Thanos, had killed off half of every living being in the entire universe with literally the snap of a finger. The Avengers had banded together to take on him and his army at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, but they were unsuccessful. The plot of Endgame opens with the heroes trying to find Thanos and undo the action he had performed. Whenever the heroes finally get a hold of him early on in the film, they find a very defeated villain who had destroyed the infinity stones, which were his main source of power. They were the reason he was able to destroy half of all life that existed. They sought out the conflict of facing him down a second time, only to find him living a hermit-like life far away from any other civilized life in the universe. Later on in the movie they find out that they have a means of traveling through time, so they go back in time in order to gather all of the infinity stones before Thanos is able to. Sacrifices were made along the way, and they are able to come up with a plan to locate each of the stones to undo Thanos’ actions. However, Thanos’ past-self catches onto the Avengers’ plan, and he and the heroes finally have a giant final showdown where all of the previously deceased heroes from the past movie came back to take on Thanos and his army.

Conflict is a prominent factor in face-negotiation theory. Face, in face-negotiation theory, is described as, “… an extension of self-concept… the projected image of one’s self in a relational situation” (438). When it comes to conflict, there are five distinct responses which are, “avoiding (withdrawing), obliging (accommodating), compromising (bargaining), dominating (competing), and integrating (problem solving)” (439). Each of these responses depends on the faces of those involved in conflict. Those who are more independent are, “more self-face oriented, so this concept of self is prevalent within individualistic cultures,” whereas those who are more interdependent, “self value we-identity and emphasize relational connectedness, and are therefore closely aligned with collectivist [cultures]” (441).

Whenever the Avengers first attack Thanos in his hut out in the middle of nowhere in the universe, his initial response is not to fight, but to accept his fate because he knew there was nothing they could do to change the outcome of his actions. His reaction to their initiation of conflict was obliging, because he gave into their attack. In fact, Thor, one of the leaders within the Avengers, beheads him without a valid reason because he does not resist. The Avengers in this scenario were utilizing the dominating conflict approach because they wanted their way and were willing to use force to get it. They were surprised to see him completely compliant to their attack. Later on in the movie, two of the main characters are attempting to acquire the soul stone, which is one of the infinity stones they required in order to restore the lives of half of the universe. Hawkeye and the Black Widow find themselves realizing that one of them will have to sacrifice themselves in order to acquire the soul stone. Both of them come from very different backgrounds. The Black Widow comes from a very individualistic background because she was a trained spy who had been taught to never get attached to anything so that she would be able to be a field agent with nothing to lose. Her initial reaction is to sacrifice herself because she believes that she had nothing to lose by doing so. She runs in head first without compromise. Hawkeye comes from a more collectivist culture because even though he is an American, he has a family with two young daughters which he wants to protect. His initial reaction is also to sacrifice himself because he wants his family to be able to live in a universe that would be safe for his family. He also runs in without compromise. The two bicker and fight each other physically because each of them are willing to make the sacrifice without consulting the other. Their conflict was an example of what happens when two people approach conflict in a similar way despite being from different cultural backgrounds.