Make Mine Marvel

[KayW]

Needed a little assistance and a LOT of search engine power, but OTC. Masterfully Made Meta!

[Darth]

Here are a few nudges to help:
Nudge #1 The long answer 38A seems to be central for a reason. How might you parse that?
Nudge #2 It seems we'll be playing our own kind of "end game" to solve the meta. But we might need some superheroes to help!
Nudge #3 42A seems to be sending a signal to look at "the clues" more carefully. Is there a hidden message in the list of across clues telling what to do?

Especially for the non-Marvel crowd ...
Nudge #4 When you Google either "scarlet" or "witch" with the word "Avengers", the top entry shows a Marvel character called Scarlet Witch. That neatly connects 1A and 8A as one of the Avengers.
Nudge #5 It will help to make a list of those in the Avengers films that appear in the grid. Nudge #6 will give you help if you are stuck.
Nudge #6 The others are found here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers:_Endgame
Note: Look for Marvel characters, not actors. For example, Black Widow, but not Scarlett Johansson.

Nudge #7 Remember we are interested in endings, not beginnings or middles. Keep that principle in mind in terms of grid order.

[MatthewL]

OTC (finally), but only with the nudges. Had a vague sort of idea about the mechanism, but needed the nudges to firm it up. Thanks for the puzzle, Darth!

[jhseeman]

OTC....finally....took a slap to the head for me to see it.....
Really great meta.
Thanks Darth.

[Cinny]

Finally off the couch. Should have gotten this sooner. I was on the right path, but got tripped up. Thanks, Darth!

[whimsy]

Never saw any of the movies and so needed all the help I could get.
I guess I can say OTC but it feels more like this --

Very impressive outing, Darth! Thanks!

[CPJohnson]

Solved at last. Needed help.

[Darth]

There's still time. Go ahead, give it a try!

Here are more Wednesday solvers, making a total of 54:
SeamusOL
LindaPRmaven
MatthewL
jhseeman
Cinny
Katiedid
Johnny Luau
Cindy Heisler
rayyandroid
whimsy
LB800
CPJohnson
Laura M

Final tally and the solution will come out Sunday....

[cbarbee002]

Ok, back from the big apple. I had several of the pieces but needed the link to find them all. . . . Clever!

[woozy]

Hmmm.... nudge three never even occurred to me, which is probably a good thing as that would have distracted me from a straightforward solve.

It was a very good and fun puzzle.

[minimuggle]

This was definitely out of my wheelhouse. I have never seen any of the movies so I'm a bit lost even after the nudges and googling. I'm a marvel failure

[straffin]

Off the couch after a nudge or two. Very nice!

[fivehalves]

OTC! Finally, my extensive knowledge of Marvel comes in handy... I thought this day would never come.

[Darth]

Thank you to all of you who attempted this. Here are more solvers to add to the final Leader Board. Total: 69 solvers

Nick
michaelm
david
edestlin
kamashdad
Mikey G
Naptown Kid
SJMcK
straffin
Jeremy Bloomstrom
fivehalves
cbarbee002
minimuggle
Samwise
Qmark

First letter of across answers spell out the message: CHECK THE CLUE ENDINGS FOR A HIDDEN MESSAGE
and the end letters then spell out the message: TAKE THE END LETTER FROM THOSE IN AVENGER FILM

So, the solution was to take the end letter of the seven Marvel characters and order them as the end letters appear in the grip from top to bottom:
Scarlet Witch = H
Nebula = A
Black Widow = W
Tony Stark = K
Strange = E
Nick Fury = Y
War Machine = E

It all spells HAWKEYE.

[whimsy]

Wouldn't you know it, but the first time I ever heard the name Nick Fury was a few years ago when I was looking at the website of the shelter where my son volunteers --

(My daughter had to explain why it was funny.)

[Qmark]

Printed the puzzle last week, but forgot about it until today...didn't need the nudges (and didn't peek at the solution above)...Thanks Darth!

[MaineMarge]

How did you DO that with first and last letters of the clues @Darth ??
That was awesome!!
The whole puzzle must have taken you forever- I’m so impressed.
That was indeed a Marvelous Meta Masterpiece.

[sharkicicles]

whoa, I did NOT see the hidden messages in the clues. That's even more impressive on top of an already impressive meta!