Avengers: Infinity War is a 2018 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2012's The Avengers and 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the nineteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and features an ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, and Chris Pratt. In Avengers: Infinity War, the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy attempt to stop Thanos from collecting the Infinity Stones.
The film was announced in October 2014 as Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1. The Russo brothers came on board to direct in April 2015 and by May, Markus and McFeely signed on to write the script for the film, which drew inspiration from Jim Starlin's 1991 "The Infinity Gauntlet" comic and Jonathan Hickman's 2013 "Infinity" comic. In 2016, Marvel shortened the title to Avengers: Infinity War. Filming began in January 2017 at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, and lasted until July 2017, shooting back-to-back with a direct sequel. Additional filming took place in Scotland, England, the Downtown Atlanta area, and New York City. With an estimated budget of $300–400 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.
Cast
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron ManChris Hemsworth as Thor
Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange
Don Cheadle as James "Rhodey" Rhodes / War Machine
Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa / Black Panther
Paul Bettany as Vision
Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon
Sebastian Stan as James "Bucky" Barnes / White Wolf
Tom Hiddleston as Loki
Idris Elba as Heimdall
Peter Dinklage as Eitri: King of the Dwarves of Nidavellir, and weaponsmith
Benedict Wong as Wong
Pom Klementieff as Mantis
Karen Gillan as Nebula
Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer
Zoe Saldana as Gamora Ariana Greenblatt portrays a young Gamora.
Vin Diesel as Groot
Sean Gunn once again served as the stand-in for Rocket during filming, with his acting and expressions serving as motion reference for the character.
Benicio del Toro as Taneleer Tivan / The Collector
Josh Brolin as Thanos In addition to voicing for the character, Brolin performed motion capture on set.
Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord
Additionally, several other actors reprise their MCU roles: Danai Gurira as Okoye, the head of the Dora Milaje; Letitia Wright as T'Challa's sister Shuri; William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross, the Secretary of State; Kerry Condon as the voice of Stark's A.I. F.R.I.D.A.Y.; Winston Duke as M'Baku, the leader of Wakanda's mountain tribe the Jabari; Florence Kasumba as Ayo, a member of the Dora Milaje;[63] Jacob Batalon as Parker's friend Ned; Isabella Amara as Parker's classmate Sally; Tiffany Espensen as Parker's classmate Cindy; and Ethan Dizon as Parker's classmate Tiny. Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders make uncredited cameos as Nick Fury and Maria Hill, the former director and deputy director of S.H.I.E.L.D, respectively, in the film's post-credits scene.
Thanos' henchmen, known collectively in the comics as the Black Order and in the film as the "Children of Thanos", include Terry Notary as Cull Obsidian, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Ebony Maw, Carrie Coon as Proxima Midnight, and Michael James Shaw as Corvus Glaive. The foursome provided voices and motion-capture performances for their characters, with stuntwoman Monique Ganderton standing-in for Proxima Midnight on set. Ross Marquand portrays Red Skull, the "Stonekeeper" and former Nazi commander of Hydra during World War II. Marquand replaces Hugo Weaving, who had expressed reluctance to reprise the character from Captain America: The First Avenger. Avengers co-creator Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance in the film as Parker's school bus driver, while screenwriter Stephen McFeely cameos as Secretary Ross's aide.
Josh Brolin as Thanos In addition to voicing for the character, Brolin performed motion capture on set.
Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord
Additionally, several other actors reprise their MCU roles: Danai Gurira as Okoye, the head of the Dora Milaje; Letitia Wright as T'Challa's sister Shuri; William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross, the Secretary of State; Kerry Condon as the voice of Stark's A.I. F.R.I.D.A.Y.; Winston Duke as M'Baku, the leader of Wakanda's mountain tribe the Jabari; Florence Kasumba as Ayo, a member of the Dora Milaje;[63] Jacob Batalon as Parker's friend Ned; Isabella Amara as Parker's classmate Sally; Tiffany Espensen as Parker's classmate Cindy; and Ethan Dizon as Parker's classmate Tiny. Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders make uncredited cameos as Nick Fury and Maria Hill, the former director and deputy director of S.H.I.E.L.D, respectively, in the film's post-credits scene.
Thanos' henchmen, known collectively in the comics as the Black Order and in the film as the "Children of Thanos", include Terry Notary as Cull Obsidian, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Ebony Maw, Carrie Coon as Proxima Midnight, and Michael James Shaw as Corvus Glaive. The foursome provided voices and motion-capture performances for their characters, with stuntwoman Monique Ganderton standing-in for Proxima Midnight on set. Ross Marquand portrays Red Skull, the "Stonekeeper" and former Nazi commander of Hydra during World War II. Marquand replaces Hugo Weaving, who had expressed reluctance to reprise the character from Captain America: The First Avenger. Avengers co-creator Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance in the film as Parker's school bus driver, while screenwriter Stephen McFeely cameos as Secretary Ross's aide.
Plot
Having previously acquired the Power Stone from the planet Xandar, Thanos and his Children—Cull Obsidian, Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive—intercept the ship carrying the survivors of Asgard's destruction. Thor, Loki, Heimdall and Hulk are powerless to prevent them from extracting the Space Stone from the Tesseract as Thor is imprisoned, Loki is killed and Hulk is overpowered by Thanos. Heimdall sends Hulk to Earth using the Bifröst before being killed. Thanos then departs with his children and obliterates the ship.Hulk crash-lands at the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York City, reverting to Bruce Banner. He warns Stephen Strange and Wong about Thanos' plan to kill half of all life in the universe. In response, Strange recruits Tony Stark. Maw and Obsidian arrive to retrieve the Time Stone from Strange. After a battle including Peter Parker, Maw captures Strange; Stark and Parker pursue Maw's spaceship, while Banner contacts Steve Rogers.
In Scotland, Midnight and Glaive ambush Wanda Maximoff and Vision. Rogers, Natasha Romanoff and Sam Wilson rescue them, and take shelter with James Rhodes at the new Avengers facility. Vision offers to sacrifice himself by having Maximoff destroy the Mind Stone in his forehead to keep Thanos from retrieving it. Rogers suggests they travel to Wakanda, which he believes has the resources to remove the stone without destroying Vision.
The Guardians of the Galaxy respond to a distress call from the Asgardian ship and rescue Thor. He surmises Thanos seeks the Reality Stone, which is in the possession of the Collector at Knowhere. Rocket and Groot accompany Thor to Nidavellir to retrieve a weapon capable of killing Thanos. There, they and Eitri create Stormbreaker, an enchanted battle-axe. Meanwhile, Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis find Thanos at Knowhere with the Reality Stone already in his possession. Thanos kidnaps Gamora, his adoptive daughter, who reveals the location of the Soul Stone to save her captive adoptive sister Nebula from torture. Thanos and Gamora travel to Vormir, a planet where Red Skull, keeper of the Soul Stone, informs him the stone can only be retrieved by sacrificing someone he loves. Thanos reluctantly throws Gamora to her death, granting him the Soul Stone.
Nebula escapes captivity and requests the remaining Guardians meet her on Titan, Thanos' destroyed homeworld. Stark and Parker kill Maw by ejecting him from his ship and rescue Strange. Landing at Titan, they meet Quill, Drax, and Mantis. Strange uses the Time Stone to view millions of possible futures and states there is only one in which Thanos loses. The group forms a plan to confront Thanos and remove the Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos arrives, justifying his plans to Strange as necessary to ensure the survival of a universe threatened by overpopulation. The group subdues him until Nebula deduces Thanos has killed Gamora. Enraged, Quill retaliates, breaking the group's hold on Thanos, who overpowers them. Strange surrenders the Time Stone in exchange for Thanos sparing an injured Stark, and Thanos departs for Earth.
Upon arriving in Wakanda, Rogers reunites with Bucky Barnes and The Avengers task Shuri with extracting the Mind Stone. Thanos' army invades and the Avengers mount a defense alongside King T'Challa and the Wakandan forces. Banner, unable to transform into the Hulk, fights in Stark's Hulkbuster armor. Thor, Rocket, and Groot arrive on Earth and rally the defenders. Midnight, Obsidian, and Glaive are killed and their army is routed. Thanos arrives and retrieves the Mind Stone, destroying Vision. Despite being severely wounded by Thor, Thanos activates the complete Infinity Gauntlet and teleports away.
Thanos' plan succeeds with half of all life across the universe disintegrating, including Barnes, Drax, Groot, Mantis, Maximoff, Parker, Quill, Strange, T'Challa, and Wilson. Nebula and Stark remain on Titan, while Banner, M'Baku, Okoye, Rhodes, Rocket, Rogers, Romanoff, and Thor are left on the Wakandan battlefield. Thanos, healed, arrives on another planet with the Infinity Gauntlet where he watches the sunset in satisfaction.
In a post-credits scene, Nick Fury transmits a distress signal as he and Maria Hill, among others, disintegrate. The device displays a star insignia on a red and blue background.
The Verdict
Right off the bat, I'm going to say that this is hands-down my favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe film to date, effectively replacing Captain America: The Winter Soldier from the top of my list.
I loved how they essentially threw the Sokovia Accords right out of the window right off the bat. We already seen them ignore it for the most part during the latter half of Captain America: Civil War and briefly in Black Panther earlier this year, so it made sense to have everyone come to their senses on that matter given the scope of what they were dealing with.
After what happened in Captain America: Civil War, I thought Rhodes would have had PTSD after crashing to what seemed like his demise while piloting the War Machine armor. Here, he jumps back into action without a second thought. We were treated to why Ant-Man and Hawkeye were absent from this ordeal - Widow simply states that they were on house arrest with their families. If I could nitpick about anything here, there wasn't enough attention given to his character arc and to what was going on with Bruce Banner/Hulk and Widow reuniting. It was just some awkward silence between those two and we moved to the next scene. I was going, "Don't you two have a LOT to talk about after what happened from the end of Age of Ultron to current?" I guess no one is going to bring up why Widow has blonde hair either. I'm still banking on that she was never Romanoff in the first place and was Yelena Belova all along,but that's a discussion for another day...
After what happened in Captain America: Civil War, I thought Rhodes would have had PTSD after crashing to what seemed like his demise while piloting the War Machine armor. Here, he jumps back into action without a second thought. We were treated to why Ant-Man and Hawkeye were absent from this ordeal - Widow simply states that they were on house arrest with their families. If I could nitpick about anything here, there wasn't enough attention given to his character arc and to what was going on with Bruce Banner/Hulk and Widow reuniting. It was just some awkward silence between those two and we moved to the next scene. I was going, "Don't you two have a LOT to talk about after what happened from the end of Age of Ultron to current?" I guess no one is going to bring up why Widow has blonde hair either. I'm still banking on that she was never Romanoff in the first place and was Yelena Belova all along,but that's a discussion for another day...
Wait, lemme go back a little bit to start of this film... It starts off with the Asgardians that escaped at the end of Thor: Ragnarok being slaughtered at the hands of Thanos and the Children of Thanos (better known as the Black Order in the comics). Thor found himself at the end of yet another beating after his own film with not even Hulk being able to hold his own against the Mad Titan. This sequence sets the tone for this film and gave us the first of multiple shocking deaths in this film, starting with Heimdall and Loki thereafter. Loki's death shocked me more than Heimdall's as I thought Hela was going to off him in the last film he appeared in and I thought Loki would have been around at least for another few Thor sequels - at least until they introduced Enchantress into this continuity. Loki gave Thanos the Tesseract (or Cosmic Cube as how some people thought it was) and Thanos crushed it to reveal the Space Stone within. I swear, if you go back and watch the original Avengers film it's confusing to keep track of all of these Infinity Stones by merely their visual colors, you would be confused. The Tesseract (Space Stone) and Stone within Loki's scepter are both blue, but we would later find out that the Stone in Loki's scepter is the Mind Stone (which is visually yellow) that resides within Vision after his creation in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
One question that's left on the table is the fate of Thor's companions and newfound friends that he made at the end of Thor: Ragnarok, including Korg, Miek, and Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie. Were they slaughtered at the hands of Thanos and his children or were they left to float among the debris within the stars like Thor was until the Guardians picked him up?
Pepper Potts had very short appearance in Spider-Man: Homecoming and her screen time here was just as brief where we found her and Stark chatting about his dream where they had children. Foreshadowing maybe? I don't know - that would be a great way of closure for both of their characters after ten years in this continuity, but I don't see Stark living through Avengers 4. Hell, he barely made it through this film. Wait, wait... I'm getting ahead of myself here.
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| Most of Infinity War's interactions between the Avengers and Guardians in a nutshell. |
The first of many The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones moments (I know, I know.. I'm showing my age here...) occur here as Dr. Strange asks for Tony's help after Bruce Banner/Hulk was sent to Earth by the dying Heimdall to warn the Avengers of the pending threat of Thanos. Shortly thereafter, we get the first of many amazingly awesome action sequences as Dr. Strange, Wong, Ironman (who is sporting the new Bleeding Edge nanotech armor), and Spider-Man face one of the Children of Thanos, Ebony Maw. Ebony Maw seems to have telekiness/magnetic powers akin to Magneto in this iteration when he didn't have powers with his comic book counterpart. In this case, this was a welcome change as it offered a stunning visual display of his powers. Banner is forced to sit on the sidelines for this one as he is having issues transforming back into the Hulk. I'm guessing they are planning a big moment for him in Avengers 4 for when his balls drop again after getting his ass handed to him royally from Thanos when he barely had ONE Infinity Stone (ironically Power for that matter too that he took from the Nova Corps on Xandar... Too bad we couldn't see that encounter, but I guess that's what deleted scenes/DVD extras are for). Strange quickly finds himself in over his head as Maw captures him and retreats on his spacecraft. Spider-Man (now sporting the Iron Spider armor that was teased at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming) and Ironman end up as stowaways on Maw's ship. Spidey ends up showing his age with his references to the original Aliens films as their means to defeat Maw and break Strange free. The Awesome Facial Hair Bros. (so sad that joke/reference wasn't made here...) and Spider-Man collectively agreed upon taking the fight to Thanos on his home turf.
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| Such a hilarious opportunity was wasted here not including this moment in the film, but I'll forgive them this time... |
When the Guardians opted to intercept Thanos on Knowhere before he could get the Reality Stone (aka the Aether from Thor: The Dark World) that was being held by The Collector (remember that this was left his charge after the events of that film by Lady Sif and another member of the Warriors Three), I didn't fall for it for a second that Gamora was going to be able to slay her father that easily. I think they may have fooled the casual fans with that one, but the name of the Stone gave that deception away. It was interesting to see that Thanos still has a definitive hold over her, despite her claims that she wants to slay him as much as Nebula does. I appreciated how this film expresses to how much Gamora and Quill/Starlord care for each other too, to say that it's been downplayed a little over the course of the last two Guardians of the Galaxy films. Don't get me wrong - it's there, but not overpowering the narrative so much to the point like it's Justice League and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice-level annoying with Lois Lane and Superman's relationship. That factor alone made the Guardians more than props to the plot here other than coming across as extra unnecessary baggage.
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| Mantis is so adorably cute that I want to give her a hug. |
While we're on the subject of the Guardians in this film, I felt that they stole the show in terms of the interactions with the rest of the Avengers and various Marvel Cinematic Universe personalities. Mantis and Drax killed it the most by far and their on-screen chemistry shines as much here (if not more so) as it did back in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. That being said, I enjoyed Rocket and Groot's interactions with Thor too, but my favorite Rocket moment came from him and Bucky Barnes teaming up on the Wakandan battlefield and he asking if that gun was for sale. When that offer wasn't on the table, Rocket promised that he was going to get that arm when it was all said and done.
Whoever cast Peter Dinklage as the giant Dwarf weaponsmith Eitri needs to be credited for that stroke of genius there. People are so used to him in the "little person" roles and it was pretty awesome to see him towering over everyone else for once.
I was glad that this film wasn't entirely forcing the comedy left and right (something I didn't care for in Thor: Ragnarok TBH) and established at multiple points throughout the film that this isn't a laughing matter. At the end of the day, this is a film that establishes that all hope is lost for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it stands. Thanos made the promise that he was going to eliminate half of the universe's population and watch the next sunrise in peace, knowing that his job was done.
The title of this film may be Avengers: Infinity War, but this is essentially a Thanos origin story for the MCU, with the stars of the MCU (thus far) serving as guest stars in his rise to power and making his dreams a reality. In one fell swoop, Marvel Studios has effectively ended their so-called "villain problem" that is brought up by critics time and time again. I ask, what is there to complain about now? We've had Kilgrave earlier this year in Black Panther and now we have Thanos - with the icing on the cake that he wasn't killed off in a single film either.
I read feedback on the film and discussed it with colleagues, only to get the perception that people think that this is a "new" take on Thanos. Yes and no. It's "new" in the sense that Thanos isn't written as bland and one-dimensional as he was originally in the comics continuity where his only motivation was pleasing the living embodiment of death called Mistress Death. Y'know as one-dimensional as DC Comics' Darkseid and his obsession over the Anti-Life Equation... I'm sure we'll be hearing about that sooner more than later if the DC Extended Universe doesn't get rebooted anytime soon... FYI he was actually in one of the earlier scripts for Justice League before getting scrapped in favor of Steppenwolf. Thanos himself has evolved in a sense over his motivations throughout the last few decades of his comic book publication history, so I was delighted to see him given this amount of substance. The motivation to eliminate half of the universe's population is still there, but he still cares for his "surrogate daughters" - Gamora and Nebula - as if they were his own flesh and blood. Somehow, Gamora manages to hold the most of his affections over the rest of his children and winds up being the one he needed to sacrifice to obtain the Soul Stone. Oh the irony of that Stone's name... That revelation on what Thanos needed to express his "soul" was lost that everyone should have seen where this was going from all of the flashbacks from Thanos and Gamora's childhood. In spite of that, Gamora's death shocked me a little as I could have sworn that Zoe Saldana still had a few more appearances left in the MCU on her contract. Then again, they could hit the big reset button with the Infinity Gauntlet in Avengers 4 and undo everything so it's like whatever at this point...
Speaking of the Soul Stone, what about that Red Skull reveal as the Stonekeeper? NO ONE can say that they saw that one coming.
I was so happy to see that Marvel Studios finally acknowledged that the character still exists in their continuity, just sucks that Hugo Weaving declined on reprising the role. His loss, I suppose. That's cool that the Red Skull is on table for stuff going forward following Avengers 4 whatever the state of the MCU afterwards.
Let's talk about the Black Order, or rather the "Children of Thanos" briefly. In this film, their roster consists of Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, Corvus Glaive, and Promixa Midnight. No Supergiant and Black Swan in this iteration unfortunately. Ebony Maw was the best of the four, followed by Promixa Midnight's performance. I was expecting a little more from Obsidian and Glaive if I'm perfectly honest. Black Swan's fairly new to the comics continuity, so wasn't expecting her in this film anyway. I was a little bummed out that all of the Black Order were disposed of in one film, but it's not a problem when Thanos has the means to simply undo everything that happened to them in this film anyway with the power of all of the Infinity Stones.
That fight against Thanos on Titan though... HOLY SHIT that was awesome - like ALL of it. Find me a better fight than that out of all of the MCU to date. We were treated to the full display of what Ironman's new Bleeding Edge armor is capable of (something that I'm still mad that they didn't introduce back in Ironman 3 when they brought Extremis on the damn table...), Dr. Strange with countless decades of experience in the mystical arts thanks to his manipulation of time, along with Spider-Man, Mantis, Drax, and Starlord all running defense/support. I'm surprised I didn't throw my underwear at the screen or down the aisle of the theater and needed a cigarette after that one.
Much like Gamora and Starlord's relationship, Scarlet Witch and Vision's relationship was something that was hinted at in Captain America: Civil War, but wasn't really expanded on too much. The comic book savvy fans know that those two become an item and Wanda even somehow conceives children with him, but I know Marvel Studios aren't going to go that far this soon. I was more surprised that Captain America's team didn't have her on the frontlines during the battle at Wakanda, given that she's pretty much the most powerful Avenger they had until Thor showed back up with the Stormbreaker. A part of me was half-expecting Wanda to snap at the fact that she had to live through Vision's death not once but twice - once at her own hand from overloading and shattering the Mind Stone and the second after Thanos ripped it out of Vision's skull after rewinding time with the Time Stone mere moments after. I thought that event would have been the breaking point for her control/restraint on her powers to create a Dark Phoenix level threat to challenge Thanos' power. Alas, Wanda found herself cast aside as easily as the rest of Captain America's team at this point. I suppose that would have been jumping the gun a bit on Wanda's character arc. It took her decades of comics history to get to the point of House of M level insanity from her.
I know people are going to whine and complain that Black Panther (along with his entourage from his film, including Shuri, Okoye, M'Baku, etc.) didn't get much screen time here, but let's just remember that his film came out less than two-three months ago. He had his time to shine this earlier year, let the rest of the Avengers have this. To be honest, Black Panther didn't have much of a major role in the comics in this storyline anyway, so Marvel Studios is doing a massive favor and service to the character to have him and Wakanda itself be the focal point of the film's climax. I saw Wakanda being the same stage and setting as the Battle of Helm's Deep in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Before someone mentions it in the comments, yes, I'm aware that the Black Order attacked Wakanda in the comics before too. I will admit that I'm a little surprised at the lack of interactions for Shuri and Okoye with the rest of the Avengers, but I'll take what we got here. We got a team-up between Widow, Okoye, and Scarlet Witch against Promixa Midnight that was just every bit of awesome that I wanted out of that encounter.
When Thanos magically snapped his fingers and instantly eliminated half of the universe's population - signified by those affected dissolving like dust, Tom Holland's Spider-Man gave the performance of his MCU career thus far that just pulled at my heartstrings. Goddammit the feels in that scene between him and Tony Stark. It definitely broke Tony Stark (even though Thanos nearly did that physically after stabbing through Stark's midsection) since he had to face one of his greatest fears ever since the initial attack on New York back in the first Avengers film - the same thing that gave him PTSD in Ironman 3 and drove him to create Ultron in Age of Ultron. I swear that scene ALMOST broke me. I don't know which one was more fucked up on an emotional level - that scene with Spider-Man "dying" or watching Scarlet Witch being forced to kill the man (or rather synthezoid) that she loves by overloading his Mind Stone with her hex powers, only for Thanos to rewind time and make her experience his death all over again after he forcefully rips the Stone out of his forehead. Seeing Vision's lifeless husk/shell on the ground discarded like trash is up there with Professor Xavier's wheelchair being left on top of his grave in X-Men: The Last Stand on fucked up shit in these superhero films. At least here, I refrained from busting out laughing hysterically like I did during X-Men in the middle of the theater.
When Thanos magically snapped his fingers and instantly eliminated half of the universe's population - signified by those affected dissolving like dust, Tom Holland's Spider-Man gave the performance of his MCU career thus far that just pulled at my heartstrings. Goddammit the feels in that scene between him and Tony Stark. It definitely broke Tony Stark (even though Thanos nearly did that physically after stabbing through Stark's midsection) since he had to face one of his greatest fears ever since the initial attack on New York back in the first Avengers film - the same thing that gave him PTSD in Ironman 3 and drove him to create Ultron in Age of Ultron. I swear that scene ALMOST broke me. I don't know which one was more fucked up on an emotional level - that scene with Spider-Man "dying" or watching Scarlet Witch being forced to kill the man (or rather synthezoid) that she loves by overloading his Mind Stone with her hex powers, only for Thanos to rewind time and make her experience his death all over again after he forcefully rips the Stone out of his forehead. Seeing Vision's lifeless husk/shell on the ground discarded like trash is up there with Professor Xavier's wheelchair being left on top of his grave in X-Men: The Last Stand on fucked up shit in these superhero films. At least here, I refrained from busting out laughing hysterically like I did during X-Men in the middle of the theater.
My Personal Predictions for Avengers 4/Untitled Avengers Sequel
Everything ended on a somber note with this one, so I'm positive that they are going to hit the undo button on all of the character deaths that they got away with here. Out of all of the Guardians that were spared, only Rocket and Nebula are left. I'm 110% sure that Nebula is going to be the one who fixes everything and restores it to normal, but not before she repairs the damage that Thanos did to her body (hence why she has so many cybernetic augmentations) and lands the killing blow on her "father". Gamora and Nebula have pivotal roles in this story in the comics and I doubt that Marvel Studios are going to shy too far away from that here either.
Dr. Strange definitely has an ace up his sleeve from having Tony's life spared so there's that too. Remember that Thor is the only one who has been able to deal some damage to Thanos after getting all of Stones and after the post-credits teaser, the Avengers will have another heavy-hitter in the form of Captain Marvel. Between her, Thor, and Hulk (once Banner gets his shit together), the Avengers still have a few big guns left to throw at this guy. They must have one hell of a back-up plan if Ant-Man, Hawkeye (even though he thought it was absurd for him to be on the frontlines during the finale of Age of Ultron), and Wasp weren't called in to help in Infinity War.
I expect the start of this sequel to start off surveying the damage that Thanos has reaped throughout the MCU after his actions, only to spend the bulk of the film bringing the Celestials (one of them appeared already in previous MCU films - Eson the Searcher in a brief montage during the Guardians' initial meeting with The Collector in Guardians of the Galaxy) to confront Thanos over what he has done, only for them to spite them with the Infinity Stones. The Avengers are brought in as the last line of defense as they want to pull a final Hail Mary plan for revenge for all of the lives that have been lost.
Thanos left the core founding Avengers (for the most part) still alive. That fact along with the reminders that everyone keeps pointing out that those actors/actresses are pretty much checking out as their contracts up with Marvel Studios make me think that Marvel Studios are going to kill them all off permanently, only to have the Infinity Gauntlet resurrect/rewrite their positions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with new blood (read: new actors) as a result. I mean, c'mon... if any storyline would be the best time to bow out and/or introduce new people as replacements it would be this one.
In the original comics, Adam Warlock (FYI Kevin Feige, the Russo brothers, and James Gunn all said that he won't be used in Avengers 3 and 4 as he's being saved for Phase 4 and beyond) played a pivotal role to the final confrontation with Thanos and the fate of the Infinity Gems (now referenced as Stones in the MCU). He had a strong connection to the Soul Stone after having it embedded within his forehead and part of his body for so long. If I were to make a prediction at this stage, I feel that Vision would have a similar role in Avengers 4 with the Mind Stone and maybe somehow connect all of the minds of the people that were "killed" to fight back against Thanos from within the Infinity Gauntlet, giving the Avengers the opening they need to gain the upper hand.
Dr. Strange definitely has an ace up his sleeve from having Tony's life spared so there's that too. Remember that Thor is the only one who has been able to deal some damage to Thanos after getting all of Stones and after the post-credits teaser, the Avengers will have another heavy-hitter in the form of Captain Marvel. Between her, Thor, and Hulk (once Banner gets his shit together), the Avengers still have a few big guns left to throw at this guy. They must have one hell of a back-up plan if Ant-Man, Hawkeye (even though he thought it was absurd for him to be on the frontlines during the finale of Age of Ultron), and Wasp weren't called in to help in Infinity War.
I expect the start of this sequel to start off surveying the damage that Thanos has reaped throughout the MCU after his actions, only to spend the bulk of the film bringing the Celestials (one of them appeared already in previous MCU films - Eson the Searcher in a brief montage during the Guardians' initial meeting with The Collector in Guardians of the Galaxy) to confront Thanos over what he has done, only for them to spite them with the Infinity Stones. The Avengers are brought in as the last line of defense as they want to pull a final Hail Mary plan for revenge for all of the lives that have been lost.
Thanos left the core founding Avengers (for the most part) still alive. That fact along with the reminders that everyone keeps pointing out that those actors/actresses are pretty much checking out as their contracts up with Marvel Studios make me think that Marvel Studios are going to kill them all off permanently, only to have the Infinity Gauntlet resurrect/rewrite their positions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with new blood (read: new actors) as a result. I mean, c'mon... if any storyline would be the best time to bow out and/or introduce new people as replacements it would be this one.
In the original comics, Adam Warlock (FYI Kevin Feige, the Russo brothers, and James Gunn all said that he won't be used in Avengers 3 and 4 as he's being saved for Phase 4 and beyond) played a pivotal role to the final confrontation with Thanos and the fate of the Infinity Gems (now referenced as Stones in the MCU). He had a strong connection to the Soul Stone after having it embedded within his forehead and part of his body for so long. If I were to make a prediction at this stage, I feel that Vision would have a similar role in Avengers 4 with the Mind Stone and maybe somehow connect all of the minds of the people that were "killed" to fight back against Thanos from within the Infinity Gauntlet, giving the Avengers the opening they need to gain the upper hand.
Watch It or Don't Bother?
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| I haven't seen ANYONE mention this or bring it up but this scene from one of the last promotional trailers of the film doesn't happen at ALL in the theatrical release. The clear giveaway is that Hulk is in the background with the Wakandan warriors. |
Are you insane? DEFINITELY watch this - this is the Marvel Cinematic Universe film to see this year. I'm sure everyone is going to be talking about this one until Avengers 4 drops after how the Russo brothers toyed with our emotions here from start to finish.
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| Captain America's first appearance in this film as he catches Promixa Midnight's spear out of the air. |
When I watched this film in the theater on the premiere night (I went Thursday night as I knew I wouldn't be able to survive online Friday morning without seeing spoilers), there were THREE occasions where the audience collectively applauded. 1) When Captain America stepped out of the shadows to help Vision and Scarlet Witch deal with Promixa Midnight and Corvus Glaive. 2) When Thor came back to even the odds with the Stormbreaker during the film's climatic battle in Wakanda. Finally... 3) when the credits rolled.
It took Marvel Studios ten years to build towards this and it was definitely worth the wait.
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