Avengers: Infinity War

I am going to warn you now that there will be SPOILERS in this post. So if you have not seen Avengers: Infinity War yet, please stop reading and go see the movie. Seriously, I do not want to ruin the movie for anyone.

It is insane to think that Iron Man came out ten years ago. When it came out, the idea of a full on, comic book universe where the movies were all linked together and would eventually lead to a team-up of the Avengers seemed pretty unrealistic. I mean, c’mon, you are going to get actors to sign multi-movie deals? Just the actor salaries alone would cause the budget to be extremely bloated. It was a pipe dream.

And yet, eighteen movies later and here we are. An entire comic book universe on the big screen. The movies have had their moments where they became formulaic, but Marvel fixed that by going different routes. Marvel has branched out into the more comedic, but also the poignant. There are no limits to what they can do with their characters at this point. Will people eventually grow tired? Possibly, but it does not seem anytime soon.

Okay, so I think that was enough build up. Again, there will be SPOILERS from here on out. I am done reminiscing about the past. Time to talk about the movie…

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

You have been warned…

Wow. Where do I even start? The movie was incredible. It has everything: humor, sadness, action (lots of action), a complex villain…I think I need to do this my favorite way: bullet points!

-I loved that the movie focused on Thanos and his quest for the stones (I am going to refer to them at all times as Infinity Stones and not gems like they were called in the comics because…I can do whatever I want). The flashbacks and his relationship with Gamora set up nicely what happens to her.

-His plan or maybe his overall mission, was a little weird. He wants to wipe out half the universe’s population in order to create balance because he believes there are finite resources and eventually the universe will run out. Granted, this is no weirder than the comics where he is trying to impress Death. However, what really worked was the way they portrayed him as this weary conqueror. He was tired and just wanted to finish what needed to be done. He does not revel in it, he does not want to be the Master of the Universe or anything like that, but instead, he sees something that needs fixed and he feels he is the only person up to the task. Josh Brolin pulls it off very well. The ending of Thanos sitting there watching the sunrise, you almost feel happy for him…then you remember that he just killed half the universe. It takes a skilled actor to really bring us to that point and Brolin did it. Similar to how Michael B. Jordan did it in Black Panther.

-I love being wrong. I think so many of us thought the Soul Stone would end up in Wakanda. I mean, it made sense, right? Black Panther can communicate with his dead ancestors, Wakanda seems to be the site of the major battle. It just fit so well (although–I thought it a little weird that 50% of the Stones would be on Earth). The story works so much better though that the Soul Stone was on another planet and that to gain access, Thanos has to sacrifice something he loves. It was a little telegraphed, as soon as Red Skull says it and Gamora starts laughing, everyone (well except Gamora) realizes what it means. I would imagine that the people who are upset over the Soul Stone being somewhere random are people who invested way too much time into theorizing about where it was and convinced themselves that it had to be in that spot.

-I also love to be right. I called it somewhere about the opening scene, and I mentioned in some Facebook post that I thought Loki would die right at the beginning. Good for me. I was wrong about a bunch of other stuff though. I did not foresee the Hulk being afraid to go against Thanos after their first fight. I do not know if most people got that, but it goes to show just how powerful Thanos is that the Hulk is afraid of him.

-So much of the movie was funny character pairings. I mean, first you get the Guardians with Thor, Peter Quill trying to sound like Thor (the whole Peter getting fat thing was great “that’s it! I’m getting a bowflex!”). Then we have Dr. Strange and Tony Stark (Strange calls him a d-bag, I loved it). Although, I found it weird that Stark and Strange did not know each other from before. I feel like the worlds top neurosurgeon would have met Tony Stark at some point, right? Spidey and Peter Quill–“Is Footloose still the greatest movie of all time?” Rocket & Winter Soldier “can I have that gun? Okay, how ’bout that arm? I’m going to get that arm.” Thor & Groot “yes, I can understand him, I took (whatever Groot is) language as an elective.” Suri and Banner “why didn’t you do it this way?” Peter Quill and Tony Stark (we saw that in the trailer), especially as they start fighting each other. And probably a bunch more that I am forgetting. The movie is full of great jokes. Did I read somewhere that James Gunn was brought in to help write the Guardians scenes to make them seem like themselves?

-When Thor shows up with Stormbreaker (along with Rocket and Groot), and he just goes berserk with destroying just about everything, the entire theater had this positive emotion running through it. Then he slams the maul into Thanos and you think “well damn, that was actually pretty easy.” But it wasn’t. Thanos whispers to Thor “should have went for the head.” Then snaps his finger. Just like that people start disappearing. Half the universe is gone. The shocking part was which heroes were left. Everyone expected Captain America, Iron Man, maybe even Thor to die. But instead, at the end of the movie we are only left with the originals (and a few side folks). Here are the dead: Winter Soldier, Groot, Drax, Mantis, Peter Quill, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Wanda, Dr. Strange, Falcon, War Machine, and Vision. Okay, technically Vision dies before that.

-The Peter Parker death scene was pretty tough. “Mr. Stark, I don’t wanna go. Don’t let me go.” Or whatever he was saying. Granted, we are all fairly certain these deaths are not permanent, but it was still hard on the audience.

-There was another almost death earlier in the film that hurt. When Thanos stabs Tony, especially the whole “I hope people remember you” and that Stark has his respect. But then, Dr. Strange gives up the Time Stone if Thanos spares Tony’s life. This is significant. Remember that Strange saw all of the possible futures and in one of them, they defeat Thanos. In that future, Stark must play a huge part and perhaps he saw Thanos with the Time Stone. At that moment, Strange realizes that Stark’s life is more important than his own and the Stone. Pretty cool.

-I am glad the movie ended the way it did. The buildup for the next movie is insane now. I can only imagine how much speculation there will be over the next year. Here is my prediction: Tony and Nebula find a way to Earth. Cap and Tony make up (my guess is Tony has a new and improved shield for him). Somehow they will go up against Thanos again and together they will be able to get the Infinity Gauntlet from him. One of them will have to use it to reset what Thanos did, but in doing so it will kill the user (my guess is Captain America, as he probably has the willpower to handle six Infinity Stones, but who knows). Iron Man will have to hold of Thanos somehow (or maybe vice versa). Or maybe I am way wrong here. Who knows? Is it May 2019 yet?

-I am also glad that they did not introduce any of the things we were all speculating about these past few months. I am happy that Hawkeye did not turn out to be a Skrull (granted, this could happen in the next movie) or that the ending did not introduce the Fantastic Four somehow. I feel like it would have been very cramped to explain stuff like that, or it would have felt like an add-on. Maybe in the next movie, there will be room to do it, which would be okay. As long as it fits.

-Okay, the post-credits scene. Damn, Marvel going old school with just one scene and it was at the very end! It was a good one though. Nick Fury and Agent Smulders…and they both die. But not before Nick hits a button on some older looking transmitter, which says “SENDING” and then we see the Captain Marvel symbol. Do not worry folks, we will learn all about her next year in the Captain Marvel film, which is set in the 1990s. I cannot wait!

What did everyone think about the movie? Any crazy theories yet?