Avengers: Endgame is around the corner, so I am continuing my rewatch. Also check out A Winged Potato’s review.
Title: Avengers Infinity War
Director: Anthony and Joe Russo
Writer(s): Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Characters created by: Stan Lee and many different artists including Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck. The story is inspired by Jim Starlin’s 1991 The Infinity Gauntlet comic and Jonathan Hickman’s 2013 Infinity comic.
US Release Date: April 23, 2018
Budget: $316–400 million
Worldwide Box-office: $2.048 billion
Returning characters: Steve Rodgers, Tony Stark, Thor, Bruce Bannee, Natasha Romanov, Sam Wilson, James Rhodes, Bucky Barnes, T’Challa, Vision, Wanda Maximov, Peter Parker, Stephen Strange, Peter Quill, Drax, Gamora, Rocket, Groot, Mantis, Loki, Heimdall, Wong, Virginia Potts, Ned Leeds, Okoye, Shuri, M’Baku, Nebula, Johann Schmidt, Thaddeus Ross, Ayo, Taneleer Tivan, Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Thanos.
Summary: Having acquired the Power Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones, from the planet Xandar, Thanos and his lieutenants intercept a spaceship carrying the surviving Asgardians. As they extract the Space Stone from the Tesseract, Thanos subdues Thor, overpowers Hulk, and kills Loki. Heimdall sends Hulk to Earth using the Bifröst before being killed.
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. Strange recruits Tony Stark. Maw and Obsidian arrive to retrieve the Time Stone from Strange, drawing the attention of Peter Parker. Maw captures Strange, but fails to take the Time Stone due to an enchantment. Stark and Parker pursue Maw’s spaceship, Banner contacts Steve Rogers, and Wong stays behind to guard the Sanctum.
In Edinburgh, Midnight and Glaive ambush Wanda Maximoff and Vision in order to retrieve the Mind Stone in Vision’s forehead. Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Sam Wilson rescue them and take shelter with James Rhodes and Banner at the Avengers Facility. Vision offers to sacrifice himself by having Maximoff destroy the Mind Stone 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. Rocket and Groot accompany Thor to Nidavellir, where they and Eitri create Stormbreaker, a battle-axe capable of killing Thanos. On Knowhere, Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis find Thanos with the Reality Stone already in his possession. Thanos kidnaps Gamora who reveals the location of the Soul Stone to save Nebula from torture.
Thanos and Gamora travel to Vormir, where Red Skull, keeper of the Soul Stone, informs him the stone can only be retrieved by sacrificing someone he loves. Thanos reluctantly kills Gamora, earning the stone. Nebula escapes captivity and asks the remaining Guardians to meet her on Titan.
Stark and Parker kill Maw and rescue Strange. Landing on Titan, they meet Quill, Drax, and Mantis. The group forms a plan to remove Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet after Strange uses the Time Stone to view millions of possible futures, seeing only one in which Thanos loses. Thanos arrives, and the group subdues him until Nebula deduces that Thanos has killed Gamora. Enraged, Quill attacks him, allowing Thanos to break the group’s hold and overpower them. Stark is seriously wounded by Thanos, but is spared after Strange surrenders the Time Stone to Thanos.
In Wakanda, the Avengers, alongside T’Challa and the Wakandan forces, mount a defense while Shuri works to extract the Mind Stone from Vision. Thor, Rocket, and Groot arrive to reinforce the Avengers. Thanos arrives and despite Maximoff’s attempt to destroy the Mind Stone, removes it from Vision’s head, killing him. Thor severely wounds Thanos, but Thanos activates the completed Infinity Gauntlet and teleports away.
Half of all life across the universe disintegrates, including Barnes, T’Challa, Groot, Maximoff, Wilson, Mantis, Drax, Quill, Strange, and Parker. Stark and Nebula remain on Titan while Banner, M’Baku, Okoye, Rhodes, Rocket, Rogers, Romanoff, and Thor are left on the Wakandan battlefield. Meanwhile, Thanos watches a sunrise on another planet.
MCU Continuity Nods:
- Hawkeye and Ant-Man are absent from the movie, but are mentioned.
- In the Sanctum Santorum, Tony Stark pulls out the flip phone that Steve sent him atthe end of Captain America: Civil War.
- Anthony and Joe Russo confirmed that Valkyrie survived the attack on Thor’s ship at the beginning of the movie, and is off somewhere in space with the remainder of Asgard’s survivors, unaffected by Thanos’ finger snap.
Easter Eggs:
- White Wolf in the comics was T’Challa’s adopted brother, Hunter, who was the leader of Wakanda’s secret police, the Hatut Zeraze.
- Thanos’ reality bending attacks on Mantis and Drax during the fight on Knowhere are callbacks to a scene in the original comics, where Nebula was transformed into ribbons, and Drax was sliced into cubes.
- Rogers’ costume in this film captured basic elements of the Nomad character.
- The Incredible Hulk crashing into Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum is a nod to the comic book “The Infinity Gauntlet” #1, where the Silver Surfer is the one to crash through Strange’s window and warn of the threat of Thanos.
- Natasha Romanoff sports a whitish-blonde hair color, making her resemble Yelena Belova, who, for a while, impersonated Black Widow in the comic books.
- The new Spider-Man suit is based on the Iron Spider outfit from the comics. Like its movie counterpart, it was also created by Tony Stark.
- In the bottom right corner of Thanos’ field, there is a brief moment where viewers can see a scarecrow made out of his armor.
- The Vision’s all-white look is a reference to one of his looks from the comic books.
- Stormbreaker is named for the Asgardian hammer given to Thor’s comrade Beta Ray Bill.
Stan Lee Cameo: a bus driver in New York
Iynfinity Stone: For the first time, all six stones are combined
Post/mid Credits Scenes: Before he and Maria Hill disintegrate, Nick Fury is able to send a signal to Carol Danvers.
My Take: I don’t think that it’s a stretch to say that Thanos is the most compelling villain in the MCU. There are a lot of great moments: Cap’s entrance, Drax’s stillness, Widow & Okoye vs. Midnight, Spider-man popping in and out of Strange’s circles, Thor arriving on the battlefield. Another thing I liked is that each character got a moment to shine and a pretty good line. The experience of watching a Marvel movie at this point is more like watching an episode of a premium television show. Very little exposition is given, and that’s great, as it doesn’t get in the way.
Next: Ant-man and the Wasp