"Come on, man, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards."
I'm not doing spoiler code in a spoiler thread. You've been warned. Seriously, what are you even doing in this thread if you don't want to be spoiled? And believe me, you really should go into this film unspoiled!
Infinity War is genuinely surprising and so much damn fun. Hilarious and devastating. Ambitious and heart-breaking. And lives up to the hype.
So many wonderful character moments and interactions, particularly anything with Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, Thor, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Gamora, and Star-Lord. Everyone had a moment to shine, but those characters shined especially well. I love how four of the biggest egos in the galaxy all wounded up on Titan together.
Thanos in particular was well-fleshed out and ranks among the MCU's best villains, alongside Killmonger, Adrian Tomes, and Loki. As much as I loved his attempts to woo Lady Death in the comics, I think the Russo brothers made the right choice to change his motivations to believing that the universe needs to be culled in order to survive. A mad notion for certain, but it is an understandable one from his perspective. With that perspective in mind, his motivation to collect the Infinity Stones becomes clear, even admirable in a mad sense.
I'm amused how amongst all of the speculation I've seen on this forum and the plethora of articles I've read, no one came close to accurately guessing where the Soul Stone was and what form it took (mind you, somebody might have guessed it correctly but I didn't see it and I read a
lot of speculation). I like how the acquirement of the Soul Stone was different from the other five and that it came at a price. I'm a little surprised how long it took Gamora to figure out what was going to happen, but I did appreciate how that scene gave Thanos a certain amount of depth. Up to that moment, I wasn't entirely sure if he genuinely cared for her.
As soon as I heard the voice coming from the cloaked figure, I immediately recognized the voice as Hugo Weaving. There's no disguising that uniquely silky voice. Nonetheless, I was still surprised it was actually Red Skull because I simply didn't think it would be him.
I love that Peter Dinklage played a giant, subverting expectations on the type of character he would play and what a dwarf king might look like (I don't know what Eitri looks like in the comics). The special effects for him were a bit dodgy, but I didn't care. I love me some Peter Dinklage!
The deaths: I was not shocked at all by Loki's death, but I was happy it was a hero's death, one that Thor almost avenged at the end. Heimdall's death wasn't surprising either considering the set-up at the end of
Ragnarok. Weird how Valkyrie was nowhere to be seen, as well as Korg, but I hope they survived to see another day. Gamora's death was expected as soon as the nature of Soul Stone was revealed, but that didn't make it any less heartbreaking. I actually thought Tony was going to buy it for a second, but I'm not surprised he didn't considering he'll have to play an important role in the next film. Vision's death was especially heartbreaking because it happened
twice. First by Wanda's forced hand and then again by Thanos when he restored the Mind Stone thanks to the Time Stone.
I'm thinking those deaths will actually remain permanent. Obviously, Thanos' 50% of the universe finger-snapping will be reversed and the plethora of characters we saw fade away will return. What I
am curious about is how quickly will those deaths be reversed. I can't imagine so much of the next film will lack the likes of Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Black Panther, and Star-Lord, but I could be wrong. I also wonder if we'll actually see Nebula briefly take hold of the Gauntlet as she did in the comics and she'll be the one to reverse the deaths.
Interesting how the trailer had
several misleading moments that were either different or completely absent from the film: 1) Mantis' wave to Thor was on her own when Thor, Groot, and Rocket left the ship and not standing with the Guardians as a whole; 2) Spider-Man swinging through the wreckage on Titan omitted his spider legs and carrying Mantis; 3) Most notably, the group shot of many of hour heroes running into battle which included the Hulk did not happen, simply because the Hulk never emerged after Bruce returned to Earth. There may have been a few other moments but those were the ones that stood out the most to me.
I'm guessing that the lack of Ant-Man, Hawkeye, Valkyrie, as well as Wasp and Captain Marvel, are part of a deliberate set-up for the sequel. Much like in the comic mini-series, there is a moment where the surviving heroes are gathered together to attempt another attack on Thanos...although that will be rather difficult this time around considering it was Dr. Strange who did that. Perhaps that's something Captain Marvel will do instead?
