The Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

This is one of the last few good theater experiences I had before the pandemic hit.  That's mostly what I remember about it.  People openly gasped, laughed, and cried.  I still remember hearing a girl scream when Spider-Man got Blipped.  People were invested.  It was a titanic (pun intended) undertaking that took almost a full decade to build up to one of the most depressing endings in popular entertainment.  Now it feels like this was a lifetime ago.  I suspect people who lost family in the first wave of COVID-19 might see the Snap a little differently now.  And of course, the Time Stone hits a little more after season two of Loki thanks to a fan theory I read that lives in my brain forever now.  You know the one.  This is streaming on Disney+ with all the other Marvel content.  At some point, I'll take a week or so and watch everything (including all the shows) as a full retrospective but it won't be soon.   Originally posted 26 May 2018.    Has everyone seen this?  Can we talk about it yet?  I saw it almost a month ago and I have been waiting so as not to inadvertently spoil it for people.  A friend of mine had that happen to her on Facebook.  Some asshat posted every single death and then shrugged and said "it's been five days.  You should have seen it by now," like people don't have jobs or child care or any other time conflicts.  I don't want to be like that guy.  Nobody likes that guy.

Thanos (Josh Brolin), the Mad Titan, has arrived to claim all of the Infinity Stones.  Only by combining forces with the most unlikely of allies can our heroes have a chance.  Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) try to protect the Time stone while Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) join Bucky (Sebastian Stan) in Wakanda to protect Vision (Paul Bettany) and the Mind Stone while Shuri (Letitia Wright) tries to safely remove it from Vision's head.  Meanwhile, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Groot (Vin Diesel) head off to find a replacement for Mjolnir that has a chance of fighting Thanos even with the Infinity Gauntlet and Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), and Mantis (Pom Klementioff) head to Knowhere to try and keep Thanos from getting the Reality Stone from The Collector (Benecio del Toro).

ZOMG you guys.  EVERYONE* is in this movie.  This is what phases I-III have been building up to show.  It was a huge undertaking and it came together so much better than it had any right to.  I was so worried that Thanos was going to be a boring villain.  Honestly, the bad guys are usually the weakest links.  But the Russo Brothers actually gave him a really compelling storyline of his own, especially his interactions with Gamora.

Look, you know by now that not everyone makes it to the post-credits.  I'm not saying who does or doesn't.  Yes, some of them are going to be permanent deaths.  Contracts end, actors get tired, and writers have to keep you on your toes.  But you also know that Avengers 4 is coming in 2019, so don't lose hope.  They're definitely going to bring some of these characters back.  Most likely.  Probably.  They just have to.  Right?



*except for Ant-Man and Hawkeye.  One has a movie coming in July and I'm betting the other is  going to have a huge emotional scene in Avengers 4 and swear vengeance against Thanos.