BEWARE: THIS ARTICLE DISCUSSES THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

CLICK HERE for the spoiler free review

You’ve been warned: Turn back now till you see the film…

FIRST…SOME STRAY THOUGHTS

1. Before this movie, Loki was easily the best and most fully-realized villain in the MCU. That he dies in the first ten minutes of this movie at the hands of the deepest and most nuanced villain in comic book movie history (at least) is fitting.
2. The heroes with the most “plot” are Thor, Gamora and Vision/Scarlet Witch. I don’t think people would have predicted that a year or two ago, but they all shine.
3. On the other hand Captain America does very little. Which is fine; this isn’t Cap’s movie, but it was surprising.
4. Hulk being afraid to come out after getting wrecked by Thanos was another one of those clever little things that adds an extra layer to Banner’s character.
5. Tom Holland continues to be comic book Spidey come to life. Amazing performance.
6. I wanted Stark and Strange to have a “awesome facial hair bros” high five but it was not to be. The clash of egos played out in a realistic fashion, however. It was one of the many team-ups I didn’t know I wanted till I saw it.
7. There were so many hilarious one-liners I wish the movie had captions so I could follow the dialogue after the zings, because it was always drowned out by laughter.
8. Not once did I ever watch Thanos and think “it’s just a CGI construct.” He was a living, breathing being, done so expertly and with so great a story to tell, I would love for Brolin to get at least a nomination out of it.
9. Cap may not have had much meat to chew in the movie, but his silhouette as the train zipped by was perfect. Every character had a perfect intro, in fact.
10.  “Get lost Squidward” or “WHY IS GAMORA?!” — I can’t decided which got the bigger laugh. Although “I am Groot.” / “I am Steve Rogers” slayed.

ON THE DEATHS…AND THE “DEATHS”

1. Gamora’s was beautiful and so well-executed. It had stakes and weight and backstory and plot-relevance all coalescing. The fact that Thanos had to kill her—after killing so many others without a second thought—specifically because he loved her and how that crushed him (but not enough to give up his quest) was beautiful cinema. The fact that Gamora was disgusted at knowing that Thanos loved her was even better. Marvelous storytelling right there.
2. Is Loki dead? The old trope in movies is “they’re not dead till you see the corpse.” Well we’ve seen the corpse of Loki before, so I won’t believe it till I have to.
3. Speaking of seeing the corpse, we never saw Red Skull’s corpse in the first Cap movie. And what a payoff that was!
4. Vision’s death is the most 50/50 for me. With everyone else pre-finger snap, I’m confident they are dead for good (sorry Gamora). The others I’d put money on their return. Vision was different: There was a lot of talk that Vision might be able to “survive” without the stone, but he looked pretty toast when Thanos got a hold of it. He only had small but crucial roles in his two previous movies; I hope we see him again.
5. And speaking of Vision’s death, holy cow: Wanda has to kill him, then watch Thanos turn back time and kill him all over again, rendering her killing him pointless. Savage.
6. What an ending shot: Thanos, the victor, sits on his front porch like someone’s Gramma Ethel and smiles over his success. It’s so ballsy.
7. Speaking of, there were children loudly bawling their eyes out as heroes started falling left and right in the end. Peter Parker’s death was especially powerful and hard to watch.

THOUGHTS ON AVENGERS 4

1. We were told the title was being withheld because it was a spoiler for this movie. So…what’s it going to be? I have no idea.
2. One of the two most important things to keep in mind about all the deaths post-finger snap: The characters that died (especially Black Panther, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy) are the presumed next generation of the MCU. The characters that survived (Iron Man, Cap, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow) are the OG that are presumed to be on their way out. You can’t just turn back time and undo it all then wipe your hands and grab a Shwarma. There has to be cost, sacrifice. The writers of these movies (Marcus and McFeely) understand that, which is why Gamora had to die for Thanos to get the long-lost stone. So if those next-gen Marvel heroes are coming back (and they are, obviously), then sacrifices will need to be made, likely meaning goobye to Cap, Tony, etc.
3. The other important thing to keep in mind about all the deaths post-finger snap: This is all part of the plan. Someone who wasn’t paying attention is going to criticize Dr. Strange for handing over the Time Stone, especially after making such a big deal about letting Stark or Parker die to keep it safe. But he used it before the fight to examine fourteen million different possible futures, and found only ONE where the good guys win. This is that one, and it involved handing over the stone. We just have to wait a year to see what the remaining half of the universe can do to clean up the mess Thanos made.
4. I just have this wild and crazy hunch that the ending to the next Avengers will have something to do with Thanos’ love for Gamora and Stark’s love for Pepper/future baby (maybe also Hawkeye and Ant-Man’s families). Maybe not plot wise, directly, but at least thematically it’ll tie together. Like, I almost want to go out on a very long limb and say Thanos’ love for Gamora drives him to undo what he did in order to bring her back, but that seems too pat. There’s something there though, I think, I just don’t know what.
5. Speaking of Hawkeye, he was notably absent, but I have a terrible feeling he’s going to be on a one-man mission in the next one. That family he retired for very likely turned to ash in front of his eyes. That…can ruin a man.
6. Nick sent out a page to Captain Marvel. Her movie comes out in March but it’s set in the 1990’s. On the other hand the first Cap movie was sent in the 40’s and ended just before the first Avengers. So…
7. Captain Marvel is going to kick so much butt next year, there’s not going to be any butt left.
8. The biggest reaction of any kind came when Tony was stabbed. The whole sold-out audience gasped. If he dies in Avengers 4 it’s going to be devastating and there will be a million discussions online about how Feige and RDJ and everyone managed to make “lol Iron Man?” into a character so important and beloved that his death has ten times the impact as Superman’s in BvS. Ah well.

Needless to say, there is a lot to unpack with Infinity War, probably more so than any MCU movie before it. You can bet more will be written on the film (and next year’s follow-up) in the months to come. In the meantime you’re welcome to talk it out right here. Until then…

See it again!