The Avengers, AoU, Infinity War, & Endgame films

[Clement Rage]

Back. I was expecting a good film I didn't like, but got an okay film I thought was okay.

I was weirdly detached most of the time,

Spoiler

Even the deaths felt oddly weightless, because I think most of em won't stick.

 

[Lulcielid]

Just came from seeing it, my thoughts:

Infinity Wars was everything it needed to be as a big loud party movie celbrating 10 years of fandom build up, doubling on the humour, the action, the emotions and the characters and doing everything Avengers did in 2012 but bigger.

As a standalone movie is pretty lackluster with little "substance" and lots of spectacle and funny characters but, looking the movie with these lens is missing the point of what Infinity War is and what it wants to say. Just like Avengers, this movie is a celebration of everything that Marvel has built on this franchise, the characters, its quirks and gimmicks, action, its cliches and tropes, emotional investment and more, this amalgamation of movie's substance IS its big and loud spectacle of crossover stravaganza.

That doesn't mean its inmature, here Marvel shows that they have heard its most common criticisms and you can see that they have been excercising on improving (most of) its shortcomings, and by doing so they delivered a thrilling opponent, surprsing developments (for their standards), many many emotions and an incredibly polished popcorn blockbuster like nobody's bussiness.

This is AVENGER: INFINITY WAR

That's my rambling nonsense of what I though of the movie, great stuff.

I'd rank it as the fifth best MCU movie, behind Black Panther, Guardians 2, Winter Soldier and Guardians 1 respectively.

 

[Tetsujin]

Just got back from Berlin. Saw it last night in IMAX.

Fresh impressions:

Holy fucking SHIT

OMG

That was incredible

I have so many thoughts about shit that happened.

Spoiler: ENDING SPOILERS AND OTHER SHIT

I still keep thinking about the ending. Obviously they're gonna undo all those deaths but the way it was presented was haunting and amazing.

All the non-finger snap deaths are probably gonna stick I reckon.

Eitherway, a lot of heroes will be gone for the next movie. Man I'm so stoked for Avengers 4. And Captain Marvel. That ending tease!

I guess Ant-Man and the Wasp might take place before IW then. I can't imagine them going on lighthearted jolly shrinkeroo adventures when half the population is freakin dead.

...how is Agents of SHIELD story even gonna react to these events?

Also, Thanos was great.

I like how the movie wasted absolutely no time, just jumped straight into Thanos massacring the Asgardian refugee ship. What a mood whiplash after the jolly Thor Ragnarok!

And then having the Hulk jump in immediately only to get the shit beaten out of him. Goddamn! Thanos did not mess around. SAVAGE.

Man, the movie was PACKED. It somehow felt a lot longer than 2h30m but in a sort of good way. Like, it felt really long but at the same time the pace was just breakneck. Shit kept happening.

I wanna see it again. Why can't an IMAX Laser theater be in my hometown. Why damn you

 

[Tennyo]

Very good movie. I've seen it twice now. The first time it felt a bit disjointed, the second time felt like it flowed better.

I think one thing people need to keep in mind about this movie is that

Spoiler

despite it being titled as an Avengers movie it kind of was, in a way, Thanos's movie. We were following his story arc. And now I'm assuming the next movie will focus more heavily on, and give more development to, the heroes.

I do have to admit that I didn't feel as emotionally devastated by this film as a lot of other people seem to have been. Maybe it's because I know the majority of the people who "died" will come back. There's only one character who I am certain is doomed for sure, and ironically they survived Infinity War.

I did think Groot and Spider-Man's deaths were the saddest, though. You do feel for the characters since you know they they have no idea they are coming back, and you know they are scared by what's happening. Tom Holland especially had some top-tier acting in his final scene. And Groot because, well, he's Groot, and you only want to see good things happen to him. He was so brave earlier in the film when they were forging Stormbreaker. <3

And now Vision... you guys think he's dead for good or you think he'll come back.

And my friend I saw it with last night was all distraught over Loki. I've never been that attached to him so I'm not too fussed with whether or not he'll come back. I do, however, question having all of the Asgardians killed RIGHT AFTER everything that happened in Ragnarok. I mean man, that's just harsh. :/

But Heimdal, tho. Nooooooooooo

HOWEVER, how about that POST CREDITS SCENE???

Spoiler

I screamed. Some guy sitting a few seats down was like, "what does that mean?"

In which I promptly explained the significance.

I mean I know they are currently filming Captain Marvel but seeing the first real reference to her in these movies was awesome~

 

[Lulcielid]

First impressions aside, what scene of the movie made the people in your room go F*YEAH!! by its awesomeness?

In mine people went nuts when

Spoiler: Awesome Stuff

Thor, Groot, Rocket arrived at Wakanda, followed by Thor going all out with "GIVE ME THANOS!!" and wrecking alliens.

 

[Tennyo]

Same both times I saw it, especially the first night. Everyone cheered.

 

[Lulcielid]

After recaping what happend in the movie, I realized that Benedict Cumberbatch comment of him being one of the few people that 'read the whole script and knows the "true plot" of Infinity War' is a wit meta-joke spoiler from his part .

Spoiler: Explanation for whoever didn't get this for....reasons (&#3232;_&#3232;)

Dr. Strange going forward in time an seeing over 14 millon possible endings.

 

[Claymore]

I'm going to have to come back later and write up a proper post but ... DAMN! The stunned silence in the cinema on that fade to black just said it all. Damn.

Incredible film.

 

[Tetsujin]

Also, anyone else annoyed that

Spoiler

after Thor lost his eye in Ragnarok they immediately undo it and just give him an artificial eye in this?

Let him keep the badass eyepatch dammit!

 

[Tashasaurous]

Spoiler: ENDING SPOILERS AND OTHER SHIT

I still keep thinking about the ending. Obviously they're gonna undo all those deaths but the way it was presented was haunting and amazing.

All the non-finger snap deaths are probably gonna stick I reckon.

Eitherway, a lot of heroes will be gone for the next movie. Man I'm so stoked for Avengers 4. And Captain Marvel. That ending tease!

I guess Ant-Man and the Wasp might take place before IW then. I can't imagine them going on lighthearted jolly shrinkeroo adventures when half the population is freakin dead.

...how is Agents of SHIELD story even gonna react to these events?

Also, Thanos was great.

I like how the movie wasted absolutely no time, just jumped straight into Thanos massacring the Asgardian refugee ship. What a mood whiplash after the jolly Thor Ragnarok!

And then having the Hulk jump in immediately only to get the shit beaten out of him. Goddamn! Thanos did not mess around. SAVAGE.

Man, the movie was PACKED. It somehow felt a lot longer than 2h30m but in a sort of good way. Like, it felt really long but at the same time the pace was just breakneck. Shit kept happening.

I wanna see it again. Why can't an IMAX Laser theater be in my hometown. Why damn you

Very good movie. I've seen it twice now. The first time it felt a bit disjointed, the second time felt like it flowed better.

I think one thing people need to keep in mind about this movie is that

Spoiler

despite it being titled as an Avengers movie it kind of was, in a way, Thanos's movie. We were following his story arc. And now I'm assuming the next movie will focus more heavily on, and give more development to, the heroes.

I do have to admit that I didn't feel as emotionally devastated by this film as a lot of other people seem to have been. Maybe it's because I know the majority of the people who "died" will come back. There's only one character who I am certain is doomed for sure, and ironically they survived Infinity War.

I did think Groot and Spider-Man's deaths were the saddest, though. You do feel for the characters since you know they they have no idea they are coming back, and you know they are scared by what's happening. Tom Holland especially had some top-tier acting in his final scene. And Groot because, well, he's Groot, and you only want to see good things happen to him. He was so brave earlier in the film when they were forging Stormbreaker. <3

And now Vision... you guys think he's dead for good or you think he'll come back.

And my friend I saw it with last night was all distraught over Loki. I've never been that attached to him so I'm not too fussed with whether or not he'll come back. I do, however, question having all of the Asgardians killed RIGHT AFTER everything that happened in Ragnarok. I mean man, that's just harsh. :/

But Heimdal, tho. Nooooooooooo

HOWEVER, how about that POST CREDITS SCENE???

Spoiler

I screamed. Some guy sitting a few seats down was like, "what does that mean?"

In which I promptly explained the significance.

I mean I know they are currently filming Captain Marvel but seeing the first real reference to her in these movies was awesome~

I haven't seen the movie, but my mother and older sister have last week, and even they somewhat knew how the next film will turn out, and they told me much about it(I don't like going to cinemas. They're too big and noisy).

Spoiler

And keeping tabs on what actors are doing on Wikipedia(yes, I know that website changes a lot) I do know that most characters who died in Infinity War-namely Spider Man, Loki and Vision-will all return and their deaths to be undone and I think Captain Marvel and Ant-Man might have something do so with the very likely Time Travel and change history thing.

Not so sure about Groot though, since his character and actor are not listed as part of the returning cast list.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

So, it's INCREDIBLY financially successful: http://ew.com/movies/2018/04/29/avengers-infinity-war-box-office-highest-ever-opening-250-million/




X

 

[Lulcielid]

So, it's INCREDIBLY financially successful: http://ew.com/movies/2018/04/29/avengers-infinity-war-box-office-highest-ever-opening-250-million/




X

Now the real question is how much it will perform in the upcoming weeks and how much the drop will be, that's where I think Infinity War will not beat Force Awakens.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

It's got a solid month, what with Solo & Deadpool on the horizon, it's definitely got more competition to its legs than TFA did with the December release date.




X

 

[Claymore]

So much to go through...

Spoiler

I love how absolutely action-packed the film was, and the reiterations throughout the storyline of just how long we have all been building up to this event, and yet, they somehow managed to find the time to create some genuine moments of heartfelt story and personal development for a heck of a lot of characters.

It is a really mind-blowing achievement.

I always saw Thanos as just the usual big bad looming on the horizon wanting to rule everything *yada yada yawn* and then Infinity War smacks that idea right out of your head with a well crafted backstory of his personal ideal of wanting to save the universe from us human parasites. Finite resources. Our never-ending need to reproduce, repopulate, expand, consume ... You can easily see the end that he himself lived through on his own world. Damn. I've heard so many people say that they suddenly sympathized with his agenda, and I can only echo that. Combined with his story with Gamora, and some fantastic expressions that came through the CGI facial features ... it was just beautiful. He truly felt like a villain worthy of such an event.

And that's just taking in his emotional and story side. The action was just ... wow. Right off the bat taking down Thor and Hulk, and KILLING Heimell and Loki, just set the tone for the entire movie. Hulk has never been defeated so capably, and the ongoing drama of Banner trying to coax Hulk out was an excellent addition to the story. Especially in further context when you see him having come off all the easy highs and wins from his time as the Grandmaster's champion.

'Squidward' was deliciously creepy, definitely the highlight of the Thanos underlings.

I loved how we had the little groups, giving us some great character interactions and banter, and showing us again just how different everyone is, with their own lives and goals and loves, and trying to make them all work together with one voice is fantastic, hurdles included. Quill and Thor, and Quill and Tony was hilarious. Speaking of hilarity, the humour really was on point throughout. 'Squidward', the 'invisible standing still Drax' (been there for an hour, lol!), Parker-Strange-Iron Man ... Okoye's 'you mean she's been up there all this time' in reference to Scarlett Witch finally joining the battle and raining down her own badass hell, lol. God, it just all worked so beautifully.

Cap's group and Wakanda's last stand was everything I imagined and more. That sequence was incredible.

Heck, all the battles were everything I wanted and more. Seeing all the characters come together, using their different abilities in tandem AND still struggling, was just edge of your seat stuff. It is hard to say who was more MVP out of Thor or Dr Strange, but I just have to give it to Thor for the serious shit he rained down as soon as he got Stormbreaker. But then, Dr Strange held his own against Thanos with some seriously high level magic that was amazing to see. It just left me wanting more, to see just how far he could be pushed.

We've seen these characters grow through all these films, and the deaths certainly hit me. For all of Loki's shit, you knew that he did have love for his brother, and that was sad to see him get taken out. I've never been a big fan of Vision, but you could see the pain through Wanda, and I liked that they took time out of the beginning to set that up and their relationship. Gamora, ugh, that hit Quill hard. And then when Thanos had Tony ... I choked up when that blade got driven right through the nano suit. I thought that this was it, his final fight. It was almost a relief when Dr Strange gave in, but that just led to the bittersweet final ending of Thanos' victory.

That was so horrifying and beautiful at the same time. I have heard a few negative thoughts about that sequence that some people wanted a little more blood and guts to really drive it home, but I think that really defeats the purpose of that entire segment. It was Thanos' ideal, not some bloodthirsty vengeance, and it didn't need that to make you feel the loss of the characters. I certainly felt every loss that we witnessed.

God damn it, Parker, you made my heart stop - 'I don't want to go'. Holland played that magnificently and I really felt the emotion coming through there.

I feel like I'm forgetting SO much but it was just so damn incredible, it really needs a rewatch (or several) just to take it all in. An amazing film on its own, and simply outstanding when taking it as a whole and the journey that we've all taken to get here.


Speculation time ... So out of millions of possible outcomes, there was only 1 where they could ever stand a slim chance of winning. Strange said that 'it had to be done' when giving the Time stone to Thanos ... was it referencing that this somehow plays into the one possible outcome where they could win this? If so, how? The stones all looked destroyed once Thanos brought about his Utopia.

 

[AvecAloes]

Spoiler

God damn it, Parker, you made my heart stop - 'I don't want to go'. Holland played that magnificently and I really felt the emotion coming through there

FUCKING DAMMIT THE MORE I THINK ABOUT THAT PART THE MORE IT HURTS

 

[X-SOLDIER]

There're a few things I found REALLY neat for character developments in the film and how they set up for things to come:

Spoiler

THOR & ROCKET:

Thor's sense of humor has always come out of the fact that he's a displaced Asgardian on Earth, and doesn't understand customs. As such, he's in very interesting company amongst the Guardians who are ALL a bit like that. That being said, Thor's changed a bit because he's intentionally using that sense of humor to cover up MASSIVE emotional damage that he's experiencing, the same way that Tony Stark does, but Thor's never done that before now.

That's why it's especially poignant during Rocket's, "Time to be the captain" moment with Thor, that he calls him out on it. Rocket does the EXACT same thing, and had his own moment like that during Guardians 2, and it's precisely the kind of damage that he recognizes.

With Groot getting taken away, I can only surmise that the two of them will be closer than ever going forward. Not only that they'll be an intentional source of light and levity in the bleak wastelands that they've been left in, and our other humorous characters are in a pain that they can't cope with.

TONY:

Whether or not Pepper is still alive is gonna be huge on him, in addition to the fact that the whole dream about having a kid, and Peter disintegrating in his arms is really gonna mess with his PTSD. He's normally full of quips and other things, but I think that he's gonna have it REALLY hard to even attempt to be that side of himself. I think that what he's got is the reconciliation with Cap who just lost Bucky, and that the two of them are gonna be support for one another with nothing else around them.

BANNER & HULK:

Hulk's been our long enough in Ragnarok that he's experienced things other than just rage, and now he's properly terrified. That's gonna take some significant personal therapy to deal with between the both of them, and by the end of it, I think that we'll have a very interesting dynamic between Banner & Hulk, especially because Banner stood up to fight when Hulk wouldn't.

Even with Hulk properly on the table again and with Ant-Man/Wasp (assuming that the aftercredit of that film has some of them survive), and with Hawkeye possibly back in the mix, who's there? Who's left that's really taken all of the damage, and done nothing but hone it into pure purpose?

NEBULA & THANOS:

It's understated for the time being, but this film showed that Gamora was GENUINELY loved by Thanos, and she was unquestionably his favourite. Nebula is literally nothing more than a tool that he'll gladly torture to get what he wants out of his favoured daughter. This makes everything with her that much more painful, and I feel is going to be a MASSIVE motivator in the next film, and why she was left along with Tony. Not only can she bring him home, since she has a ship &#8211; but she's got all the motivation and more to do what it takes at any cost to bring him down. Whereas everyone else got hurt, she's already internalized all of that pain, and is laser focused to be able to bring him down. She's got the personal connection, and on top of that, she's totally done it in the comics in a way that opens up for the arrival of Adam Warlock who was teased by Guardians 2.

X

 

[Lulcielid]

Theory about possible development of Avengers 4 based on IW Ending.

Spoiler

Interestingly most of the characters that die at the end where post Avengers characters, this is theory many other fans have speculated that I'm on board with:

Trading off the old Avengers for the new characters (new Avengers)

The whole plot of Avengers would revolve around of OG Avengers bringing back the others obviously, but at the cost of their own lives. This being the more gracefull way of writing off the old characters and past the mantle to the new ones to carry on the MCU.

 

[Tennyo]

Spoiler

God damn it, Parker, you made my heart stop - 'I don't want to go'. Holland played that magnificently and I really felt the emotion coming through there

FUCKING DAMMIT THE MORE I THINK ABOUT THAT PART THE MORE IT HURTS

Spoiler

Tom Holland doing his best 10th Doctor impersonation.

 

[AvecAloes]

Spoiler: THIS IS WHERE I'M AT

 

[Carlie]

Well since my long post post disappeared let's do a short one instead.

The movie was fucking awesome, it was intense, it was funny and it was emotional. Is the first of the group movies I've genuinely wanted to see again immediately since the first Avengers one.

 

[Carlie]

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

... the pace was just breakneck.

Spoiler

Loki agrees.

Spoiler

Speaking of which, I share the sadness of those who felt that death, but it was the perfect end to Loki's arc throughout these movies, whether it sticks or no. He actually went out heroically and while proving once and for all that he does love his brother.

I also loved that this time he was the one to say "We have a Hulk."

There are a lot of things to love about this movie, though. I saw it three days ago and am still digesting.

I think we all know most of these dead characters will be back, and that Dr. Strange gave up the Time Stone to save Tony because the one future where he saw them winning included Tony. Not sure who won't make it out the other side of all this, though. Cap seems like the safest guess. He's lost Bucky and Sam now, so if the theory that it will end up costing a life for a life to bring folks back proves true, then I'm sure Steve will be the first in line to volunteer (as if he wouldn't have been anyway).

I do have my doubts about that theory, though. For one, they're not going to leave half the universe dead at the end of this. They're just not. For another, the Stones will be needed to fix what was done with the Stones, and there's no reason to believe they can't undo what was done as easily as what was did. =P

At any rate, there's no precedent from the comics for it being any more difficult.

Speaking of the comics, some changes here were definitely better suited to this medium and the conceit of presenting the movie with Thanos as our POV character -- namely, giving Thanos the motivation he has here over the original killing-half-of-everything-to-please-Death-and-impress-her thing.

I think that could have worked, but it would have required a longer setup (most likely utilizing Hela in place of the more literal manifestation of Death we find in the comics) and a longer denoument than they will most likely have. Comics allowed years for Jim Starlin to continue developing Thanos after "The Infinity Gauntlet," with readers eventually even able to root for him to get Death's affection.

This angle just works better for what the movies need. Even if it does leave the door open to hilarious memes like this.

Speaking of fun "Infinity War" memes, have this one too.

Finally (for now), I have to say that coming off having just watched the first four seasons of "The 100," this movie wasn't nearly as tough to get through as I'd expected. XD

It still had a couple of emotionally trying moments, but it may not have even been quite as tense and draining as the "Infinity Gauntlet" comic it's largely based on. It is, however, a great Marvel movie, and a fantastic celebration of this franchise. I can't wait for what's next.

 

[JechtShotMK9]

I'm with Tres. It's not quite up there with Infinity Gauntlet (or Thanos Quest, which it also takes after), but it's damn good. Best Thanos I've seen outside of Starlin's work. Much better than the Thanos plot of Infinity a few years back, which seems to be the other work this draws from.

Also, Ebony Maw is Space!Voldemort combined with that creepy Baptist preacher down the road, and you can't prove me wrong.

 

[Carlie]

You need to get lost, Squidward!

 

[Tashasaurous]

Spoiler

Speaking of which, I share the sadness of those who felt that death, but it was the perfect end to Loki's arc throughout these movies, whether it sticks or no. He actually went out heroically and while proving once and for all that he does love his brother.

I also loved that this time he was the one to say "We have a Hulk."

There are a lot of things to love about this movie, though. I saw it three days ago and am still digesting.

I think we all know most of these dead characters will be back, and that Dr. Strange gave up the Time Stone to save Tony because the one future where he saw them winning included Tony. Not sure who won't make it out the other side of all this, though. Cap seems like the safest guess. He's lost Bucky and Sam now, so if the theory that it will end up costing a life for a life to bring folks back proves true, then I'm sure Steve will be the first in line to volunteer (as if he wouldn't have been anyway).

I do have my doubts about that theory, though. For one, they're not going to leave half the universe dead at the end of this. They're just not. For another, the Stones will be needed to fix what was done with the Stones, and there's no reason to believe they can't undo what was done as easily as what was did. =P

At any rate, there's no precedent from the comics for it being any more difficult.

It still had a couple of emotionally trying moments, but it may not have even been quite as tense and draining as the "Infinity Gauntlet" comic it's largely based on. It is, however, a great Marvel movie, and a fantastic celebration of this franchise. I can't wait for what's next.

Spoiler

I wouldn't be surprised that you're right about Cap. Chris Evan's contract for the franchise actually ended with Infinity War but he agreed to appear for the sequel because, as he said, "It makes sense". So I think he'll be the one to die in the next film.

I have a bit of a theory that, given that they'll most likely save the entire Universe and change history, that something would happen in the ending of the next film or somewhere along the lines that Steve would probably sacrifice himself.

Plus, I heard that they'll be another Spider Man film coming out next year which is a sequel to Homecoming, and a third Guardians of the Galaxy in 2020.