﻿‘Avengers: Infinity War’ is a jam-packed sequel to ten years worth of complicated franchise films,
but you don’t make 2 billion dollars on the die-hard fans alone.
It's an honor to meet you. Officially. I sort of met you, I watched you while you were sleeping.
The movie had to accomplish two extremely difficult goals:
Reward the hardcore base that’s obsessively watched every single minute of the MCU,
and make a sensible and satisfying movie for the casual audience who might not have seen ‘The First Avenger’ or ‘Dr. Strange.’
Dormammu!
Frankly, it’s a miracle Marvel and the Russo Brothers managed to pull it off,
and today, I want to explore how 'Infinity War' accomplished this almost impossible task.
I’m Dev, and this is
The Infinity Paradox: How Infinity War Serves Two Masters
First, let’s look at the film through the eyes of the
True Believers.
I’m not even gonna get into the comics-based easter eggs inserted throughout the film,
because the MCU itself provides plenty of material for deep callbacks,
running gags,
and foreshadowing to finally pay off.
Oh, congratulations on the wedding, by the way.
And I’m not just talking about the big stuff either,
like how Tony Stark’s nightmare scenario from ‘Age of Ultron’ finally comes to pass,
Or how Captain America is still on the run after the end of ‘Civil War,’
and Thor is leading a caravan of refugees after the destruction of Asgard.
It might seem like standard procedure for a sequel,
but I don't know if you all understood: I just mentioned three developments that happened in three completely different movie series,
and yet ‘Infinity War’ continues the same sprawling story without resorting to clunky narration or a ‘Star Wars’ style text crawl.
The MCU doesn’t underestimate its fans like that,
in fact, it rewards them for taking part in this crazy, decade-long journey with the characters.
‘Infinity War’ is packed with nods for the die-hards who have been there for every MCU release.
I have an army.
We have a Hulk.
From Peter Parker accidentally making his teammate’s feel like oldheads,
Hey guys! You ever see that really old movie? 'Empire Strikes Back?'
Jesus, Tony, how old is this guy?
I dunno, I didn't carbon date him, he's on the young side!
Okay, you ever see this really old movie 'Aliens?'
and Rocket’s knack for stealing knack-knacks, mainly prosthetic limbs and eyeballs,
That dude there. I need his prosthetic leg. God knows I don't need the rest of him, he's useless.
Okay, how much for the arm? Oh, I'll get that arm...
the movie relishes in shout-outs to the day ones
without dragging down the narrative for everyone else.
I’m sure some fans were disappointed that Natasha and Bruce’s romance wasn’t front and center,
(...some fans)
but this just wasn’t the right movie to resolve all that simmering tension,
and besides, Falcon said all that needed to be said.
This is awkward.
A movie can’t succeed on fanservice alone,
because otherwise it would just be ‘Solo.’
Do... Do your thing.
The underperforming film was filled with deep cuts of the Star Wars universe,
but regardless of whether you liked it or not,
it made about a billion dollars less than ‘The Last Jedi.’
The MCU’s big innovation was figuring out how to please die-hard fans,
AND condense decades of comic book plotting into a streamlined experience for the
Casual Crowd
Next to the trillions of lives lost,
the most shocking moment of ‘Infinity War’ was the reappearance of the Red Skull after 14 movies and seven real-life years.
But if you missed Cap’s first film,
the big reveal of the Stonekeeper probably wouldn’t mean that much to you,
he’s just a creepy skeleton man in a cloak.
And honestly? That’s enough.
If this movie was made in the ‘80s,
he’d be a random animatronic whipped up by the Jim Henson studio,
or the old knight guy in ‘The Last Crusade,’
just a cool character that moves the plot along,
gives our heroes someone to talk to,
and gives the audience something interesting to look at.
The story is structured so you don’t actually need to know anything about him.
If it was Cap or Bucky seeking the Soul Stone,
they’d have to address the whole ‘working with Nazis and founding HYDRA’ deal.
There’s too much history there.
But in the movie, only Gamora and Thanos encounter the Red Skull,
two aliens who have probably never even heard of World War II.
The hardcore fans know who Johann Schmidt is,
and he provides just enough backstory so the audience understands there’s more there if they care to dig,
but the Stonekeeper stands on his own,
Stands... Floats... Floats on his own!
In a film as long and packed as this one,
there’s no time for exposition unless it’s absolutely necessary.
And when there’s no other choice,
‘Infinity War’ has a brilliant,
Built-in Solution.
In order to accommodate the massive cast of characters and give them all something to do,
‘Infinity War’ splits them up into smaller groups,
and lets them play out their own piece of the adventure.
Eventually, the teams converge into two main factions,
the Guardians of the Galaxy and Tony’s New Avengers,
and the Secret Avengers holding the line in Wakanda to protect Vision.
And each one of those teams has a member who is just as lost as a casual viewer might be.
The Hulk has been in space since Age of Ultron,
so he missed out on Tony and Steve’s little tussle,
and has no clue who Spider-Man and Ant-Man are,
just like the viewers who might have passed on those movies.
So, when Tony catches him up on what went down,
the audience gets up to speed too,
without a massive exposition dump.
Similarly,
the Guardians, with the exception of Star-Lord, have never been to Earth.
They don’t know the Avengers,
I AM GROOT!
I am Steve Rogers.
and the Avengers sure don’t know about the dance-off from ‘Guardians 1,’
until Drax tells them,
and us.
What dance off?
It's not a-- It's nothing...
Like in 'Footloose?'
Exactly like 'Footloose.'
One of the most exposition-heavy scenes comes from Rocket and Thor’s heart to heart.
You said your sister and your dad...
Both dead.
Still got a mom, though?
Killed by the dark elf.
It’s the closest the movie comes to “here’s a bunch of info in case you didn’t see ‘The Dark World.’”
Which I don't blame you for...
This guy has just lost everything. That imbues him with the underdog quality, that becomes the heart of the movie,
and you start to root for, and you believe in that energy that carries you to the climax.
That pairing was very interesting on that level because they share that DNA.
The two characters compare past traumas as they prepare for the battle with Thanos ahead.
It’s a little on the nose,
but it’s an amazing bonding moment between the two characters,
and with the lighthearted, self-aware tone,
fans don’t feel like they’re being talked down to,
and new audiences don’t feel bad for missing the worst-reviewed entry in all the MCU.
So, dead brother, huh? Yeah, it can be annoying.
Well, he's been dead before.
The movie doesn’t have a lot of room for characterization,
but Thor arguably gets the most love here.
He has an arc, he grows,
and his journey keeps the first-of-its-kind film grounded with a more traditional plot thread.
Honestly, in this moment Thor won 'Infinity War' for me,
all the tragic stuff in 'Ragnarok' couldn't be addressed because of the comedic tone,
and all the stuff that happened with Loki, his eye, his dad...
But in this movie it finally came out in this moment just in their little heart to heart and I'm like
oh crap! Thor is a human!
It's like he finally gets a moment to breathe and realize all that bad stuff that's happened to him.
Of course, he’s nowhere near as important as Thanos.
Of the dozens of characters, The Mad Titan has the most screentime,
It’s clearly his movie. Notice how it ends with Thanos will return, not The Avengers will return?
That messed when up when I saw that, I was like dang.
But even if you didn’t stick around for the earlier stingers introducing Thanos,
‘Infinity War’ does an excellent job telling you who he is, what he wants, and how he plans to do it.
Trillions dead!
Thanos is a focal point, and thanks to clever tricks and strong characters,
you don’t need to have seen all of the previous movies for ‘Infinity War’ to make sense,
which is a huge part of its
Crossover Appeal
For all its innovation,
‘Infinity War’ is really just a streamlined version of the classic comic book crossover.
From the early days of ‘Secret Wars’ to massive events like ‘Onslaught’ and ‘Civil War,’
comics are infamous for sprawling ‘event’ storylines,
that make you deal with convoluted continuity,
and tons of essential tie-ins you need to read just so you don’t get lost.
‘Infinity War’ strips away all that baggage,
even if it has to cheat to do it.
At the end of ‘Guardians 2,’
the gang had joined up with Kraglin and were blasting off in the remains of the Ravager ship.
But when we meet them in ‘Infinity War,’
they’re back to the old status quo,
with a new ride and Yondu’s first mate M.I.A.
Granted, ‘Vol. 2’ took place four years prior,
but ‘Infinity War’ begins at max a few hours after the ‘Ragnarok’ stinger,
so where the hell are Valkyrie and Korg?
I wanna be on the team. Does it have a name?
Yeah, it's called... The Revengers.
Joe Russo yadda yaddaed it by saying they escaped in a pod just before Thanos attacked,
but really, it’s because they couldn’t fit into a crowded movie without a lengthy explanation of who they are and how they know Thor.
Ideally, we would have gotten to see that moment,
and hey, maybe they’ll show up in Part 2,
but ‘Infinity War’ asked a lot of its audience,
and instead of getting bogged down in the dirty details that makes comics themselves tough to approach,
the movie gives us the best parts of a crossover event without all the headache:
Magic! More magic! Magic with a kick! Magic with a--
The amusing interactions,
the massive scope,
and the universe-shattering consequences.
Now, there are still a few rotten reviews on the ol’ Tomatometer,
a lot of which come from critics who weren’t that familiar with the MCU,
but judging from the box office and near-universal goodwill,
Marvel’s ambitious experiment was a smashing success,
and whether you’re a die-hard True Believer or a new fan fresh to the franchise,
‘Infinity War’ made damn near everyone happy.