Avengers: Infinity War's deaths won't be permanent,
but they should be.
Allow me to explain
why Marvel should ignore Captain America's advice
and start trading lives on today's episode of The Dan Cave.
(upbeat rock music)
In order to properly explain myself,
I'm gonna have to dive head first into spoiler territory.
So, if you aren't cursed with knowledge,
then you may wanna watch this later.
We're gonna spoil Avengers: Infinity War
and potentially Ant-Man and the Wasp,
so if you haven't seen them yet,
please get your life together, Jeremy.
We're all worried about you.
With a single snap of his horrible purple sausage fingers,
Thanos eradicated half of all life
in the universe, including pets.
Yeah, thanks again for that one, Kevin Feige,
you absolute monster.
In a moment, we watched the likes
of Black Panther, Bucky Barnes, Scarlet Witch,
most of the Guardians of the Galaxy,
and most tragically of all, Peter Parker
turn to dust before our very eyes.
The Snap-ture, the Snappening, the Oh Snap Moment,
call it whatever punny title you want.
It doesn't change the fact
that it's an incredible, shocking sequence
that's immediately undermined by the cold hard facts
that multiple characters we just watched die in front of us
have movies coming out in the next two years,
and most of them take place after Infinity War.
Now, obviously, this movie's meant
to be kind of like The Empire Strikes Back for the MCU,
putting our heroes in the darkest situation
they've found themselves in to date.
But once the credits finished rolling,
was your jaw still agape,
or did you know in your heart of hearts
that while Peter Parker isn't feeling so good, Mr. Stark,
that he'll be back in fine form
in Spider-Man: Far From Home,
just three months after Avengers 4?
Because no one ever really stays dead in comics,
except for Uncle Ben, or maybe when it comes to the MCU,
Tony Stark's parents as well.
But anyone who stopped to think
about Avengers 4 for half a second
knows in their heart of hearts
that most of the casualties from Infinity War
will be undone in the sequel.
I mean, sure, it'll be a satisfying victory
for Earth's Mightiest Heroes, overcoming impossible odds
and defeating Thanos once and for all,
but what did it cost Marvel from a storytelling perspective?
Everything.
Because when there's no consequence for death,
no finality to it, you hamstring its effectiveness
as a narrative tool.
Now, fans knowing what's coming down the pipeline
has been a problem for Marvel for years now.
So, allow me to use the Time Stone for a moment
to tell you a story.
(Time Stone whirring)
Is that canon?
Did that work?
Great.
Back in October 2014, Marvel invited me
along with a metric ton of other members of the press
to an event at Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre
for something billed only as the hashtag Marvel Event.
Taking the stage, Kevin Feige proceeded to blow our minds
like Thanos ripping a gem from the Vision's forehead
by revealing every movie coming out from May 2016
all the way through May 2019,
Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange,
Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther,
Infinity War, Captain Marvel, Infinity War: Part Two,
and Inhumans, and before you say it,
no, I don't count Inhumans as a permanent death
because it was never given a chance at life.
Kevin.
Now, as someone who's never been
to Marvel's infamous Hall H panels at San Diego Comic-Con,
it was like Christmas came early.
My fingers were typing faster than I could think
as I tried to feverishly liveblog
the cavalcade of information being unleashed upon us.
But then I felt sad.
Now, obviously, we all knew that the Avengers
had been building towards a massive slugfest with Thanos
ever since he first showed his ugly purple mug
in the post-credits scene to 2012's The Avengers.
But knowing what the next nine movies
that Marvel is producing kinda took the mystery out of it.
I mean, we could no longer speculate over what storyline
or characters we might encounter along the way,
when they're all laid out in front of us
like an all-you-can-eat buffet, complete with subtitles
telling you exactly Civil War, Ragnarok, Infinity War.
Look, you can say
that it's all about the journey not the destination.
You can say that all you like, but I kindly ask you
to take that bumper-sticker bull (bleep) elsewhere.
So, what's the solution here?
Now, obviously, I'm not a monster.
I want Earth's Mightiest Heroes
and anyone whose arch-nemesis isn't a giant broom
to figure out how to undo the intergalactic genocide
that Thanos committed.
And perhaps all of those lives
that were extinguished in Infinity War
are just chilling with the wee baby Gamora
in the orange-soda-filled Soul World
inside of the Soul Stone,
but much like how Thanos pushed his daughter
to her untimely demise, Avengers 4 needs sacrifice
in order to make the Marvel Cinematic Universe's
bold experiment truly satisfying.
Now, not every OG Avenger needs to die.
I mean, I'd love to see Tony Stark
finally have his fairytale wedding with Pepper Potts
and Wong in attendance just like he promised
at the beginning of Infinity War.
Wong, you're invited to my wedding.
I would love to see Black Widow finally be able
to kick back, relax, and lead a quiet life
of not murdering people for money for change.
But when it comes to characters
like Heimdall, Loki, and Gamora,
some of them need to stay dead.
And while I'm totally on board
with Tony Stark and the surviving Avengers
finding a way to resurrect their friends,
I'm kinda hoping that some of Earth's Mightiest Heroes
will perish in the process.
Perhaps Captain America lays down his life for his comrades,
making Bucky Barnes' return to the land of the living
that much more bittersweet.
Who better to wield the shield
than a fallen hero's best friend
trying to erase his past mistakes?
Maybe Nebula can sacrifice her soul,
or whatever central processing unit she has in there,
so she can bring back Gamora.
Maybe Hawkeye really can buy the farm this time around.
All jokes aside though,
I don't wanna see our heroes get away from this scot-free
'cause Marvel's done a terrific job so far
with things like tracing the effects of PTSD on Tony Stark
over the course of the last 10 years.
To be afraid to get messy and to let heroes fall
so they can make way for new ones
would be a truly disappointing period
at the end of this decade-long sentence,
and besides, Marvel can always
just resurrect them a few years later and,
I don't know, blame it on an alternate reality.
It's worked for them for nearly 80 years, so why stop now?
But what do you think?
Should Marvel make some of their deaths
from Infinity War permanent?
Who do you think should bite the bullet in Avengers 4?
Tag your friends, share this video,
and let me know in the comments below,
and give me a permanent thumbs up while you're there.
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or else you might miss next week's story
all about the tale of a charming pig
who must travel overseas to pay his owner's debts
and teams up with two space cops
to prevent the extinction of a bunch of aliens
trapped within a genuinely baffling French fever dream
in Babe: Pig in the City of a Thousand Planets.
Until next time, keep on diggin'.
(upbeat electronic music)