Whoa.
You've just come out of Avengers: Infinity War.
You've cheered at all the fights.
Laughed at all the jokes.
You've been shaken, speechless and sobbing.
You've made an appointment for therapy for tomorrow.
Don't worry...we're all right there with you.
There's only one cure for the post-Infinity War blues, and that's diving straight into
the ending and trying to figure out what the hell just happened, and what the hell is going
to happen next.
Strap in, put your helmet on, and prepare your haunches, people.
Here's the ending of Avengers: Infinity War explained.
And of course, gigantic, earth-shattering spoilers ahead.
Last chance to turn back...
So...what just happened?
Thanos won!
Can you believe it?
The bad guy beat the good guys and it's totally mind-blowing because that kinda never happens!
But it did this time, and it was just about perfect.
Thanos managed to assemble all six of the Infinity Stones, sacrificing his own adopted
daughter in the process, snapped his fingers, and poof.
Game over, man.
Of course, fans of the comics and MCU-followers probably knew going into the movie that there
was a good chance Thanos would be victorious before the final credits rolled.
Longtime comic book readers have the image of Thanos snapping his fingers with a fully
powered Infinity Gauntlet on his hand burned into their brains, so it only makes sense
that one of the most iconic moments in all of Marvel Comics history would show up in
this film.
On top of that, we all knew that Marvel would be splitting the story into two movies, even
if they later publicly reversed course on that particular point.
In the end, if you didn't know that Thanos might pull out the W by the end of this movie,
you haven't been paying close attention.
Body count
When it comes to writing about comic book movies, it's pretty fun to try and predict
who will live and who will die when the next big flick hits the theaters.
In fact, making these kinds of predictions is basically how some YouTube channels go
about building their whole business.
wink wink
But even still, no one could've quite predicted just how many hugely important superheroic
characters would go off to that big comic book store in the sky by the end of Infinity
War.
For those keeping score at home, we lost Bucky, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, Drax,
Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Mantis, Groot, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill, and those
are just the characters we saw dissolve after Thanos pulled his big trick.
It was a lot.
And that's not even a complete list of all the dead people.
Right off the bat, Heimdall and Loki died at Thanos's hands, while Gamora and Vision
went down for the count as well.
After ten years and 18 movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe built up a huge roster
of memorable and important characters.
While it goes without saying that the vast majority of these dead people will not stay
dead by the time the fourth Avengers movie debuts, it's hard not to feel the loss of
so many characters we've gotten to know over the years.
Where did Thanos talk to Gamora?
Towards the end of the film, Thanos appeared in an orangey, reddish place, and began talking
with a version of Gamora who looked like a child.
We'd never seen that place before in the film...so where was he?
There's a more than decent chance that he was inside the orange Soul Stone itself.
Thanos sacrificed Gamora to obtain the Soul Stone, and so it makes sense that she and
the Stone would be connected somehow after her death.
And in the various comics concerning Thanos and his quest for the Infinity Stones, the
Soul Gem wound up playing host to a few characters who died fighting Thanos, including Gamora.
And with that in mind, it's entirely possible that all our dead heroes may have had their
souls transported to the Soul Stone as well.
Doctor Strange's prescription for victory
Early on, Doctor Strange told Iron Man that if it came down to possibly saving him or
protecting the Time Stone, he'd choose the Stone.
Then, around the midpoint of the film, Doctor Strange used the Eye of Agamotto to explore
over 14 million possible battles against Thanos, looking for the path to victory.
In all of those possible futures, he only saw one where the good guys came out on top.
It sure sounded dire.
But when Thanos threatened to kill Iron Man on Titan, Doctor Strange offered the Time
Stone to save Tony Stark's life.
When Iron Man called him out on it later, he said it was "the only way."
Say what?
Well, it all makes sense if you think about it.
Doctor Strange has some experience using his time powers to cheat his way out of some bad
situations.
"Dormmamu!'
"Dormmamu, I've come to bargain!"
"Dormmamu!'
This time around, he took a peek at the script for the next Avengers movie and realized that
it was important that Iron Man live to the end, important enough that he gave up the
Time Stone to make sure it happens.
And considering that Iron Man is the one who kicked off this whole crazy Marvel Cinematic
Universe in the first place, it only makes sense that he'd be pretty necessary to finishing
things off over a decade later.
Nebula's revenge
Among the movie's survivors was Thanos' least favorite daughter, Nebula.
She managed to make it to the end of the movie despite being literally dissected earlier
in the film.
So why would a scrub like Nebula be alive while so many fan-favorite characters got
turned to dust?
As with so many things, the answer lies in the comics.
In the Infinity Gauntlet comic book storyline, Nebula spent a lot of time shambling around
as a creepy zombie lady, a victim of Thanos' power.
But at one point in the story, Thanos was distracted by an encounter with Eternity,
a cosmic being that represented the universe itself.
That's when Nebula grabbed his fancy glove for herself, and contributed to his eventual
undoing.
Don't be surprised if the MCU version of Nebula winds up fulfilling a similar role in the
next Avengers movie, too.
Paging Captain Marvel…
In the movie's one post-credits scene, we saw the long-awaited return of Nick Fury and
Maria Hill trying to get in touch with somebody.
Given that we'd spent a full movie not seeing Hawkeye shooting arrows at anybody, it seemed
like a foregone conclusion that he was the guy Fury was trying to reach.
But as it turned out, he was actually trying to get in touch with Captain Marvel.
Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe know that Brie Larson is all set to debut as the
MCU's first female-fronted superhero movie in March, 2019, a couple months before the
release of the next Avengers movie.
Interestingly, Captain Marvel is supposedly going to take place in the 1990s, meaning
that the superhero who shows up to save the day in the fourth Avengers will have already
been established in some capacity for years.
So where's she been for all the other super-shenanigans over the last bunch of movies?
About Hawkeye...
We never did get a glimpse of Hawkeye after all, meaning everyone's favorite archer is
surely going to show up in the next Avengers movie, right?
He's a necessary part of the team!
"The city is flying, we're fighting an army of robots, and I have a bow and arrow.
None of this makes sense."
Okay, maybe he's not that necessary, but still, every hero helps, right?
Is his family okay in the aftermath of Thanos' dirty deeds?
Could he possibly be looking to...avenge them, and everyone else on Earth, perhaps?
"If we can't protect the earth, you can be damn sure we'll avenge it."
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