Marvel May - Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

           Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, as we get into the last couple weeks of Marvel May, it's amazing to look back not just on how far I've come with this movie review blog, but how far Marvel has come with their movies. So, let's kick off this final stretch of Marvel May with Avengers: Infinity War. 

          The movie picks up with Thanos and his four top henchmen: the Black Order, which consists of Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, and Cull Obsidian, as they attack the ship that fled the destruction of Asgard at the end of Thor: Ragnarok. Thor, Loki, and Hulk do their best to fend off the attackers, but are unsuccessful, and Loki gives Thank sweat he wants: the Tesseract, which houses the Space Stone. Thanos crushes the cube, and adds the stone to his golden gauntlet, alongside the power stone (which he retrieved earlier on Xandar). Heimdall sends Hulk back to Earth by summoning the Bifrost, Thanos kills both Heimdall and Loki, and destroys the ship, sending his minions to Earth to find both the Mind Stone and the Time Stone. Hulk arrives on Earth, crashing into the New York Sanctum and reverting back to Banner, warning Doctor Strange and Wong that Thanos is coming. 

           Strange then picks up Tony Stark, who's walking in a park with Pepper at the time, and takes him back to the Sanctum, where he, Wong, and Banner, break down everything regarding the Infinity Stones and Thanos to Stark, for all of a sudden, New York to be attacked by Maw and Obsidian, who are after the Time Stone. Stark, Wong, and Strange hold them off, and are joined by Spider-Man, who left his school bus to help. Obsidian is sent elsewhere, while Spider-Man and Stark board the alien ship to save Strange from Maw, leaving Wong to look after the Sanctum, and Banner to call Steve Rogers. 

          Out in Space, the Guardians, on their new ship the Benatar, are responding to a distress signal, only to find the ruins of the Asgardian ship. They do, ultimately, save Thor, who requests the use of the Guardians' pod to travel to Nidavellir, in order to replace his hammer Mjolnir. The Guardians allow this, and Rocket and Groot go with him, while Quill, Mantis, Gamora, and Drax head to Knowhere to get the Reality Stone from the Collector before Thanos gets there. Arriving at Knowhere, but too late, as Thanos already has the Reality Stone, and he takes Gamora with him, as she is the only one who knows the location of the Soul Stone: Vormir. 

          Back on Earth, Wanda and Vision are attacked by Midnight and Glaive, who are fended off by Steve, Natasha, and Sam, and all five head back to Avengers headquarters, where Rhodey reveals that Banner is there. The Avengers then make a plan to extract the Mind Stone from Vision's head, but without killing him, and they head to Wakanda, where King T'Challa gives Bucky Barnes a new Vibranium arm. On Nidavellir, Thor, Rocket, and Groot meet Eitri the Dwarf King, whose people were all killed by Thanos, and he helps to build Thor a new weapon: an axe called Stormbreaker. Activating the mechanisms for the star, they heat up the forges of Uru metal, and Eitri forges the axe, with Groot sacrificing an arm to assemble Stormbreaker, which Thor takes and opens the Bifrost to Earth. On Vormir, Thanos and Gamora learn from the Red Skull, who has been on the planet since World War II, that to claim the Soul Stone, you must sacrifice the one you love most. Thanos drops Gamora off of the cliff, and walks away with the Soul Stone. 

         Spider-Man, Stark, and Strange, meanwhile, get Maw off of the ship, which lands on Titan, where they are confronted by Quill, Drax, and Mantis. The six then team up and make a plan to get the Infinity Gauntlet away from Thanos, and keep him from getting the Time Stone. Their plan goes well, with Stark and Thanos finally coming face to face, but Quill, overcome with anger at Gamora's death, which both Nebula (who signaled the Guardians earlier) and Thanos confirm. Strange then willingly hands over the Time Stone, and Thanos heads to Earth to collect the Mind Stone. 

        Back on Earth, a massive battle is taking place in Wakanda. T'Challa, Bucky, Natasha, Sam, Rhodey, Steve, Banner (in the Hulkbuster armor), and the forces of Wakanda, joined mid-battle by Thor, Rocket, and Groot, all fighting against Midnight, Obsidian, Glaive, and a massive army of Outriders. During the battle, Thanos arrives, and despite Wanda destroying the Mind Stone with her powers, Thanos reverses time with the Time Stone and rips the stone from Vision's head, completing the gauntlet. Thor then tries to kill Thanos, but fails, and Thanos snaps his fingers, disappearing into a portal. The snapping of his fingers causes half of all life in the universe to vanish, with several heroes like Bucky, T'Challa, Sam, Wanda, Groot, Drax, Mantis, Quill, Strange, and even Spider-Man turning to dust. Faced with this catastrophic defeat, the remaining Avengers are unsure of what to do next. A post-credits scene shows both Nick Fury and Maria Hill get dusted from existence, but just before vanishing, Fury activates a high-tech pager signaling an old ally: Captain Marvel. 

         Okay, there was a lot to digest with this movie, but let's break it down a little bit at a time. First, Josh Brolin was terrific as Thanos. This is a character that's been hinted at and teased for years, and when he finally becomes a major player, he doesn't disappoint. Second, the introduction of the Black Order. These guys were a long time coming, as you really couldn't do this story justice without them. And while the fifth member of the group from the comics, Supergiant, is absent from the movie, it really doesn't matter. The four that we got were really the only ones that were important. 

          Another thing that elevates this movie is the scope. With as massive as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become, it was only natural that this movie be as big as it was. Now, one complaint some fans had was that the Avengers don't get a lot of development, and I argue that they've had eighteen movies over ten years of said character development. Despite the title, Avengers: Infinity War is not the Avengers' story. It's Thanos' story. He's the one with the character arc in this movie, and he's the one driving the narrative. 

             Overall, directors Anthony and Joe Russo, along with writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, did an excellent job with this movie. I give Avengers: Infinity War a rating of 5/5. Now, two notable absences in this movie were Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, who we learn is on his farm under house arrest after the events of Captain America: Civil War. And the other absence was Scott Lang. So, with everything that happened, where was Scott? Well, tune in later today as Marvel May continues with Ant-Man and the Wasp.