To Infinity & Beyond: Avengers – Infinity War

Infinity War

Two weeks is a long enough wait before talking about a movie right? I think so, but if you disagree then WARNING!!!! Infinity War Spoilers ahead! You have been warned! 

It’s finally here, the beginning of the climax for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe! I still vividly remember seeing the original Iron Man in theaters. What started out as one small movie has now expanded into an 18 story epic that has all been building to this! This is Infinity War.

Plot

The Mad Titan Thanos has begun his rampage across the universe in search for the six Infinity Stones to complete his Infinity Gauntlet. With all six Infinity Stones Thanos plans to erase half the universe’s population to bring balance to life. Two Infinity Stones are currently on Earth putting it in the cross hairs for Thanos and his “Children” to wreak havoc. It’s up to Earth’s mightiest heroes and the Guardians of the Galaxy to join together and prevent Thanos from completing his universal genocide.

Villains

Infinity War Villain

When a villain has been built up since 2012, it had better live up to the hype, and it’s clear within minutes of the film that Thanos is everything fans have been hoping for. Josh Brolin does an incredible performance as the Titan making him both horrifying and oddly relatable at the same time. Let’s set the record straight: Thanos doesn’t want to eliminate half the universe’s population to rule over it as its leader. No, Thanos believes eliminating half the population will preserve life for the entire universe. The universe is finite in its resources and must be kept in check. In Thanos’ eyes the only way to save the universe is to cut down the population. I personally think making it rain potatoes would be sufficient but what do I know? Like Kilmonger before him, Thanos is a villain that you can’t really argue with. The problem he is trying to fix is one that you can’t deny. Sure his methodology may be a bit off, but in his eyes he’s the hero. That’s what makes him one of the best villains the MCU has ever conceived. Thanos will literally do whatever it takes to complete his mission (more on that later). He’s also a terrifyingly powerful villain. He manages to beat the Hulk in mere seconds, survives attacks that would kill basically anyone else, and defeats literally all the Avengers and half the Guardians of the Galaxy all at the same time.

Infinity War Villain 2

Up to this point the only “Children of Thanos” that we knew were Gamora and Nebula, but Infinity War gave us the rest when they introduced Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, and Cull Obsidian. They only said their names maybe once in the entire film, but don’t worry you remember them because of their actions. Squidward… I mean Ebony Maw is particularly memorable due to him having a larger amount of lines. All four though are great villains that prove to be a formidable opponent for both the Guardians and the Avengers. They may be minions to Thanos but they are not to be taken lightly, they defeat the Avengers and Guardians multiple times throughout the film up until the final battle. They also bring a majority of the action sequences in the film and they lead to some great pair ups with different heroes in the MCU, you can’t ask for much more than that when their primary role is to make Thanos seem ever more menacing.

Best Scenes

Infinity War Scene 2

I could honestly compile a top ten list of the best moments from this movie alone, but I’m going to limit myself to two best scenes this time. This first one though is one that I think everyone saw coming: The Battle of Wakanda. Without a doubt the best battle in the entire MCU. The Children of Thanos invade Wakanda in order to capture Vision and steal the Mind Stone from him so the Avengers team together with the Wakandan tribes to stop Thanos’ plans. The battle has everything: Hulkbuster armor, a badass beatdown by some of Marvel’s best ladies, an insanely cool entrance by Thor, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot, and even a lot of laughs. The two funniest bits by far are whenever Groot introduces himself to Captain America and all he can muster to say back is, “I am Steve Rogers.” At that point, the kid from Brooklyn had seen just about everything. Another hilarious moment is when Winter Soldier picks up Rocket Raccoon and uses him as a new weapon and Rocket then asks Winter Soldier how much he’s paying for his robot arm (because of course he would.). Then of course the ending is one of the most heart wrenching, emotional sequences you’ll find in any film, not just in the superhero genre. Thanos wins at the end of the battle and snaps his fingers killing half the universe and we the audience are forced to watch characters we’ve grown to love, die right in front of us. Not only that but every single BFF/Bromance in the MCU lost someone. Cap lost Bucky, Rocket lost Groot, the Guardians lost literally everyone, and worst of all, Tony lost Peter Parker IN HIS ARMS. The Battle of Wakanda is something I’ll never ever forget.

Infinity War Scene
This picture isn’t from the scene, but this scene is kept so secretly you can’t find any pictures for it! 

The second best scene in the film concerns the mystery of the Soul Stone. Up to this point there were absolutely ZERO hints as to where it could be. People had theories and speculations, but we had to wait until Infinity War to get our answers. Turns out the only person who knew the location of the Soul Stone was none other than Gamora. Thanos tortures Nebula to get Gamora to reveal the location of the Soul Stone and Thanos forces her to take him there. They travel to the far away planet of Vormir and are met by the “Stonekeeper” who warns Thanos of the power of the stone. It’s at this point audiences started to think “Man this guy sounds familiar I can’t put my finger on it…” then the Stonekeeper’s identity was revealed!

Infinity War Scene 3

…RED SKULL!!!!! When I wrote about Captain America: The First Avengers I said we were probably never going to see this guy again, but holy shit was I wrong and I am 100% OK with that! Red Skull warns Thanos that in order to get the Soul Stone he must show that he understands the stone’s power. He must trade the soul of someone he loves for the soul stone. That trade comes by hurling a loved one off a cliff. It’s at this point Gamora beings to laugh and cheer mocking Thanos that after all the years of work, the Universe itself ruined his mission because he loves nothing in the Universe. It’s at this point Thanos looks to her with tears in his eyes. Gamora laughs surprised he’d cry in defeat which is when Red Skull says this,

“Those tears aren’t for him.”

Thanos does love something: his daughter Gamora. Though heartbroken Thanos doesn’t hesitate to grab his beloved daughter and throw her to her death. From start to finish the entire scene was shocking, heartbreaking, and completely out of nowhere. Nobody saw this one coming.

Stan Lee Cameo

Infinity War Stan

Again, Marvel is doing a good job of keeping spoilery pictures off the internet so instead of a photo of the actual cameo, enjoy this cameo from Deadpool 2! This amusing small cameo came at the beginning of the film. The Children of Thanos arrive at Earth with their ship and Peter Parker asks his friend to distract everyone else on the bus so he can escape as Spider-Man. The kids start screaming that they’re going to die at the sight of the ship which is when Stan Lee, the bus driver says, “What’s the matter haven’t you seen a spaceship before!?” We’ve been at this for 18 movies now guys, spaceships are almost an everyday occurrence in New York.

Post Credits Scene

Infinity War Post

We find Nick Fury and Maria Hill in New York when suddenly the effect of Thanos’ genocidal snap begin. Vehicles begin crashing, helicopters falling from the sky, and chaos ensues. Confused, Fury calls for backup with a Code Red. Suddenly though, Hill calls out to Nick and it’s clear she’s dying. Fury runs to his vehicle to grab a pager but then notices he’s beginning to fade as well. His last words being, “Mother f….” Nick hits the button on the pager and it falls to the ground. It shows the pager ringing and then received with a logo Marvel fans should find all too familiar: Captain Marvel is on her way!  There’s still hope!

Final Thoughts

This movie has been ten years in the making and it was worth every second of waiting! I honestly can’t think of anything negative to say about it I loved it the whole way through. It gave us so many great pair ups such as Tony Stark and Doctor Strange, Thor with the Guardians, and Bruce Banner and Shuri. Thanos certainly lived up to the hype as well being both terrifying and understandable. The movie almost shows Thanos as the hero! At the end of the film once he kills half the universe we see him retired enjoying peace and smiling as the sun rises. Marvel ALMOST has you rooting for this guy after he kills almost every hero we’ve come to love over the years. Yes the ending is literally soul crushing and difficult to watch for diehard fans, but those same fans had to know going into this that the film was going to end that way. Now the one year wait for Avengers 4 is going to be absolutely brutal, but we’ve got Ant-Man and the Wasp along with Captain Marvel on the way to keep us busy until then.

Thanos Meme

The only play the Avengers have left! Maybe if Tony gives Thanos a stern talking to he’ll surrender????

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To Infinity & Beyond: Avengers – Age of Ultron

Age Of Ultron

We’ve had our fun in space with the Guardians of the Galaxy, but it’s time to head back to Earth and see what’s going on with the Avengers! Last we left them, HYDRA defeated SHIELD and was all over there world… oh and there were fire breathing superhumans and Dark Elves. Needless to say, things haven’t gotten any calmer for Earth’s mightiest heroes.

Plot

Ever since HYDRA was ousted, the Avengers have been around the world trying to clear any and all of their strongholds. They eventually learn that HYDRA’s new leader Baron  Strucker has Loki’s mind altering scepter, and set out to retrieve it. It’s there that the Avengers meet two people with abilities: Quicksilver who has super speed and Scarlet Witch who is a sorceress. Thanks to Scarlet Witch, Tony Stark has a horrific vision of all the Avengers dying because of him not doing enough. With this new fear in the back of his mind, Tony and Bruce Banner use the power of Loki’s staff to create a safety program to help the world named Ultron. Little do they know though, that Ultron can both the Avengers and the world to its knees.

Villain

Age Of Ultron Villain

As the name suggests, the villain is Ultron; an artificial intelligence created by Bruce Banner and Tony Stark in the hopes that it would be the leading defense for Earth effectively removing the need for the Avengers. Ultron, however, becomes self aware and self serving and decides the best way to bring peace is to eradicate Earth’s biggest danger: humanity. Ultron has access to any computer in the world meaning that defeating him is borderline impossible. With Loki’s scepter he can control people to his whim as well and almost becomes one with the scepter’s power (which ends up being an Infinity Stone). After stealing vibranium, Ultron turns an entire city into a floating meteor and almost destroys all of humanity. He’s the most intelligent villain the Avengers have ever faced, almost immortal, and has an Infinity Stone… yet something about him just doesn’t seem right. I love the comic book version of Ultron: as a machine programmed to save the Earth, the best way to do so is to remove humans. The film version of Ultron has the same motivation, yet for some reason he acts and speaks like a human. He also quotes the Bible all the time… again he’s a robot who hates humanity yet he seems like humanity’s biggest fan.

Age Of Ultron Villain 2

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are villains for a majority part of the film serving as Ultron’s minions. Quicksilver is pretty one note: he runs fast and that’s about it. Scarlet Witch is definitely a more interesting character with the ability to read minds and make people see their deepest fears. She’s probably the strongest superhero in the MCU up to this point because her power is unpredictable and based on her emotion. One moment she’s perfectly fine, the next she gets angry and vaporizes everything around her. Luckily for the Avengers she joins their fight to save the world.

Best Scene

Age Of Ultron Scene

The Incredible Hulk vs. Tony Stark in the Hulkbuster Armor. What else could it be? Not only is it the best fight in Age of Ultron, it’s one of the best fights in the entire MCU. After the original Avengers, Bruce helped Tony build an Iron Man suit capable of standing up to the Hulk in case Bruce ever lost control. That suit is finally put into action after Scarlet Witch uses mind control on Bruce turning him into the Hulk. Hulk goes on a rampage in a nearby city and Tony calls in the Hulkbuster Armor to stop him. The two turn the city to rubble and the Hulkbuster wins in the most Tony Stark fashion. Tony carries Hulk above a skyscraper being built, BUYS THE BUILDING only so he can smash Hulk through it seconds later. It’s a hilarious, epic and extremely memorable fight and it was great to finally get to see the Hulkbuster on the big screen especially since it was notably absent in the Iron Legion in Iron Man 3.

Stan Lee Cameo

Age Of Ultron Stan Lee

After the Avengers successfully defeat Strucker and retrieve Loki’s staff, the team has a party at Avengers Tower. At one point Thor breaks out booze he brought from Asgard that has been aged for 1,000 years. He says it was “aged in the barrels of Grunhel’s fleet. It is not meant for normal men,” which is when Stan Lee, an army vet, says “Neither was Omaha beach blondie! Stop trying to scare us, come on.” He then is seen being drunkenly dragged out of the party while mumbling his infamous line “Excelsior!” The line at the end is the icing on this delicious cameo cake!

Post Credits Scene

Age Of Ultron Post Credits

A dark room is opened revealing a large gold gauntlet. The one opening the vault is none other than Thanos! Because of course it is! We have Thanos, we have Infinity Stones, eventually the Mad Titan was going to get his gauntlet! Thanos simply says the words, “Fine, I’ll do it myself.” No more minions getting the stones for him. Soon the starways will bathe in the blood of his victims.

Final Thoughts

This movie is very hit and miss. There are great action sequences, interactions between the Avengers, and it introduces us to the Vision, but the villain overall is kind of a downer. He speaks like a Bible thumper and although he’s almost immortal he’s never really proven to be as much of a threat as Loki was. Also, Winter Soldier introduced us to Baron Strucker who is a major villain in the Marvel Comics, but this film made him look like a joke killing him off in the first half an hour. The original Avengers is one of the best superhero films of all time, so expecting this to surpass that was always going to be a hard sell, but nevertheless Age of Ultron is a fun film.

 Thanos Meme of the Week

Today’s date is March 16th aka 3/16 aka Stone Cold Steve Austin Day so there is no better Thanos meme for me to share than this one!

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