Did Avengers: Infinity War’s ending blow your mind?
Avengers: Infinity War released today and so this is what every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie since Iron Man had been leading up to. Thanos, the Mad Titan, finally comes to the earth to acquire Infinity Stones so that he could achieve his twisted goal – to destroy half the universe. If you have not seen the movie, it is a good idea to stop reading now, since this piece concerns itself with the plot of the film and what happened at the end. Proceed at your own risk.
Reading further? Okay, then. Here we go. Infinity War concluded in a shocking yet nicely muted fashion when half of the universe’s life-forms – including about half of superheroes – just disintegrated into nothing. Josh Brolin’s Thanos, the Big Bad of Marvel Cinematic Universe who is being teased for six years, basically won the battle. He achieved what he wanted. He acquired all the Infinity Stones and destroyed half the universe with a snap of his finger.
That means prominent superheroes like Black Panther, Spider-man, Doctor Strange, almost the entire Guardians of the Galaxy except for Rocket, and so on are dead. Does that mean they are dead for good or they will return? I am almost sure that they will return. It is notable that nobody in the old guard like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Bruce Banner, Black Widow is dead, and all the characters who died were introduced in phase 2. Doctor Strange, Black Panther and Spider-man are supposed to return in their sequels. Was that just a Red Herring, to throw people off the scent? I doubt it.
Also Read: Avengers Infinity War review
Going forward, there can only be two scenarios. Either people who died at the end will be reanimated somehow. Or they will stay dead. Let us analyse both.
Rebirth:
Doctor Strange, the man who could reverse whatever happened, is dead and anyway, Thanos holds the Time Stone. Post-credits teased the arrival of Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel and maybe she can also do that. I suspect we will see more of the quantum realm that was first teased in Ant-Man. Since Ant-Man and the Wasp will release a few months later, we may see it being explored in detail and perhaps somehow that realm, where space and time are irrelevant, can be harnessed to bend reality or time and turn the tables. Surely not having Ant-Man in Infinity War must mean something for the character.
A still from Avengers: Infinity War.
Everybody stays dead:
Highly unlikely, but possible. First, many of the ‘dead’ characters like Black Panther are scheduled to have sequels. Black Panther was especially profitable for Marvel. Secondly, Spider-man is in MCU only because Disney and Sony made a deal. Thirdly, and most importantly, Doctor Strange, if you remember, had looked through all the possible scenarios and found only one in which the Avengers are victorious. After he gave the Time Stone to Thanos in order to save Tony Stark’s life, Stark asked him why did he do that. Strange answered, pretty cryptically, that it was the only way. Perhaps defeating the Mad Titan and letting him have all the Infinity Stones and destroying half the universe is the only way to defeat him? Perhaps we will get more answers in Ant-Man and the Wasp and next year’s Captain Marvel.
Also Read: Avengers Infinity War: Post-credits explained
Then again, the characters may stay dead. If that happens, then this will be the boldest creative decision in the history of cinema ever.