OK, you’ve seen “Avengers: Infinity War” and so now you’re ready to discuss the spoilers in the film. Presumably anyhow, but repeat, repeat, do not read this piece if you haven’t seen the film. Spoilers will follow.
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Marvel’s ‘Infinity War,’ as I’ve written in my review takes a torch to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thanos, the mad titan, collects all the infinity stones, beats the hell out of the Avengers and the Guardians Of The Galaxy, his minions, bring an apocalypse to Earth and at the very end, achieves his goal: half the people in the universe are destroyed and, as you’ve seen in the film, disintegrate out of existence. This, of course, includes dozens of Avengers: Bucky Barnes, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, shockingly Black Panther (which caused gasps in my screening), the Scarlett Witch and, in the post-credits scene, Maria Hill and Nick Fury (“Mother-f-!”).
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But there’s a real problem here, and presumably, a big renege coming that will undo all the stakes and emotional drama of that shocking ending of ‘Infinity War.’ None of these characters are actually dead. We know, at the very least, a “Black Panther” sequel is coming, definitely a sequel to “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and “Guardians Of The Galaxy 3” at the very least. So, we, therefore, know none of these characters are dead. This is common in comics, but it still makes (some) audiences resentful. What’s the point of someone “dying” and then robbing those scenes by just having them return in the next installment? And frankly, none of these characters are dead because you know if they reverse Thanos’ “snap”—which kills half the universe—you have to bring all the heroes back (and all the people in the world), not just some of them. So again, while fairly moving and powerful—especially the scenes of Bucky and Spider-Man “dying”—none of this is permanent, and personally, this annoys me (I did like ‘Infinity War’ a lot though).
Marvel has promised the “end” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or at least the finality of the storytelling they’ve been telling over 22 films. But the studio has already shown they’re constantly defaulting on those promises. Take Iron Man’s “death” in ‘Infinity War.’ It’s a holy shit moment; they’re finally going there, Thanos takes a stake right through Tony Stark. It’s a mortal wound that no human being could ever recover from. And it’s a hell of an emotional moment, with Doctor Strange, Tony’s adversary in the film, pleading for his life. But then Marvel basically tricks you and undoes the moment; Tony survives –it’s unclear if his new nanobots heal him or Thanos pulls off some magic to save him, but it’s beside the point. Marvel create this swelling, crescendoing moment, that hooks the audience emotionally to only back out on it. If the studio keeps doing this in the fourth untitled ‘Avengers’ film, nothing is going to matter, these stakes will mean nothing, and this is potentially going to mortally wound the narrative and emotional credibility of the MCU.
The real impactful deaths in ‘Infinity War’ are the ones that are permanent (seemingly anyhow): Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Heimdall (Idris Elba, who seemed to want to get out of the franchise), Gamora (Zoe Saldana, who has the “Star Trek” franchise) and Vision (Paul Bettany), though even the latter feels like one that could be reversed.
Even Kevin Feige, in our recent interview, suggested that Marvel heroes never really die. “A lot of characters can come and go, and you kill Spider-Man, and he comes back six months later, and they all die, but Bucky Barnes stays dead,” he said about a rule for Marvel comics that was eventually broken. “Until, Ed Brubaker and some folks had the idea to bring him back and we got Winter Soldier, and it was the best. It was great. So, I think it always depends.”
“There are characters that have died that will stay dead,” he promised. “There are characters in the future films that will go away and stay gone, but when you’re dealing with characters that have had stories and comics for half a century, it always will vary.”
Most importantly, Feige makes the bold boast that the ramifications of ‘Avengers 4’ will ring on throughout the MCU for years to come, repeating that same phrase: “In ‘Infinity War’ and in the next ‘Avengers’ film [we’re] heading towards the conclusion of 22 films in a way that will have permanence for many years.”
But pardon me if I feel skeptical considering how at least ten heroes “died” in ‘Infinity War’ that aren’t dead—and I’m including Tony Stark, because I’m resentful how they walked back that emotional moment suddenly. It’s a dangerous thing to do to an audience, to welsh like that. It sets a bad precedent that again, diminishes stakes, drama, and emotion—the things that make the MCU the best of all the superhero film franchises and makes their cultural impact so great.
Worse, after all these hints, vows, pledges, and insinuation, perhaps all Marvel is going to do is kill all these kinds of supporting characters (sorry, Heimdall isn’t a character we care about that much). After all, this grandstanding, all this talk about game-changing, will Marvel actually kill some major characters like Tony Stark, Steve Rodgers or Thor and rock the MCU in a meaningful and impactful way? Or will all these characters simply “go away” for now sitting on the bench for a few years until their contracts are re-upped again (and or in the case of Downey, pay him ala carte every time he makes a small appearance like in “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
Marvel tends to set up big crescendos only to shy away from them at the last minute. “Black Panther” is terrific, but one of its biggest disappointments is how they set up the bold, game-changing moment where Wakanda tech and Vibranium could get out into the world, in the hands of mercenaries and irrevocably change Earth. “Black Panther” had such a strong sense of urgency and tension, I really thought the Marvel Universe, which tees up risks and then veers away often, would go there and change the world, instead, the movie wrapped up rather nicely with a bow on top of it. Perhaps I shouldn’t expect much more from superhero films that kill their characters and bring them back in the next installment—see “Justice League” too, a film where not one person on the planet actually thought Superman was dead—but perhaps don’t tease us in the press s and set us up narratively only to cop out in the end. Feige’s even suggested Marvel’s Phase 4 may not be called Phase 4 because the who universe will have drastically changed to the point a “Phase 4” may not make sense.
Yes, like the rest of the world, I haven’t seen ‘Avengers 4’ yet and I could be eating my words next year when Marvel potentially shocks me and really scorches their Earth permanently (which would be awesome, frankly and I’m going to be happy to be proved dead wrong), but I’m feeling dubious, mildly indignant and cynical that the studio will truly have the balls to deliver on their promise of closing the books on everything that’s come so far.