SPOILERS BELOW!!!!! SPOILERS BELOW!!!!! SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!
SPOILERS BELOW!!!!! SPOILERS BELOW!!!!! SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!
SPOILERS BELOW!!!!! SPOILERS BELOW!!!!! SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!

I finally got to see Avengers: Infinity War. It felt like an infinity (sorry) as loads of people I knew had already seen it and I hadn’t had the chance to go. I knew there was going to be some big spoiler, so I was very nervous going on social media for about four days.

Firstly let’s talk about the spoilers.

I REPEAT… SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!
I REPEAT… SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!
I REPEAT… SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!

I assumed, like most people assumed, that someone was going to die in this film. The question seemed to be was it going to be Captain America or Iron Man. I think the consensus was that it would be Iron Man because Robert Downey Jr might not want to do another film and might want the limelight on him being killed off in the penultimate film. But I thought it might be Cap, because it’s more interesting having the more ‘righteous’ character die and then the more ‘wild’ character of Stark be the one to avenge his death. But I wasn’t expecting so many deaths as there were in the film. It makes sense though. I did think that Thanos would probably get all the infinity stones in this film and the next film would be about mopping up the carnage and getting the gauntlet back off him. Once Thanos got his beloved completed gauntlet he was never going to hang about in killing half the universe. It was pretty exciting (nay shocking) trying to guess which characters would die once the first one was turned to ash. I haven’t checked the full list yet but it looked to me like it was all the original Avengers left alive, plus a few other random extras. I think that’s a really clever move actually as it means that the next film doesn’t have to have such a full roster of characters squeezed into the script, and they can focus more on the main Avengers and give them a good swan song before those main actors hang up their capes. See the end of this post for other ideas about the next film.

In a nutshell I absolutely loved this movie. I’m stunned about how well the Russo Brothers managed to fit everything in. They have now made my three favourite MCU movies. This, Winter Soldier and Civil War. There were soooo many characters in this one and yet they managed to give pretty much every one a solid amount of screen time or a good moment to shine. I didn’t feel it was jumping around too much. It was actually cool seeing all the various styles and groups cut together and nice to hear the foreshadowing of the music telegraphing the Guardians segment and drums etc for the Wakanda introduction.

Normally for films like this where I have big expectations I have a list of things I wasn’t 100% happy with or thought I could have been better. I quite like nit-picking in these sorts of movies. Often that list of nit-picks is longer than my ‘good’ list. But for this one I actually only have one ‘negative’. That’s all. And it’s a minor one.

Negative points
Not really a major negative but I felt the scenes with Peter Dinklage pulled me out of the film a bit. I was really happy for Peter as an actor that he got to play a giant. That was pretty cool, but all I could hear was the voice of Tyrion Lannister. If he had been able to do a slightly different voice or accent it would have been fine!

The only other point to raise is one that I didn’t even personally spot, but several people have asked why Scarlet Witch’s accent has become more American. I didn’t even notice. It is weird though. If anything perhaps it should be more Scottish if they’ve been living in Scotland for two years?

Now onto my list of good points, in a very random order as they come out of my head.

Good points

  • I enjoyed seeing Mark Ruffalo get more screen time. Always a shame to not see as much of the Hulk but it was still good to see him throw down against Thanos right at the start. And the fact that Thanos actually beat him really made you realise just how powerful Thanos was. It was interesting to introduce the whole dichotomy dialogue between Banner and the Hulk which is so prevalent in many of the comic book stories. I wonder if the next film will see the Hulk break out into his own physical form, as happened in several comic storylines too, so that Banner and Hulk can fight side by side and have some banter together, possibly as Grey Hulk
  • I thought Thanos was done brilliantly. There were a couple of shots where he looked slightly weird but in most shots he looked great. Very impressed with how he was visualised. I had been slightly concerned after seeing the two previous post credit scenes. And I thought the character was really addressed well. He came across as a character with a huge amount of depth. We felt pathos for him as well as disgust. I look forward to seeing more of him in the next film. Kudos to the animators, writers and Josh Brolin
  • I kind of felt that were wasn’t as much Cap as I expected. There was a lot of Tony but I felt that Cap’s role was slightly more subdued. I assume Cap will have more limelight in the next film. One of the biggest laughs from me and in the rest of my cinema though was when Groot said “I am Groot” and then Cap very politely said “I am Steve Rogers”. I love little lines like that that work because the audience knows the subtle character differences. I felt that Thor: Ragnarok, while funny, kind of tarred everyone with the same humour brush and it wasn’t as clever as some of the humour here.
  • Loved the sarcastic “I am Groot” that got everyone offended on the ship
  • Loved Thor calling Rocket and Groot “Rabbit” and “Tree”
  • Loved everything Chris Pratt did. He always comes across as the buffoon when just talking with the Guardians, but when they fight he always really does become a badass, and I loved how he just overrides Stark’s plan etc
  • Loved the 80s references from Spider-Man and then how that connected with Starlord’s 80s knowledge
  • Loved Rocket’s line “I’m so going to get that arm”
  • Loved the fearsome female bit when Wanda is about to be killed and then Widow and Okoye come to her aid. That was a nice touch
  • It was very cool to see the Iron Spider suit in action
  • Seeing Dr Strange’s powers be used in conjunction with other superheroes in a fight was great. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to choreograph those fights
  • Thanos’ main henchman Ebony Maw was awesome. A very cool look and very cool powers
  • Great to see the hammer Stormbreaker in action. They’re managing to bring in so many cool references from the comics
  • Black Widow’s new look was very cool
  • Fantastic that my home country of Scotland was one of the settings. That was great to see Cap and four other Avengers have a bust up in Scotland!
  • I thought the flashbacks of Gamora were done really well. Really gave us a horrific, yet almost touching, look at Thanos and his troubled character, and cemented the relationship between them. I thought it was obvious when Red Skull mentioned about him having to trade a soul for a soul that it meant he would have to sacrifice Gamora but she didn’t seem to catch on so quick!
  • Seeing Red Skull was a bit of a wow moment. Wasn’t expecting that at all
  • It must have been very cathartic for Banner to use the Hulkbuster armour
  • Dave Bautista as Drax cracks me up every time. This time with his invisibility and his line “Why’s Gamora?”
  • I always love how nonchalant Tony Stark is. “What’s going on, Mr Stark?” and Tony replies “Um, men from space are here and they’re trying to take a necklace from a wizard”
  • Kevin Bacon got two references. One that he could be a new member of the Avengers and the other one was about the dance off being like Footloose. Nice.
  • Very cool that teenage Groot was playing the VFD version of Arcade Defender. I bet the price of those go up on eBay
  • The biggest goosebump moment for me was when Thor arrived in Wakanda with his new hammer. That bit was done very well, in conjunction with the score.
  • Loved that Samuel L Jackson’s last words were “Motherf…”

I really just can’t believe how much of a great job they are doing over at Marvel Studios. Particularly when you compare them to DC, but even to Fox. They just do things on a whole other scale. Great stories, great acting and directing, great effects. And what’s so clever is that all the movies flow together like some genius masterplan. The infinity stones had been worked into the plots, in some form or another, since Thor, I believe. To have that sort of vision is just amazing. And every film helps to add another piece to the puzzle. 18 films in and the quality just keeps increasing. I do have to say I am in awe of the Russos and what they have been able to pull off. I totally loved Captain America: Winter Soldier and they have been knocking them out the park ever since. But Kevin Feige is the brains behind all of this, and planning out the whole roadmap of the MCU. They should give Oscars for ‘cleverness’ or ‘best 18 movie roadmap’ and give them all to Kevin every year. The MCU right now is totally Kevin Feige and the Russos. Sorry Joss.

As I think I mentioned above, it feels like they’ve wiped out half of the population of superheroes because it means that they can focus on the main Avengers crew and give them a bit more breathing space in the next film and give them a fitting swansong. Because I can’t imagine Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth continuing to act in them after this next one. I could see Hemsworth doing cameos actually. But in the film, half the population of the universe are currently dead (and I liked CT from Nerd Lunch‘s joke about how he felt like he had to mark himself as ‘Safe in the Infinity War’ on Facebook or something). It really is a chilling prospect that half of the people around you suddenly turn to ash. But, I totally believe all of them will be resurrectable. There is no way they are going to kill off Black Panther and Spider-Man for example. I think what might happen is that they manage to get the Gauntlet off Thanos and then someone uses the Time stone to reverse time far enough to bring everyone back perhaps? But some of the deaths might not be so resurrectable, such as Loki and Vision. In terms of Gamora I think she is probably in the Soulworld which is a place in the comics located within the Soul Gem, so I’m sure she can be resurrected too. To be honest I’m a bit confused about who died and how. I need to see it again!

The post credit scene references Nick Fury calling Captain Marvel. Once again, the movie roadmap has been done so well because (after we have the slightly out of sequence, I assume, Ant-Man and The Wasp), the next film, coming out in March 2019, is Captain Marvel. This is set in the past in the 90s and apparently includes a young Nick Fury and Agent Coulson. Then only two months later the next Avengers film comes out and I assume will heavily involve Captain Marvel. I wonder if it might also include Adam Warlock, who was teased in the post credits scene of Guardians Vol 2. I personally also hope that now that Marvel have the rights to the Silver Surfer might make an appearance, as he and Adam Warlock have pretty big roles in the Infinity Gauntlet story in the comics, but to be honest I don’t think they would introduce that many new characters. I know the MCU is meant to be becoming more cosmic in the future so I do hope we see a good version of the Silver Surfer and also Galactus in the future.

CT and Pax from Nerd Lunch also mentioned something that I didn’t spot on first viewing. Dr Strange obviously only saw one possible future where the Avengers won, out of about 14million. So it could be that he sacrificed his infinity stone in order to let Tony live, because Tony must be a big part of the story in the next film about how they win. Strange said that he had to do it. He had to save Tony. That certainly makes sense from an MCU point of view. Robert Downey Jr is the biggest star and he had the first movie and so he is ‘the Alpha and the Omega’. He will be instrumental in the next movie.

SPOILERS ABOUT THE ORIGINAL INFINITY GAUNTLET COMICS BELOW!!!!!

My other ideas around the next film stem from what happens in the comics. In the comics Nebula manages to steal the gauntlet at one point and then Dr Strange and others manage to persuade Thanos to help them get the gauntlet from Nebula. Adam Warlock then gets the gauntlet and tries to wield it for good, but it proves to big a burden for him. Even if we do get Adam Warlock in the film I don’t think he would have such a big role. Also, although Nebula is still alive I don’t she will have such a big role either. Perhaps though. She may well manage to get the gauntlet and then the heroes get it back off her. And as they have shown some sensitive sides and depth to Thanos’ character in this film I would not be surprised at all if they manage to talk him into helping them getting the gauntlet back. And I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it is Tony Stark who tries to wield it for good, and then Cap and Dr Strange have to talk him down.

But I would also love to see all the heroes back fighting in one fight at some point. This film basically had the heroes split into two main groups at the end. One in Wakanda and one on Titan. If they manage to turn back time using the Time Stone and bring back all the other heroes then basically we could have all the heroes together in one epic battle against some big baddie, whoever that may be, would be cool.

What an amazing movie. Can’t wait for the Blu-Ray to come out so that I can watch it in 3D again and also watch all the extras. Often I buy movies on Blu-Ray and don’t watch them for a while, but this one I will definitely watch right away.

Here is the updated list of my personal ranking of all the MCU movies.

1. Avengers: Infinity War
2. Captain America: Winter Soldier
3. Captain America: Civil War
4. Avengers
5. Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2
6. Iron Man
7. Spider-Man: Homecoming
8. Black Panther
9. Iron Man 3
10. Avengers 2: Age of Ultron
11. Guardians of the Galaxy
12. Ant-Man
13. Thor
14. Dr. Strange
15. Thor 2: The Dark World
16. Captain America
17. Thor: Ragnarok
18. Incredible Hulk
19. Iron Man 2