Yes, we're throwing down the gauntlet.
Hey, guess what?
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
If one of the Infinity Stones was a Spoiler Stone, this is where we would be using it.
Still here? On we go.
Following on from the ending of the movie (which we discussed at length
here), which also included one of the weirdest scenes of the movie, if not all of the MCU movies to date (which we also discussed at length, right
here), we've had some time to allow some of the dust to settle, even if most of that dust is actually made up of half of the universe's population...
Since then, the writers of Infinity War have stated that all of the deaths in the movie are for real, telling
Buzzfeed that:
"[Avengers 4] doesn’t do what you think it does. It is a different movie than you think it is. Also…[the deaths are] real. I just want to tell you it’s real, and the sooner you accept that the sooner you will be able to move on to the next stage of grief."
“Put it this way. I think [Infinity War] is a fairly mature movie for a blockbuster. It’s got a lot of fun in it, obviously, but boy, it gets very mature. The second one is also mature. We’re going to own these choices, and hopefully surprise and delight you and get you invested."
"It’s by the same studio, the same film-making team. They were written at the same time, shot at the same time. They’re clearly connected, but they are definitely two different movies, one of which is dependent on what happened previously."
"We broke your heart. Now we’re going to blow your mind!"
Ouch.
Now, we've learned over the years not to take everything Hollywood says at face value, but if this is true, then they have successfully broken our hearts, and Thanos has effectively won.
However, we can't even be all that mad at Thanos, because there are others in the movie who turned out to be even more influential villains that he was.
Think back to when the Guardians arrive on the abandoned planet of Knowhere, and they find Thanos torturing The Collector to get his Infinity Stone. Drax got all worked up, fuelled by rage and a need for revenge, and Peter Quill attempts to talk him down. Attempts, and fails, and it falls on Mantis to use her powers to knock him out.
Jump forward to the battle royale on the destroyed planet of Titan, and they are seconds away from victory, having almost pulled the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos' hands, when Quill finds out that Gamora has been sacrificed for one of the Infinity Stones.
And what does he do? He does exactly what he asked Drax not to do, he gets worked up, fuelled by rage and a need for revenge, and with one punch, frees Thanos, who uses the opportunity to turn the tide of the fight and, ultimately, genocide half of the universe's population.
Peter Quill almost single-handedly resulted in the deaths of trillions of people, including (most sad of all) poor little Spider-Man.
And guess what? Fans have noticed it:
https://twitter.com/AnotherNerd4/status/990043976999817221
https://twitter.com/yoyotrav/status/990227744796631041
https://twitter.com/Ryankingry/status/990983109377081344
https://twitter.com/Marcus_Sniffles/status/991032625992216576
https://twitter.com/TaPeR_GanG_/status/990679507580440576
Now, there are arguments to be made in defence of his actions, and the loss of a loved one is liable to push anyone over the edge, but his actions have put a major dent in the overall likeability of one of Marvel's most loved characters.
However, you will remember that we said that Peter Quill
almost single-handedly resulted in all of those deaths, and that is because his actions (or lack thereof) aren't alone in what happened.
No, some blame must be laid at the feet of Doctor Stephen Strange.
You'll also remember that he had a little time-travel fit, predicting the outcomes of over 14,000,000 potential timelines, and realising that only one of those result in the Avengers winning, and we can probably assume that is the path he has placed them all on by giving up the Time Stone in exchange for Tony Stark's life.
However, what that doesn't explain is how Strange didn't see Quill's emotional reaction when they were seconds from removing the glove, and in that split-second, teleport him a bit away until they get the job done, and then let the Star-Lord vent his frustrations once half of the universe's lives weren't in the balance.
Perhaps this is something that will be explained retroactively in the sequel - like when we predicted that the MCU might make the ballsy move of retroactively changing the entire franchise to date, which you can read all about
here - but it seems unlikely.
We guess we'll know for sure when the currently untitled Avengers 4 movie is released in April 2019, but until then, we're just going to sit here and seethe at Star Lord.
