Be warned! There are all kinds of spoilers up in this post. There are more spoilers in this post than there are beloved character deaths in Infinity War, and that's a lot!
Me-oh-my, Avengers: Infinity War sure is a doozie of superhero action wrapped up in one of the most star-studded blockbuster packages cinema has ever seen. Ten years, eighteen movies, and it was all leading up to this; an insanely epic superhero bonanza that splashes the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe together in fun new combinations across the galaxy on a mission to stop the Mad Titan Thanos. Except this time, they lose. Thanos wins. Spider-Man breaks your heart (That Tom Holland kid is going places, I tell you.) And half of Marvel's superstar roster blinked out of existence with the snap of a finger. Oh, and half of the entire universe too.
So yeah, Infinity War is the kind of movie that conjures all kinds of questions, big and small. While the folks at Marvel made a whole lot of hullaballoo about the third and fourth Avengers movies being separate, self-contained films, they're clearly part of a two-film arc and that means Infinity War laid a lot of track for next year's follow-up and it left a lot to be answered with one of the ballsiest, most depressing cliffhanger endings in tentpole cinema. So with that in mind, let's dig deep into the questions that are going to be driving me nuts until we get answers in Avengers 4.
Why Did Doctor Strange Give Thanos the Time Stone?
So this is a big one, but it's also one of the easiest to explain away. Why did or didn't Doctor Strange [fill in the blank]? Why did he give Thanos the Time Stone willingly? Why didn't he tell the other Avengers what happened in the single survival scenario? Why didn't he trap the Mad Titan in a loop like he did with Dormammu? Take your pick of the mysterious decisions the prickly sorcerer made in Infinity War, but they can all pretty much be answered by the simple logic that out of the 14,000,605 timelines he glimpsed in the future, everything he did here must have been what happened in the one and only timeline where they won. In fact, he outright told Tony that there was no other way, so the question becomes -- why? Why was this the only way to win?
If it was to get Thanos to put his guard down, that certainly seemed to work. The film's final moments make a nod to his stint as a peaceful farmer, far removed from the calculating genocidal maniac we saw unleashed throughout the film and further cementing himself as the all-time most extra ecoterrorist. (You just know Thanos farms organic.) Could he lose enough of his edge so that our remaining heroes can finally take him down? Or is there more to Strange's plan that we haven't seen yet? And what about the Gauntlet? It looked pretty banged up there at the end, perhaps allowing Thanos to use the Gauntlet now was the only way to stop him from using it. Whoa.
Who Died for Real?
This has got to be the biggest question of them all. Which of our dearly departed Avengers are departed for good? Let's assume no one believes that Spider-Man or Black Panther are dead and gone, and if our heroes are going to find a way to bring them back, they're probably going to be able to revive everyone who dusted off in Infinity War's big finale.
Those deaths aside, there are still a few key losses that just might stick. As a refresher, Thanos pretty much wiped out the entire future wave of the MCU and most of the Guardians with the snap of a finger, including Bucky, Black Panther, Spider-Man, Falcon, Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch, Drax, Groot, Mantis, Star-Lord, and Doctor Strange, along with Nick Fury and Maria Hill in the post-credits.
Let’s get the easy ones out of the way; Loki and Heimdall, they dead. Of all the deaths in Infinity War, these two are most likely to stick. They’re both phase one actors who have either reached the end of their contracts or they're getting close and while Hiddleston's Loki is a fan favorite we might see again down the line, Thanos’ “no resurrections” jab seemed like a message to fans expecting an easy, quick return for the trickster. Oh, and possibly the Collector. His death wasn't shown, but it sure was implied.
Vision is somewhere in the middle range of possible resurrections. He sacrificed himself so Scarlet Witch could destroy the mind gem, but Thanos unwound their deeds as easily as a watch, allowing him to rip the stone out of Vision’s forehead and complete the Gauntlet (perhaps this is why Strange had to give him the time gem — they could only ultimately win if they lost first and Vision's first death would have prevented Thanos from assembling the gauntlet.) Vision looked good and proper dead after that, greyed out with a hollow forehead he .looked like someone beyond saving and when his body hit the ground, it was one of the few in the film that had a thud of finality. However, if time travel is what saves the day, then he might have a shot. But if the Avengers only find a way to bring back those lost in the snap, he’s toast. That is unless Shuri somehow mapped or absorbed a piece of him during her attempted Infinity Stone removal. I know that's a lot of ifs, but look it's a comic book movie and he's an infinity stone/robot/human hybrid so honestly, who knows.
After Vision, that brings us to Gamora. When the Soul stone demanded a soul for a soul, Thanos sacrificed his favorite daughter; an act he truly seemed to mourn and indeed, an act that would only work if he truly loved her. Her death allowed him to retrieve the still mysterious Soul Stone, but does that mean she's gone for good? The very existence of Red Skull, long presumed dead by tesseract, and the fate of his spirit suggest that those who perish by the Infinity Stones may not be gone for good, and considering the nature of her death, it’s entirely possible that Gamora is the Soul World along with the dusted Avengers and can thus be returned to the world of the living.
Update: During a recent Q&A Joe Russo confirmed that Gamora is alive, so to speak, inside the Soul World's pocket dimension and that's where we see Thanos in the orange-tinged sequence after he retrieves the stone. "“Yeah, it’s implied [that] it’s the Soul Stone," Russo said. "It’s all orange around, then he’s inside the Soul Stone with the amount of power that it took to snap his fingers – he has this out of body experience with Thanos. When he goes inside the Soul Stone he has this kind of conversation with the younger version of his Gamora.”
How Are They Going to Fix This Mess?
So Marvel went and did a Leftovers. If you've seen that show (and if you really should if you haven't), you know things get pretty grim when a piece of the population disappears -- and this time, it's not 2% of the population, it's 50% ... of everyone, everywhere across the universe. Fucking heavy, man. Since Marvel movies aren't about driving you to the depths of despair, that's obviously not going to last -- and as I said earlier, there's literally no one who believes Black Panther, Spidey, and the Guardians are gone for good. Which means, the OG Avengers have got to rally to save the universe one more time in Avengers 4. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of how.
So let's take stock of what they've got. They've got two fearless leaders in Cap and Tony. They've got big-time brain power with the all-star lineup of the smartest human beings in the Galaxy in Tony, Bruce, Rocket and Shuri (assuming she wasn't dusted in the snap). They've got a Hulk, maybe, probably (more on that later). They've definitely got to have severe PTSD at this point, but that's another story.
They've also got a few advantages we haven't seen yet. Ant-Man and the Wasp will dig deeper into the quantum realm, which opens up all kinds of freedom for the story to move through time and space, or outside of it. Set photos from the Avengers 4‘s production revealed Captain America in his old star-spangled 2012 Avengers costume with the clean-cut boyish look to match, a greyed Tony Stark sans super suit, Ant-Man and the Hulk in what looks like the Battle of New York. So time travel appears to be very much on the table.
However, it doesn't look like it's going to be the time stone that gets it done, or at least not exclusively. Those same images reveal the heroes wearing a mysterious piece of tech around their wrists that has folks thinking that whatever tech we see developed in Ant-Man and the Wasp (possibly combined with the resources of Stark Industries) will allow the heroes to travel through time and revisit iconic moments from previous MCU films. Altogether, it looks like we might be getting an Avengers Forever situation, which you can read more about here.
Speaking of heading back in time, we're also getting Captain Marvel ahead of Avengers 4, which will take us back to the 1990s to introduce the most powerful hero ever introduced to the MCU, according to Kevin Feige. Could she be powerful enough to wield the gauntlet? Some fans think she could take on a role similar to Adam Warlock's in the comics since that character was just introduced at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and James Gunn has made it very clear he does not play a role in the Infinity War arc.
Whatever the case, we know that Captain Marvel is going to step in as a heavy hitter just when humanity needs one, and it looks like she might extend another branch through time. The Infinity War post-credit scene saw Nick Fury send out a call to Captain Marvel on an upgraded but distinctly retro-looking device. If the apocalypse comes... beep Captain Marvel? It will be curious to see where and when she is when that page reaches her and how she meets up with our heroes. While we're at it, here's hoping there's a satisfying answer to why Fury never called her before now.
Of course, even if Captain Marvel and time-traveling heroes are going to play a key role in restoring the universe, odds are it will ultimately be one of our original heroes that saves the day with a sacrifice. Why make such a grim prediction? Well...
What Happened to the Other Half of the Universe?
So those people Thanos dusted might not be exactly "dead," so to speak. In his quest to balance the universe, the Mad Titan eliminated half of all life with the snap of a finger, but depending on how close Avengers 4 keeps to comic lore, those fine folks might be kicking it in an alternate dimension known as the Soul World. That's right, there could be a whole pocket universe filled with superheroes, villains, and civilians living in a hazy alternate reality.
As it exists in the comics, the Soul Gem (they're called gems, not stones) is a semi-sentient and extremely powerful force that desires and collects souls. It then stores those souls in the Soul World, an idyllic alternate dimension within the stone. You can learn all about it with our handy guide. The Soul Stone's sentience was hinted at in Infinity War through Red Skull, who explained that it "has a certain wisdom." He also stated the heart-breaking rule of wielding the Soul Stone; you must lose what you love, "a soul for a soul." That wording is an interesting mirror of something Captain America says throughout the film, "We don't trade lives." But what if you had to?
In the comics, the Soul Gem is capable of restoring people to their original form, so if they had someone capable of wielding it, they could fix things right up. Trouble is, we haven't met anyone with that power. Remember when the Power Stone almost obliterated the Guardians? And Peter was half-Celestial. Perhaps Captain Marvel will be able to wield the stones, but I have my doubts. More likely, now that they've seen the consequences of their failure, our remaining heroes are going to have to make some heavy sacrifices to bring back the half of the universe that was lost. A soul for a soul. If that's the direction the film takes, smart money is on Cap to bring it all home -- after all, Tony has Pepper, he wants a family, and as Cap discussed in Civil War, it doesn't seem like those things are in the cards for him. And he always was the guy to make the sacrifice play, it'd be mighty fitting to see him jump on the ultimate metaphorical grenade as his last act.
Where Is Valkyrie?
Seriously, where the hell is Valkyrie? You know Marvel didn't just kill this beer-swigging, sword-swinging goddess offscreen without the decency to even mention her death. You just know they didn't do that. Please tell me they didn't do that. While we're at it, what happened to Korg and Miek? Most likely, Infinity War was just a little too crowded for these instant favorite Thor: Ragnarok characters because it really wouldn't sit well if they were straight up murdered without it even being mentioned.
We'll probably catch up with this delightful crew later down the line (perhaps in Avengers 4?). After all, they said Thanos killed half the Asgardians right? That's his deal. Seems likely that they were in the spared half (it's hard to imagine Valkyrie going down without a fight, but she survived so long on Sakaar because of her smarts), and they helped get the other half of the ship off to safety. Alternately, they could have been sent off on a side mission/escape pod/etc when Thanos' ship approached. Kevin Feige mentioned that he has plans for Korg and Miek in an interview with Fandango, and suggested they might get their one one-shot style short. If that's the case, hopefully, it will also serve as a proof of life for Tessa Thompson and Taika Waititi's delightful characters.
As for the missing member of the Guardians crew, Kraglin is fine, but his whereabouts remain a mystery.
Update: Joe Russo confirmed Valkyrie survived in during a Q&A at an Iowa high school, explaining that she used an escape pod to escape along with some other Asgardians. However, the Infinity War co-director declined to confirm Korg's status.
Where are Hawkeye and Ant-Man?
Fans spent the bulk of the Infinity War marketing campaign wonder where the hell Hawkeye was. An original Avenger, if never an ultra-powerful one, it seemed so odd that Jeremy Renner's Clint Barton would be left out of the run-up to the big Avengers moment ten years in the making. Except he wasn't in it. Like, at all. Aside from a casual mention that he and Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, are chilling on house arrest after taking a deal with the government in the aftermath of Civil War.
The good news is that means we won't have to wait long to find out what they've been up to, with Ant-Man and the Wasp next up on the release calendar. As the film that follows up Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp has been shrouded in a significant amount of mystery, but we know that the film is set before the events of Infinity War. My guess is that we're going to see Hawkeye pop up in Ant-Man and the Wasp, which seems like it has to end similarly to the Infinity War post-credits. Will Clint and Scott's family's get dusted in the snap?
Sebastian Stan recently revealed he shares a scene with Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfieffer and Samuel L. Jackson in the sequel, which certainly makes it sound like Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne end up on the wrong side of things. That's no doubt part of what sends Scott through time with Tony and Cap (should those set photo theories prove correct).
We don't have any confirmation that we'll see the fallout from Infinity War touch Ant-Man and the Wasp given the timeframes, but it just seems like the natural conclusion to lead into Captain Marvel and Avengers 4, especially if the film's exploration of the quantum realm ends up being a key piece in the timey-wimey puzzle.
How's Bruce Gonna Get His Hulk Back?
The most recent Marvel films find Mr. Bruce Banner at a particularly interesting time in his life and a particularly strained moment in his relationship with the Hulk. Their dynamic has done a bit of a 180 since we last saw the big green guy in Thor: Ragnarok, where he had so consumed Banner’s personality that the scientist was afraid he’d never come back if he ever turned into the Hulk again. In fact, Hulk had been in charge since we last saw him at the end of Age of Ultron, living it up as the prize gladiator on Sakaar and no doubt allowing Bruce to hide from his heartbreak in the process. But when Thor finally brought Bruce back around, it had been years and Bruce was afraid he might lose himself forever.
In Infinity War, we find the pair in the opposite scenario, with Bruce begging Hulk to come out and fight, but unable to transform. Why? Well, he gets a mighty fine whooping from Thanos in the film’s first scene — the only time we see Hulk in the film despite those fantastic Wakanda shots in the trailer. He’s scared. After his first fight with Thanos on the Asgardian refugee ship, Hulk goes into hiding, screaming “no!” and throwing little green tantrums when Bruce tries to force him out. He wouldn’t even fight the Black Order.
Bruce Banner has always been the Jekyll/Hyde of the Marvel universe, a walking metaphor for the struggle to control the beast within. But in Infinity War, the dynamic flips and their relationship drastically evolves. Back in 2017 Mark Ruffalo revealed to IGN that Ragnarok was the start of a three-film arc for Bruce and Hulk that would carry into Avengers 4.
"The anger is no longer the only reason that he turns into the Hulk. So now we have this other thing going on between them that will carry out through the next two movies. This is the beginning of a three-movie arc," he explained. "Kevin [Feige] brought me in and he said, 'What would you do if you could do a standalone Hulk movie?' I said, 'I think it should be this, this, this, and this, and it should end like this.' And he said, 'How about if we do that -- love that -- let's do that starting with Thor 3 and end in Avengers 4, and we'll use those three movies to basically do a standalone Hulk movie. How about that?’”
So how does he find peace with the Other Guy now that he’s lost his edge? Can they find a partnership beyond the constant battle for control? Will the new conflict drive them to full-blown war with each other? Or will something happen that pushes Bruce’s rage over the edge, bringing back the Big Green Guy at a critical moment?
For more of our post-Infinity War coverage, check out the links below.
- Here’s Why There’s Less [SPOILER] in ‘Infinity War’ Than You Expect
- Kevin Feige on the ‘Avengers 4′ Title, Marvel Reshoots, Comic-Con, ‘Black Panther 2′, and More
- ‘Infinity War’: Peter Dinklage’s Character Explained
- ‘Avengers: Infinity War’: So How About That Cameo?
- ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Spoiler Video Review