Avengers: Infinity War was a movie 10 years in the making. The time had finally come for all of our favorite characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to join forces, and for most people, it did not disappoint.
With a movie of this caliber, I knew I had to do a roundtable with my fellow writers. Yes, I know the film has been out for a couple of weeks already, but so much happened in this movie that it took a few weeks to process it all. I’m not the only one who had a lot of things to say about this movie. My fellow writers Shadia, Arlene, Charlie and Jenni joined me for this roundtable! We hope you enjoy reading our thoughts and invite you to share yours in the comment section below!
Spoilers ahead, obviously.
What were your expectations going into the movie?
Shadia: Honestly speaking, I tried to avoid anything about the movie as much as I could in fear of getting spoiled, especially after the press began to see it. I muted all things Infinity War on Twitter because I wanted to go into the movie blindly. Plus, a lot of people that I follow advised me to stay away from spoilers on the internet. I did just that leading up to the days of the premiere. But as far as my expectations, I had a feeling Marvel would DELIVER just as they have been doing up until this point.
Arlene: I feared it wouldn’t live up to the hype. I was worried who would die, and if I would end up a slobbering basketcase in the theater. Other than that I had none.
Charlie: Going in? I was ready for a cinematic experience. I was ready, but not prepared for the inevitable deaths of characters. And I was pretty damn excited to see everything culminate in a blinding shock of Marvel filmmaking.
Jenni: I saw it the week after it premiered, so I heard a lot of good things. Based on all of my trustworthy tv and movie-loving friends’ reactions, I knew I was in for a treat.
Bryna: I’ve loved Marvel since high school. I’ll be honest and say I don’t know a lot of the comics history behind these characters (I’m trying to learn more!), but I love a good shared universe so I can get really nerdy about the MCU real quick. I didn’t get the chance to see the movie for the first time until the Sunday morning of opening weekend, so I knew to expect two things going into the movie: heartbreak and that the hero I thought was going to die probably wasn’t the “main” death. That simultaneously helped me get ready for the movie and had me overthinking every single thing up until the opening minutes of the movie.
Initial reaction when you walked out of the theater:
Shadia: “OMG.” WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED” “NO NO NO” I’M CONFUSED”
I remember just babbling so many things once the screen went black. I got emotional towards the end which got me teary-eyed as well. All in all, I was all over the place!
Arlene: Pissed off!!! I mean really? So and so, and so and so, and SO AND SO ad nauseum DIED??? Fix it!!!
Charlie: Waiting the extra ten minutes for that nefarious clip after the credits left me with time to try to comprehend the last literal five minutes of the end, ‘try’ being the key word. But I think shocked is the only appropriate word.
Jenni: Meh. I mean, it was loads better than Age of Ultron, but it didn’t blow me away. I guess I’ve been spoiled by Black Panther and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I was happy I saw it since it meant no longer worrying about spoilers. It was also the first Marvel movie since Ant Man that I didn’t feel the need to see again. Overall, I felt let down.
Bryna: I literally texted my friend (the one who warned me about the heartbreak) the second the movie was over, “WHAT THE F*CK DID I JUST WATCH?”
What was the best moment of the movie?
Shadia: Ugh, there were so many! I loved the intro of the Guardians in the beginning, hilarious! But my absolute favorite moment was when they went to Wakanda! I think since Black Panther is still fresh in our minds and the perfection of that movie made me want much more. So, to be able to see that scenery again with the BP cast, I loved it. Oh, and when Captain America came to the rescue and made his appearance. I, along with the entire audience, clapped when he appeared.
Arlene: For me, the entire sequence when the Guardians of the Galaxy found Thor. Thor brought much-needed humor to this movie. I adore him.
Charlie: I think the battle scene at the end of the movie, which quite literally stretched across the universes, was a brilliant moment. Each character was involved and fighting this greater evil: on Earth, on outer planets, in stars. They were divided but brought together – perhaps unknowingly – to try to fight for life in every form. Everyone had their moment, and we got to see the shattered fragments of ‘The Avengers’ attempting to fuse back together across lightyears.
Jenni: The Scarlett Witch-Black Widow-Okoye fight against Proxima Midnight. Ladies kicking butt is my ultimate aesthetic.
Bryna: Honestly, it was really thrilling seeing characters who have never met interact for the first time. I love a good shared universe, as previously mentioned, so when the Guardians met Thor, or when everyone ended up in Wakanda for the epic battle scene at the end of the movie, I was quietly kvelling! Also, Peter Quill sizing himself up to Thor was just too funny not to mention.
What was your least favorite part of the movie?
Shadia: Hmm, I don’t really think I had one.
Arlene: That last scene with Peter Parker. Kill me now.
Charlie: I think some of the characters’ naivete or odd, sudden character changes was a little confusing to me: Gamora with Thanos, Dr. Strange with the Time Stone/Tony and Peter. I also thought the final extra scene with the Captain Marvel logo was disappointing. I don’t want a new character to suddenly unite The Avengers (and co-conspirators), that is something that is inevitably going to happen on its own – it’s started to already, and for them to bring in an unknown individual to presumably save all our heroes and have them suddenly fix everything and unite the splintered team… that would be a disservice.
- Jenni: The final “I am Groot,” especially since James Gunn confirmed he was saying “Dad” to Rocket.
Bryna: If I’m being completely honest, it was Scarlet Witch and Vision’s romance. I hate saying this because usually, relationships are a reason that I really like something, but for me, it took away from the movie. Also, I’m a huge Captain America/Chris Evans stan, so there was nowhere near enough of him in this movie for my standards.
Which character of the movie was the MVP?
Shadia: Thor. Came. Through. When he came to Wakanda to help on the battlefield, I was just like “YESSS.”
Arlene: For me, Thor, see above.
Charlie: I think Thanos might have done it for me. The other characters were scattered amongst the movie, and each definitely had standout moments but they were fleeting in the grand scheme of things. Thanos was a complex villain linking everything together and pushing the story beyond, with a vision driving him forward and a willingness to sacrifice everything (even with the pain it caused him) to achieve it. He was awfully well grounded as a character, and very reminiscent of what we would consider (human) past ‘monsters.’ Josh Brolin’s performance was faultless, and his delivery sublime.
Jenni: I’ve seriously changed my mind 5 times for this question. At first, it was Wakanda. Then Thor. Maybe Bruce? Nah, it’s definitely Cap. No, wait, Shuri. Shuri, final answer.
Bryna: Thor. He’s the character that, at least to me, has grown with each movie that he’s been in. Chris Hemsworth is so comfortable with his character now and it shows in this movie. Like Shadia said, he has the best hero moment when he comes to Wakanda to help on the battlefield. He showed up and I was like “THANK GOD.”
Which hero’s death affected you the most?
Shadia: PETER PARKER. OMG. I kept replaying that scene too many times in my head. The way he held onto Tony, saying how he didn’t feel so good and then pleading that he “didn’t want to go.” That’s when I LOST it. Hit me right in the damn feels.
Arlene: Peter Parker… dang, I was a mess.
Charlie: I’m torn. Since Thor: Ragnarok, I had been rooting for Loki being mischievously good and alongside Thor. His death was impactful being within the first ten minutes, and he died doing what he’s always done – tricking people – and what he’s recently come to do – trying to fight on the side of the ‘good.’ However, I felt Peter’s the most. Props to Tom Holland and Robert Downey Jr. for that scene – Peter clinging to Tony (finally getting his hug) and clutching at him desperately was heart-wrenching. It was difficult to watch something so vulnerable and raw amongst all this other death. This child, who only wanted to help people and be like his hero, paid a price he didn’t deserve to pay and was genuinely terrified as it happened.
Jenni: Peter! His spidey sense let him know something was up and his rapid healing kept him from dying like the others. Poor kid was, well, a kid. And him pleading to Tony just broke me.
Bryna: While it was honestly sobering to see a lot of these heroes die, it was hard not to think about the fact that I knew there are going to be future sequels to movies like Black Panther and Spiderman: Homecoming and that most of these actors are still under contract with Marvel. THAT BEING SAID, Spiderman’s death was pretty brutal. Peter saying “I don’t want to go” as he died in Tony’s arms? I mean, c’mon now.
Did Thanos have a point? Was he a good villain?
Shadia: Oh man, Thanos. This dude. His vision was over the top. His idea of wiping out half of humanity and considering that as mercy was a wild concept. A concept he thought was right. He did play a good villain but he was not a villain I felt empathy for. I read somewhere that people wanted to put Thanos and Killmonger in the same boat, but clearly, Killmonger’s drive was so different. Killmonger and his cause was completely different and came from a life of hardship. Thanos was just out of sheer hunger for full-on power.
Arlene: Thanos was a great villain!! Yes, he sure did have a point about us using and abusing the resources of our own earth. Some cities and places in the US have no clean or running water – in our own country! – and all over the world. I can’t condone his means but he is a cautionary tale.
Jenni: Bad villain. So, so bad. He had no real leg to stand on. All the other MCU villains had mostly legit reasons for being bad (HELLO, KILLMONGER), but Thanos was just bat crap crazy.
Charlie: Thanos was an excellent villain. There was something delightfully satisfying about the unsatisfactory nature of the final scene of him and the sunset: in the quiet of the new world all his losses come up to him at once and we see, perhaps, a glimmer of unhappiness. The Russo Brothers and Josh Brolin did a brilliant job of humanizing him, showing his reasoning behind his ideology which really grounds him in a modern society and made him utterly believable.
Bryna: He’s not my favorite MCU villain, that title would either go to Killmonger or Loki. I do think they did a good job of creating a complex and compelling villain. They showed his backstory and a clear motivation for doing what he did. He doesn’t want power for power’s sake; he wants to fix a real and horrible problem in the universe. But at the same time, he’s still a villain because of the horrendous way he goes about trying to fix things. Overall, he was a good villain, it was just hard to feel empathy for this guy.
What are your predictions for the untitled Avengers 4 movie?
Shadia: Since we know there will another Black Panther and Spider-Man movie, I think there will be some way for them to return. I sure want to know how the rest of the surviving Avengers react to their deaths. There are way too many questions now. Hopefully, they’ll all be answered in the next movie.
Arlene: Well, I think the majority of dead characters will return, but we will lose one or two for good.
Charlie: The abrupt nature of the final few scenes of Avengers: Infinity War left me almost certain that most of those events would not stick. Superheroes were dying rapidly and almost meaninglessly, it was an injustice to so many characters and I do not think that will be their final moments. The time stone is already a way through, and I truly believe many will rise again – but not all. There will also be the inevitable moment when a guilt-stricken Tony Stark is reunited with Earth, and I think it will leave us all crying out for him because he has lost so much and he is only human. He bleeds, can be beaten, stripped down and have his heart broken – and we all know there is proof that Tony Stark does indeed have a heart.
Jenni: Avengers: Where TF are Hawkeye and Ant Man. But seriously, I missed seeing Jeremy Renner’s face. Also, can we maybe get Jessica Jones in there somehow?
Bryna: Based on the post-credits scene, it’s obvious that Captain Marvel is going to be a big part in how Thanos is able to be defeated. Doctor Strange also learned of one timeline in which the Avengers won the “endgame,” so I expect that to come up again.
We also never got any type of resolution to the Iron Man-Captain America beef. Heck, it was barely even mentioned in the movie besides the fact that Tony couldn’t bring himself to call Steve, so I expect that to be a much bigger part of Avengers 4.
Lastly, I know it’s likely that one of the original Avengers is probably going to have to die in order to bring back these other heroes; I will never be prepared for that, especially if it ends up being Captain America like most people speculate. If this actually happens, I will be an emotional and inconsolable wreck.
As mentioned earlier, make sure to let us know what you thought of the movie in the comments below!