The build-up and anticipation leading towards Avengers: Infinity War has been epic. In a rare moment of our modern culture, all walks of life were tuning into what had the potential to be one of the greatest comic book movies of all-time. The opening box office numbers support this, with Avengers: Infinity War raking in millions up millions of dollars. But was the movie everything most expected it to be, or did it fall just short of the glory it was proclaimed to behold?
Avengers: Infinity War was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, of which they have also written the three Captain America films, the First Avenger movie, and Thor: The Dark World. The Russo brothers took over the directing spot with the ever omnificent Keven Feige watching over like an Eternal from his own stories. Even James Gunn wrote all the dialog for the GOTG characters to provide the correct tone. With so many big names working on one movie, there should have been only a few minor infractions or complaints to be had. But according to the critics score on Rotten Tomatoes (locked in at 84% after the Thursday opening), there were more than a few mishaps with this overly expensive and potentially visually mind-blowing movie.
So, what went wrong?
Major Spoilers Ahead! You have been officially warned. "No raccoons or tree creatures were harmed in the making of this movie. However, the same cannot be said of their handlers."
Overall, Avengers: Infinity War wasn’t a bad movie by a long-shot. But it certainly wasn’t as great as it had the potential to be. From rushed plot points and long-winded dialog to characters not acting like themselves, there ended up being way too many things going wrong instead of right.
25 Messing With Moviegoers
The end of Avengers: Infinity War is nothing short of shocking. It’s the kind of jolted ending in which can be perceived very differently by audiences. One group will think this is really the end of the Avengers, while another speculates as to how each movie leading up to part 2 will come into play. Others were completely turned off by the ending and feel Marvel may have lost more than a few casual moviegoers, as my brother declared while storming out of the theater stating, "everyone's been eliminated!" But which group is the majority, and were die-hards satisfied or left feeling frustrated?
Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely messed up.
Black Panther and Spider-Man have confirmed sequels coming, meaning they aren’t gone — more like in movie suspense limbo. Their story arcs are also continuous with Infinity War, meaning future films will have to take place after the events of Avengers: Infinity War. If the Russo brothers really wanted to leave moviegoers shocked, they should have taken out characters who aren’t confirmed for the future. Ones like Captain America or Tony Stark (of which both actors contracts are up). Marvel didn’t want spoilers, but their ending to Infinity War pretty much spoiled the story of part 2. These characters aren’t really gone. Some form of time-travel or alternate line will take place. It’s the details which are left in limbo.
24 Major Scenes Missing
Combining an exuberant number of superheroes into one film is a challenging process. Certain characters aren’t going to get the screen time they deserve, and some story arcs can’t be developed upon. This is the nature of making a movie, especially when there are over 30 important characters being mashed together. It’s easy to use these explanations as an excuse for why scenes were missing from Avengers: Infinity War. And for certain ones, it’s a plausible argument. But there were several prominent moments within the Infinity War storyline that got left on the editing floor when they shouldn’t have been.
Ebony Maw can monologue for around 7 minutes of screen-time (at least it felt like it), yet, moviegoers were robbed of Thanos acquiring the Power Stone from Nova. Another scene left out includes Valkyrie, and according to Thor, half of his people escaping. And let’s not forget Thanos putting a beat down on Thor directly following Thor: Ragnarok. While the movie was long, there was plenty of fat which could have been trimmed. This includes certain dialog scenes which dragged on longer than they should have or were proven by the end of the film to be completely unnecessary. Adding these left out scenes would have created more suspense in the opening while providing necessary depth.
23 Wishy-Washy Tony
Tony Stark has been the sacrificial character in more than a few MCU movies regarding moving a storyline forward. Whether he’s creating Ultron or breaking the Avengers apart, it seems the MCU brass has taken a liking towards using Iron Man as the go-to plot mover. There are several moments within Avengers: Infinity War in which Tony changes his tune. Much like he did in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War.
The first moments take place in New York. Tony hesitates in calling Cap, even though he knows something worse is coming than what they dealt before as a team (with a god on their side). Banner even tells Stark that Thor was defeated. Tony then tells Dr. Strange to hightail it out because going up against Thanos with the Time Stone is too dangerous.
On the spaceship, however, Tony Stark’s views suddenly do a 180. He is arguing with Dr. Strange, but this time he’s insisting they should take Thanos head-on instead of turning the ship around and regrouping. The writers used PTSD as a form of reasoning for Tony’s sudden change of heart, which is insulting to those who actually suffer from it. The bottom line is that Tony’s change in attitude was a cop-out for moving the plot along.
22 A Fathers Love
Thanos arrives on Vormir with Gamora to take the Soul Stone. He finds out the only way to obtain the stone is by offering a sacrifice of someone he cares for (loves). Thanos bringing Gamora to Vormir, however, is never explained. He didn’t know he needed a sacrifice, and from a logical standpoint, she was a liability. It’s not like Gamora was going anywhere if Thanos locked her up properly before he left.
Once Thanos finds out he needs to sacrifice something he cares about, Gamora instantly becomes the “something.” We know that Gamora was shown special treatment while in Thanos’ care, but that was because she always won. Was it love, or simply pride over his choice to spare her life as a child? The idea that Gamora was a worthy sacrifice for achieving the Soul Stone is weak and way too convenient. She was a tool for Thanos. His favorite one, maybe, but a still a weapon none-the-less. Perhaps Thanos had feelings, but they were likely false. Ones to help him sleep at night, reinforcing his deluded thoughts regarding the state of the universe.
The Soul Stone shouldn’t have accepted Thanos’ sacrifice. Just because one believes they feel a certain way, doesn’t mean they really are. And the Soul Stone should have seen right through this. It would have made more sense if it was written as any sacrifice, not one that the individual cared about.
21 Star-Lord Tantrums
Peter Quill isn’t the most level-headed character in the MCU. In fact, the entire crew of Guardians of the Galaxy is often a giant liability, who simply seem to get lucky. In volume two of GOTG, Peter and Gamora’s relationship was explored with further depth. By the time Infinity War comes about, the two clearly have strong feelings for one another.
Gamora tells Star-Lord, “if anything goes wrong, take me out.” Peter agrees to it, but his heart obviously rejects the idea. Things naturally go wrong, leading to Star-Lords first tantrum. Pouting like a two-year-old who just got their toy taken away, Quill can’t follow through on his promise. And when he does, Thanos makes a mockery out of it by changing reality.
Fast-forward a little and we see this small crew of superhero misfits get a leg up on Thanos. Instead of focusing on the task at hand, Star-Lord is giving Thanos a 20-question quiz as to Gamora’s whereabouts. With the gauntlet almost off Thanos’ hand, Quill blows the whole operation by trying to punch Thanos in the face. His tantrum causes events to spin wildly out of control, leaving much of the theater audience saying, “why did that just happen?”
20 Downplaying The Avengers Strongest Weapon
Thanos may have the Stones on his side, but the Avengers have Dr. Strange on theirs. The doctor is supposed to be their true “ace in the hole.” Strange has the power to see into the future and explore various timelines. He can also adjust time, bending it back to a moment where most needed. Meaning he alone knows how to defeat Thanos. But instead of using this power the moment Iron Man and Spider-Man save him or prior to determining they should fight Thanos head-on, he waits until the entire group is stranded on Titan. Could there have been more than 4,605,000 timelines to explore for a successful outcome if Strange hadn’t waited so long to view into the future?
Dr. Strange refuses to use the Time Stone to fight against Thanos on Titan.
The rag-tag group of Avengers and GOTG characters almost had the gauntlet off Thanos’ hand until Star-Lord messed things up. But Dr. Strange could have stopped time and reversed it, preventing Star-Lord’s convenient tantrum from taking place. Or he could have opened a portal and simply dropped Thanos into the middle of a star, destroying him while also melting the gauntlet. Instead, Dr. Strange hides the Time Stone. And then hands it over to Thanos because it’s allegedly the only option he has. Sounds awfully convenient. If Dr. Strange had acted as his character should have, there would only be one Infinity War movie instead of two.
19 Redemptive Loki
Loki is the God of Mischief. It’s his job to throw the wrench into a good plan, messing things up for both the good and the bad guys. He is the heel of the entire MCU, and that’s why fans adore his character. In Avengers: Infinity War, Loki starts off acting like his usual self, but quickly transitions into a redemptive role.
Things are looking grim after the Hulk gets beaten down by Thanos and Loki’s plan fails. He pretends to be sucking up to Thanos, all the while attempting a sneak attack. With a small blade none-the-less. If the Hulk couldn’t damage Thanos, what can a small dagger do to him? Loki fans know the true God of Mischief would have found a way to save his own skin, even if it meant bailing on his brother. And his mischievous actions would later benefit the Avengers or be used as a callback joke.
Loki’s convoluted plan obviously fails, and he ends up having his neck crushed by Thanos. Such a waste for one of the best characters in the entire MCU. The opening of Avengers: Infinity War needed to be dramatic, but did Loki really need to go out like that? It didn’t line up with his character and was used simply for shock value.
18 Split Personality Conundrums
Sticking with the theme of characters not acting like themselves, having the Hulk missing from 95% of the movie was extremely disappointing. If there is one thing that shouldn’t be changed in the MCU, it’s the fact that the Hulk likes to smash. It’s his tag-line after all. A fight scene with the Hulk is always better than one without him, especially when going up against bad guys who are essentially a carbon copy of him (Cull Obsidian).
For reasons unexplained in the film, Hulk refuses to come out when Banner gets angry.
Yes, the Hulk refuses to be himself when provoked and even when Banner is in several life-threatening situations. This arc makes even less sense when comparing it to the one revealed in Thor: Ragnarok. It was Banner who was afraid to let the Hulk loose, knowing he might not be able to return because the Hulk wanted full control. Suddenly, however, the Hulk is shy and doesn’t want to come out and play? No way. He might not have been able to change the course of events, but the fight scenes would have been so much better. Audiences come to see the Hulk for one major reason, to see him smash. This direction taken by the Russo brothers was a major letdown.
17 Mysterious Missing Characters
The MCU and the Russo brothers have been setting up the events in Avengers: Infinity War for quite some time. The most prevalent of these occurred in Captain America: Civil War, in which the Avengers were disbanded. Fans knew this would play a huge role in Infinity War since the heroes weren’t working together as a team, giving Thanos a golden opportunity. When the dung hits the fan, however, several key Avengers are missing from the action.
Nick Fury is shown in the post-credit scene, but he’s conveniently missing during the most important parts. If he was involved, like he should have been, the entire S.H.E.I.L.D team would have been brought into the fight. Ant-Man, even if he is under house arrest, is also conveniently missing. Simply because Marvel Studios wants audiences to go see his sequel movie Ant-Man and the Wasp for answers.
And then there’s the major elephant in the room. Where in the world is Captain Marvel? It’s not like there wasn’t a way to get in touch with her. All Fury had to do was send her a message. And lastly, there’s the issue of no Hawkeye. Grant it, he couldn’t have done much to help, but his character should have been on the battlefield. Does he not get the news in Timbuctoo? Vision and Scarlet Witch did in Scotland free of occupants.
16 Opening Barriers
T’Challa is a brilliant tactician and an amazing fighter. His decisions, though, during the battle of Wakanda didn’t line up with this aspect of his character. Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight show up in Wakanda with an army of berserk aliens. They can’t attack Wakanda head-on because of the shield barrier in place around the city. The aliens, however, were able to sneak through in small numbers through sacrificing limbs and the lives of their fellow members. Some even started to branch out and work their way through other sections of the barrier in an effort to divide the heroes up.
Black Panther’s solution to this is to open one portion of the gate. The only problem with this theory is it allows Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight an entry point. And the whole idea was to keep them out in order to buy Shuri time with Vision. Even if the aliens managed to break through in various spots of the barrier, they wouldn’t have been a match for the forces protecting Shuri and Vision. The other part wrong with this scenario is that the Avengers could have attacked the massive group of savage aliens by taking the fight outside of the barrier, rather than letting the problem in. The goal of the battle wasn’t to win but to buy time and destroy the Mind Stone before Thanos got to it.
15 Red Skull’s Boring Return
In the comic Avengers: Infinity War Prelude (the official prequel comic book to the Infinity War movie), there is a clip which portrays Red Skull being transported away by the Space Stone. Not being blown into a million pieces like previously suggested in Captain America: The First Avenger. We find out in Avengers: Infinity War that Red Skull was mysteriously transported to the planet of Vormir, which just happens to be the location of the Soul Stone.
Allegedly, Red Skull believes he was sent to Vormir to be the guardian and keeper of the Soul Stone.
He seems to have an abundance of knowledge concerning how to retrieve the Soul Stone but shows no interest in getting it for himself anymore. Red Skull doesn’t even ask to join up with Thanos (knowing he’s on a mission to reclaim the Infinity Stones), seeming to be content with his lame job on Vormir. All in all, it was an overly boring re-introduction to one of the better villains in the MCU. And it’s likely the last time we’ll see him unless someone figures out that he’s on Vormir, which seems highly unlikely at this point. Red Skull had so much potential, more so than the Black Order. His arc fell flat, leaving more than a few MCU fans steaming.
14 Lack Of Godlike Lightning
One of the aspects which made Thor: Ragnarok such a good film was the discovery of Thor’s powers. He didn’t need Mjolnir to summon lightning or to fly. The power was in him all along. Thor uses his new-found abilities against Hela, providing him an edge in their battle. Thanos isn’t a god, he’s a titan. Which means Thor’s lightning strikes could have bought him, Loki, Heimdall, and Hulk time to escape during their surprise attack on Thanos during the opening moments of Avengers: Infinity War.
When the time came, no sparks flew. Instead, Hulk tries to take on Thanos all by himself. For being a god who knows all about Thanos and his abilities, Thor punked-out big time. He just used the lightning attack mere moments before Thanos’ ship arrives. And now he can’t use it suddenly, or for some odd reason chooses not to? He’s the God of Thunder and Lightning. Why does Thor have to have a weapon to be powerful?
This opening scene sadly sets up the forecast for future convenient actions made by several characters throughout the film. And it left a bad taste in the hungry mouths of Thor fans. All in the name of forcing a plot point down the throats of moviegoers.
13 Insightful Nebula
Nebula hates Thanos with every aspect of her personality and soul. Her one goal before passing on this life is to give him the beat down he deserves, especially after all he’s done to her. It was her sole mission in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, and it should have remained her main objective in Avengers: Infinity War.
Nebula finally has a chance to end Thanos for good. Mantis has Thanos on mind lock-down and he’s incapacitated (mostly) for a small window of time. The Avengers are attempting to remove the Infinity Gauntlet from his hand and Nebula decides to become insightful. Rather than driving a sword through his head, she calmly recounts her opinion on where Gamora is and why she didn’t return from Vormir with Thanos. This leads to Star-Lord taking action with puny Earthling punches due to his anger over losing Gamora (even though he was willing to end her life just moments before).
If anyone had a shot at taking the giant purple titan out, it was Nebula in this situation. And yet, it’s a hard fail. Once Thanos regains his power, Nebula switches gears and finally decides she wants to take him out again. Where was that passion and anger just moments before?
12 Love Scenes In All The Wrong Places
Vision and Wanda Maximoff have been exploring their feeling for quite some time now. Audiences knew they were in love, but the Russo brothers decided it was important to shove at least 15 minutes of dialog and backstory down the throats of audiences to reestablish their relationship. Not only were these scenes unnecessary in the grand scope of the Infinity War film, but they took away from the dialog most fans wanted. The awkward reunion of Banner and Natasha.
Their relationship plays a huge role in overall MCU timeline. It takes up a majority of the screen time in Avengers: Age of Ultron and leads to Hulk disappearing for over two years. Setting up the events in Thor: Ragnarok. But in Avengers: Infinity War, their bond is totally disregarded and overlooked. If someone had never seen the other MCU films, they never would have known there was a history between Banner and Natasha. What if Black Widow could have helped bring the Hulk out? She certainly figured out how to keep him in a box before.
The Pepper and Tony Stark dialog was also a drag. Where there should have been tension between the two characters as Iron Man floats off into space, there was nothing. No sad emotions or even an ounce of empathy for Pepper.
11 Lack Of Villainous Depth
It’s impossible to give Thanos’ story the proper attention it needs in a film containing 30 plus major MCU characters. But the Russo brothers tried anyway. They gave audiences way more than expected, but in the overall grand scheme of things, his character still fell short of being what it could have been. Either Avengers: Infinity War should have been part of a trilogy, or Thanos’ backstory should have been explored more in previous MCU movies.
The biggest hole in Thanos’ character depth results from his supposed feelings for Gamora.
Audiences were shown a flashback of him picking Gamora out and saving her from elimination, but it wasn’t sufficient enough to support the idea that he loved or had special feelings for her. The same can be said for his relationship with the Black Order or the other mysterious creatures serving him on the overly large spaceship floating around in space.
Leaving Thanos as a mystery gives the writers more freedom to do what they want. While this can be a good thing at times, it didn’t work out as well as it should have in Infinity War. There was a huge lack of empathy concerning most of his decisions when they should have been gut-wrenching and emotionally stirring.
10 We’re In The End Game Now
As mentioned previously, Dr. Strange didn’t live up to expectations in Avengers: Infinity War. In addition to him not using the Time Stone to fight Thanos, he willingly gives it to him after it appears that Iron Man might be eliminated. An argument can be presented which explains Dr. Strange’s actions, being that he witnessed the only possible way to defeat Thanos while exploring future timelines. This would explain him handing over the Time Stone.
But it doesn’t explain why Dr. Strange didn’t inform anyone else present what that endgame might be, and how it would play out. Yeah, there’s the time paradox argument. And countless other time-traveling theories as to why he needed to remain silent, but they don’t seem to add up in this particular circumstance. The Time Stone was the most important of all the Infinity Stones. As seen when Thanos rewinds time to acquire the Mind Stone directly from Visions head after Scarlett Witch went through the trouble of destroying it and sacrificing Vision. The only explanation for Dr. Strange’s silence regarding the future was to keep part 2 a secret for another year. And this is a shame. Preventing potential spoilers shouldn’t play a role in why a character acts a certain way or remains silent about major life-altering, universe-saving events.
9 Disappointing Henchmen
The Black Order was supposed to be Thanos’ elite group of fighters. According to the flashbacks provided in Avengers: Infinity War, they had been fighting at Thanos’ side for many years. Never mind that we’ve never seen them in the MCU before because it’s a moot point. What isn’t nitpicking, is their lack of fighting prowess against the Avengers. Their entire purpose in the movie is to provide the necessary support for Thanos, helping him to reach and achieve his goals.
Instead, they seem to only get in the way. Which would have been fine if they put up a decent fight, giving audiences the action scenes, one would normally seek out in an MCU movie. But no. They are inconsistent, long-winded, and utterly outmatched against the superheroes. Perhaps Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely wanted to use them to give the Avengers and moviegoers hope. If this was their objective, it failed. The Black Order was about as useful as the mindless berserking aliens that attacked Wakanda. Corvus Glaive is supposed to be their leader, but it was Ebony Maw who played the part instead. Glaive and Midnight repeatedly fail in every action they take. Meanwhile, Cull Obsidian was supposed to be the challenger against the Hulk, to which audiences were shortchanged. And he ends up getting eliminated by sheer luck, rather than brute force or skill.
8 Godlike Timing
The final battle in Wakanda is on. Thanos only needs to acquire one more Infinity Stone and he can finally snap his fingers, wiping out half the populace of living creatures throughout the universe. Every superhero fighting in Wakanda takes a shot at slowing Thanos down before he gets to Vision. Even Groot got in on the action. But where is Thor?
Thor has the power to open the Bifrost and he’s the fastest hero on the battlefield. Prior to Thanos showing up, Thor is shown taking out the last of the weird looking aliens with massive amounts of power. It just happens that Groot was near him at the time. Which is important, because apparently, a tree was able to get to Thanos quicker than the God of Thunder. Not only does Groot get there before Thor, but Thanos has more than sufficient time to pluck the Mind Stone from Visions head.
Finally, Thor decides to show up (using rocket-like speed) and penetrates Thanos’ armor, piercing his new ax deep into the purple giant’s chest. This scene might have worked if Thor was in the dark concerning Thanos. But he was well schooled on current events. Rather than chopping off a limb or going for a head-shot, Thor goes for the chest. It's ridiculous.
7 Wakanda Woes
Ryan Coogler pulled off the seemingly impossible earlier this year with the creation and release of Black Panther. He created a world inside of a world, giving cultural props while creating outstanding characters full of depth and charm. The film was so good, it became the highest grossing movie of all-time.
The Russo brothers and Kevin Feige brought in James Gunn for Avengers: Infinity War because they felt only he could pull off the dialog between the GOTG characters. This was a smart move which paid off. However, Ryan Coogler wasn’t given the same option and the results were disastrous.
Wakanda went from feeling like the stronghold of Earth to just another city in a mere 2.2 seconds. Characters like Shuri and M’Baku get shortchanged in a big way when they should have had more pivotal roles. The same can be said for Wakanda’s tech. T’Challa and Shuri know a horrible baddy is on the way and they don’t break out their ships or advance weapon technology? The shield barrier was just the icing on the cake concerning the amount of weaponry and technology at the disposal of the Wakandan army. If Coogler was working with the Russo brothers like Gunn was, this never would have happened.
6 Logistical Puzzle
The flow of MCU movies has been wonderful recently, especially after flops like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Iron Man 3. Kevin Feige and company have been on a role, knocking out well-balanced films over the past couple years. Sadly, Avengers: Infinity War fell short of what was achieved in Thor: Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, and Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Instead, Avengers: Infinity War felt like a puzzle which had several key pieces missing. It wasn’t a bad film by any means, but it failed to live up to the hype of what it could have been. This was largely in part to the story being broken up into so many pieces. The strategy behind Infinity War may have worked if time wasn’t such an issue. Too much information was jammed into one film. It left many parts unexplored and unexplained. What could have been a smooth flow became jagged and jumpy, taking away some of the excitement revolving around the storyline being played out. The themes didn’t line up the way they should have, and characters who have floated the franchise were overlooked and disregarded. Even the fight scenes were choppy. Cut short and pieced together in an odd way, simply to meet a length time deemed appropriate for audiences.