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renzywenzy · 5 years

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Avengers: Infinity War Review

So after what felt like an eternity, I was able to finally watch "the most ambitious crossover” in film history; albeit, I had to watch it for homework.

I am most likely the last person to ever review this film so I feel as if some significant weight is off my shoulders but that doesn’t mean I’ll resort to lazy critiquing as a movie of this grandeur deserves in-depth analysis.

So with that being said, let’s take a closer look at the initial half of the culmination of a decade’s worth of films and build-up.

*Spoiler Warning*

Pros

1. The Protagonist Perspective

For years, the weakest part of most Marvel Cinematic Universe films have been the villains. Underdeveloped, forgettable, or just plain lame. Go ahead, tell me with a straight face that Ronan was a credible threat. Try to convince me that Yellowjacket was a compelling antagonist. Do you even remember the name of the villain from Thor 2?

The villains didn’t really become interesting until after Civil War in 2016 with people like Killmonger, Egon, and Hela seemingly breaking that curse; but, that meant we had to deal with nearly 8 years of uninspired baddies.

Thanos, however, is the biggest example of the MCU finally getting their main villains right. He’s credible, his character develops throughout the film, he has believable motivations that come from a place of personal experience. And I think what really makes Thanos’ character work is simply this: HE is the true protagonist of the film. Yes, he is still the villain, yes, he is the still the “bad guy” yes, the movie is called “AVENGERS: Infinity War” but if you really think about it, his is the main perspective of the film. He’s the protagonist of this movie just as much as Tony Stark was for his 3 Iron Man movies.

I mean Thanos gets the most character development, he has the most screentime, he makes significant sacrifices, it’s his origins that are explored more, and it’s his journey to getting the Infinity Stones -- not about the Avengers protecting the universe -- that’s front and center. It’s his emotions that matter most in the film. That’s not to say that everybody else’s feelings mean little, it just means that it’s that of Thanos that mean the most.

Let me give you an example. When Thanos, with Gamora, was about to retrieve the Soul Stone, the condition was that he had to sacrifice someone he loved. As Gamora taunted him at the idea that he never loved anyone but himself, Thanos sheds a tear as she comes to the realization that he did love at least one person. The Mad Titan, with visible pain in his face, grabs Gamora as she struggles to break free and then tosses her as sacrifice to finally obtain the Stone.

Now, this scene was emotional and painful. However, to me, it wasn’t so because of Gamora’s death, it wasn’t because the Guardians lost a member, it wasn’t even because Star-Lord lost a loved one. It was emotional and painful because Thanos lost someone he loved and the movie, itself, makes that a point. At that moment as well other moments throughout the film, it’s framed in a way that you aren’t meant to feel for anybody else other than Thanos.

That’s partly the reason why the ending worked but I’ll get to that later on.

2. Maintaining the Balance

There’s a flashback scene early in the film that shows a young Gamora meeting Thanos for the first time as the Mad Titan conquers her planet. He’s impressed by the little one’s grit so he takes her in and their first significant interaction is when he gives her a dual bladed knife and teaches her to balance the knife on her finger. This scene showed two things (1 from a character perspective and 2 from a film perspective): #1 Thanos has an obsession with keeping the balance of the universe and #2 This is how the filmmakers balance the large cast they have.

There are a LOT of characters in this film. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Panther, the Guardians, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and so on and so on and so on all the way to so forth. So I can only imagine how difficult it is, from a filmmakers’ perspective, to give the proper amount of screen time for everybody here.

What really helped was how previous movies developed the characters we see on-screen. These characters such as Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America have been given enough time to grow and now, their individual arcs have each reached their full potentials so that means we don’t need to see more development from them. We just want to see them kick some names and take ass (I had to).

I said in my previous point that Thanos had the most screentime of all the main characters. He clocks in at just a little over 29 minutes. In comparison, Iron Man and Thor both have less than 20 minutes with 18 min. and 15. respectively. Cap. America has less than 7 minutes. That’s how little time they actually got in a film that’s over 150 minutes long and yet somehow, some way, the Russo Bros. were able to give each character more than enough to do to make every single second of their screentime count. Not a moment wasted whenever characters showed up and that was key seeing as how huge this cast was.

I applaud the Russo’s for taking on this hefty task and I don’t think anyone (apart from maybe Joss Whedon, director of the first Avengers film) could’ve handled this cast as well as they did.

3. “Strange Alchemy”

The Russo’s have a phrase called “Strange Alchemy” and they use it to describe the first meetings of certain characters. This is basically how fundamentally different personalities but equally big egos interact with one another for the first time.

I must say that this was one of the aspects I was worried about going into the movie. How do you make the initial interactions entertaining while at the same time, making sure each person stays true to their character?

The answer was actually a simple yet effective formula. (Keep in mind that this isn’t exactly the formula of “Strange Alchemy.” This is what I think they meant.)

The formula is basically this: Meet up in a undesired manner, do some back and forth bantering, mix in just a little bit of conflict of interests, and then top it off with a shared end goal.

Look at the interaction between Iron Man and The Guardians; specifically, Quill. They meet by instantly fighting each other thinking that the other works for Thanos. After their fight is settled by the realization that neither serve Thanos, they eventually start talking, wisecracking, some insults are thrown, and then they butt heads on how to reach their end goal. Both want to defeat Thanos but in their own ways.

Simply put, this formula works for all the initial main character interactions because it’s just how we wanted to see these first meetings play out. You see this same formula repeated with Dr. Strange and Iron Man then Thor and the Guardians. Their first meetings are not only incredibly entertaining but all were appropriate to their characters and most importantly, it’s this “Strange Alchemy” formula that helps establish chemistry right off the bat.

4. Russos + James Young + Action = Gold

One thing I’ve lauded the Russos for is their style of directing action. The choreography itself is amazing (Thank you, James Young) but the way the Russos present each fight frame by frame is astonishing.

It began with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I noticed how the hand-to-hand combat became much more complex and it felt like I was watching a tribute to Bruce Lee films while also mixing it in with the over-the-top nature of a typical comic book movie. It all flowed so well to the point that it became distinct. If a Marvel film didn’t have the combination of the Russos directing and Young choreographing, you could notice the decline in quality in terms of stunt coordination. Age of Ultron, for example, didn’t have this combination and the fights were nowhere near as good as The Winter Soldier or Civil War.

What worried me initially was how the Russos and Young were going to choreograph this film in particular. Before this film, the Russos were primarily directing Marvel films wherein the fights were still pretty contained. I mean the biggest fight in Civil War was in an airport with no people (suspiciously). Here, the battles HAD TO BE much larger in scale so it worried me that the Russos and Young wouldn’t be able to capture the same choreographic magic that they had previously. Thankfully, I was wrong. Every film they directed and choreographed before was practice for this film. It all flowed so beautifully and almost every character had their own spot in terms of action.

You can still tell though when the Russos and Young are a little out of their comfort zone. By that I mean they’ve poured so much of their flair into Captain America that it feels like he’s their best source of pure choreography. It’s no wonder Cap has more action scenes than Thor despite having less screen time and that’s because between Cap’s fighting style and Thor’s fighting style, the former is more synonymous with the Russos and Young by now. But Thor still makes an impact even with just a handful of fight scenes.

My only worry is that they won’t be able to top the fights here with the next film Endgame...but maybe from a tonal perspective, it’s not meant to.

5. Oh..

That ending. That was honestly one of the most shocking endings to a Marvel film (or any film for that matter) that I’ve ever witnessed.

I honestly can’t do justice to this scene but let me just say that it was shocking in the best way possible. It was amazing how the entire film was setting up for that moment so in a way, you can see it happening but it was still so unpredictable on how it would turn out. Will all the Avengers disappear? Will only 2 or 3 of them remain? Will the new guys be around? Will the older Avenger disappear for the newer ones to take their place? Will only the Avengers remain and 90% of Earth gone. Anything could have happened with the Snap and it was certainly a jaw dropping moment seeing them disappear into thin air. Bucky, T’Challa, Peter Parker, Quill, Fury, Wanda, Vision, Strange. All of them and more gone and not just people from Earth. It was half the the entire universe at stake so even non-Earthlings were in jeopardy. Drax is gone, Groot is gone. It was an appropriate silent moment of just reflecting on what just happened.

And...it was honestly satisfying. Like if the entire film franchise just ended here, I honestly would have been fine with it and that’s largely because of point #1 above. It was so masterfully set up and executed that in my opinion, there’s almost no way that Marvel can satisfyingly bring back all the characters. You know that Endgame will reverse these effects but the problem is that they’ve ended so beautifully that I don’t think the scene where they all come back will ever top this final scene.

Props to Marvel Studios for being mature and having the balls to do this even if they will eventually undo it.

All their Marvel films have had these happy and triumphant endings so it’s just a nice change of pace to see the antagonistic good guys lose and the villainous protagonist win.

Cons

Alright I’ve talked about positives enough so now let’s get into some of the things the movie doesn’t do quite as well. It’s a near 3 hour film with a decade’s build-up so obviously not everything is gonna hit so here are just a few misses. Some of these are just my own little nitpicks but they still bother me a bit so I might as well put them in. Also, I’m gonna do something a bit different for these points where I put in a small sub point after each one.

1. Too Many Chefs in the Kitchen

There were over 15 films leading up to Infinity War and among those films, you had 14 different directors. These directors included the Russos, Kenneth Branagh, Jon Favreau, Taika Waititi, Shane Black, and many more. Each director brought their own style and handled the characters in different ways.

Now, imagine this. You’re the director of Infinity War and you just finished directing Captain America: Civil War, a movie where you further established how gritty you can get with these Marvel films. You’re about to direct Infinity War and now you have to direct the character of Thor who just came from Ragnarok, a complete genre reboot wherein the director made comedy a much more prominent aspect than almost anything else. Ragnarok favored the “ba dum chhh” category jokes rather than the natural flow of jokes found in the Avengers. Remember, you just came from a gritty film and now you have to direct a potential darker film but now you have to insert this sitcom-style character into your grittier style. Easy, right?

You see the Russo Bros. know how to handle sitcom-like characters. They directed episodes of Arrested Development which is one of the greatest sitcoms ever. BUT, they just didn’t know how mix these tones together in one package.

For example, you had the scene with Iron Man and Dr. Strange. They’re scene was much more natural in terms of joking wherein a joke just happened to be there because it was an appropriate moment but it got serious when it needed to be. But then all of a sudden, you cut to the Guardians where the jokes are more obviously set up and comedy becomes the priority and seriousness comes much much later on. It’s a bit of a jarring shift in tone. However, the biggest elephant in the room is how Ragnarok’s tone was never in this film. Guardians and Ragnarok have two different types of comedy.

Guardians is more like How I Met Your Mother wherein comedy is important and abundant but the rare quiet scenes are put into focus when they pop up and they don’t throw a joke to cheapen the moment.

Ragnarok is more like a Comedy Central Roast show where it’s jokes, jokes, jokes, jokes and almost no ounce of seriousness and anything that should be incredibly serious is made into a set up for a punchline (just watch the ending of Ragnarok where the FUCKING DESTRUCTION OF ASGARD, THE HOME WHERE THEY HAD THEIR MOST PRECIOUS MEMORIES, is reduced to a set up for a joke that’s not even that funny). No significant scene in this film consistently has Ragnarok’s style of comedy which is kind of a good thing in isolation but overall a negative because of how inconsistent the tone has been as a whole.

Sub Point for 1.

Actually, Thor’s films have always been an anomaly. You had the Shakespearean-like tale of redemption with Thor (2011) which was a solid introduction, then you had the utterly forgettable unintended B-movie tribute Thor:The Dark World which nobody will ever ever talk about when it comes to the best Marvel Studio films, and then you had the genre reboot that is Ragnarok which is everything I described in the previous paragraph. Not only that but the endings of each of his films (which all serve as important plot points for future films) are just negated nonchalantly in the next Thor appearance. Don’t believe me? Well...

..2011′s Thor sees the character not being to able to return the Earth because the rainbow road (yes, I’m calling it that) has been shattered but then bam! there he is in Earth in the Avengers like nothing happened. Then The Dark World has Loki faking his death and pretending to be Odin. Sounds like it’s gonna become so important in the next film, right? Ughh no that’s solved in the first fucking act of Ragnarok. But wait, Ragnarok ends with Asgard destroyed but its people are flying in space searching to establish a new home. All the adventures they could possibly have...never happen because they’re killed off-screen in the first 2 minutes of Infinity War (don’t get me wrong, as an opener for the film, that scene was great but as a follow-up to Ragnarok’s ending, not so much).

I know it sounds like I’ve ragged on Thor too much but it’s only because I want his films to have the same quality as his billionaire teammate and his shield bearing friend. As of right now, he’s in the right track so let’s hope the Russos and the future directors of Thor-centered films can keep this up.

2. Signed and Sealed by Quill

Now, there are quite a bit of out-of-character moments in this film. Like Loki, the man smart enough to fake his own death, suddenly forgetting he had a brain when he tried to go toe-to-toe with Thanos, the guy who took about 15 seconds to destroy Hulk who himself demolished Loki in 5 seconds (still a great scene). Then there’s the Hulk who’s being a bit of a drama king which is very weird and there’s no good explanation other than he just doesn’t want to.

But the biggest blot is one Peter Quill and I believe everyone knows what scene I’m talking about. Quill, Quill, Quill you fucking moron. There was 100% absolutely no good reason for him to just punch Thanos and disrupt the process of taking out the Gauntlet. None whatsoever.

Some tried to argue for him and said “Well, you wouldn’t know until you were in his position” and basically I said that empathizing didn’t matter one bit when he threatens literally half the universe with his stupidity. If someone hits a button that suddenly releases a nuke that blows up half a country, nobody would come to his defense and say “well, we didn’t know what he was going through.” That doesn’t matter. You know what’s at stake. You know what would happen if you fail. You know damn well just how dangerous Thanos is and yet you let stupidity cloud your judgment. The worst part is that all he had to was wait. Spider-Man was maybe a few seconds and one good tug away from getting that Gauntlet off and once that was done, you may punch away. Hell, I’ll punch Thanos with you but not yet.

Some may even say that this action was actually in line with Quill’s character and I agree. It’s in line with Quill’s old character. He was reckless, he was roguish, he looked out only for himself, and he cared more about what he would get out of a situation. And in typical Han Solo fashion, in 3 movies, he matured before our very eyes. He was still reckless but he understood that sacrifices needed to be made even if he has to lose something. He cared about people but knew what needed to be done for the much greater number. Remember when he accepted killing Gamora? That was a huge moment for him. It would have absolutely been cathartic to see him just watch Thanos as his Gauntlet is taken away and then just punch him in the name of the woman they both loved and then finally letting go of Gamora for good. But that triumphant character moment was stolen from Quill and his character was absolutely squandered in mere seconds. In one scene, they destroyed all of Quill’s development and put him back into his primal underdeveloped state.

It’s important to keep in mind that even Drax, the person who’s not knowledgeable of social norms, the person who doesn’t understand the concept of a joke, the person who lost more to Thanos than Quill ever did, was smart enough to understand the importance of maintaining the plan.

By the way, I understand that they needed this to continue the conflict but you can’t convince me that they couldn’t find a different way for Thanos to maintain the Gauntlet. He could’ve simply overpowered them to the point that they couldn’t even get a chance to get the Gauntlet or have him break the trance by himself through sheer willpower. You can even have Spider-Man, the youngest and most inexperienced member of the group, make a fatal mistake. If we had the Time Stone, we’d see 14 million possible drafts of that script wherein Thanos keeps the Gauntlet without making anyone look unbelievably stupid.

Sub Point for 2

What’s even more problematic was that I just never bought Quill and Gamora’s romance. It always felt like Gamora was manipulating him. It’s not the kind of romance you root for and this has been an underlying weakness in Marvel films: the romance. Other than the relationships of Tony Stark/Pepper Potts and Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter, no other romance was believable or just plain good enough to root for. Thor and Jane? Yeah right. Steve and Sharon? No thank you. Hulk and Black Widow? get the fuck outta here. I admire Marvel’s attempts but they rarely stick the landing.

Overall

I’d say that this film mostly lives up to the hype. If you’re a fan who, like me, has followed this large franchise since the beginning then I believe you’ll get your money’s worth. It’s weird that I’m recommending a party that I’ve been late to by almost a year but it doesn’t change the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and will say that it is an absolute must-watch. If you’re looking for the climactic penultimate chapter of the “Avengers vs Thanos” arc, you most certainly won’t find a film that better captures the epic feeling that comes with a decade’s worth of build-up.

#infinity war #late review #very late #movie review

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laurenlemonsmith-blog · 5 years

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Thanos is the Tragic Protag of Infinity War sorry in advance for the long post

Thanos: The tragic protagonist of the MCU

In The Avengers: Infinity War, twenty plus characters team up to stop Thanos and his minions from changing the universe forever. Thanos’ goal is to destroy half the universe to restore balance. He does not see himself as a madman; instead, he sees himself as the only being in the universe with the will to execute his plan. The Avengers try their hardest to stop him; but, Thanos soon becomes unstoppable. In the context of this essay, “the Earth team” includes Captain America/Steve Rogers, Black Widow, Banner, Falcon, War Machine, Bucky, Wanda, Vision, Black Panther, and all of Wakanda. “The Titan team” consists of Dr. Strange, Spider Man/Peter Parker, Iron Man/Tony

Stark, Peter Quill, Drax, Mantis, and Nebula. “The ax team” consists of Thor, Rocket, and Groot. “The galaxy team” consists of Quill, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis. “The Avengers” will be a catch all term to include them all (even those not technically a part of the Avengers). Within the first scene of the movie he, becomes the most powerful being in the universe. The Avengers try to stop him but are not willing to do whatever it takes to stop Thanos; whereas, Thanos is willing to make every sacrifice necessary to complete his goal, even if it does not benefit him. In this essay, I will focus on why Thanos is the tragic protagonist and the Avengers have no right to claim that title.

First, the Avengers have no claim to the tragic protagonist role. The protagonist of a movie is the person who takes up the most screen time, and none of the Avengers are on screen long enough to qualify them. The Avengers have no character arcs either; none of them change from beginning to end. In the film, none of the Avengers make hard choices, such as sacrificing Vision, even though he is willing. The Avengers do not take a single action that makes them uncomfortable (other than Wanda and Stark but we will get to them). Thanos is busy killing their friends and making strides to destroy half the universe and the Avengers are doing nothing. The Earth team spends all their screen time debating if they should let Vision sacrifice himself, the Titan team spends their screen time either directly fighting Thanos or his children, and the ax team spends their screen time prepping a weapon capable of killing Thanos.

Throughout the film, each of the teams has at least one player directly hurt by Thanos. The Earth team has Vision, who Thanos directly needed to kill to get the mind stone. The Titan team has Iron Man (who has PTSD from the first Avengers film), and Nebula, Thanos’ least favorite daughter who watched her lose fight after fight to Gamora and replaced a limb with metal. When she faces him on Titan, she says “You should have killed me” (Nebula, scene 15). His only response is “It would have been a waste of parts” (Thanos, scene 15). This shows that Thanos did not care about Nebula especially when in the same scene he mumbles “My Gamora” (Thanos, scene 15). The galaxy team has Gamora, who is taken from her home planet to be raised by Thanos, Quill who learned mid battle that Thanos killed Gamora, and Drax, who watched his wife and daughter die at the hands of Thanos. The ax team has Thor, who had to witness Thanos kill half his people, his best friend (Heimdall), and his brother. Thor was so affected by the killing of Heimdall that he cried out “You’re going to die for that” (Thor, scene 1). While these teams each had their problems, Captain America regretting his own sacrifice, Dr. Strange not destroying the time stone, and Groot being completely useless for the first hour and a half; the hurt players hold the key to Thanos’ success or failure, and each of them failing in some aspect, allows Thanos to win.

The Earth team ignored the obvious choice in sacrificing Vision. Vision brings up the option of destroying the mind stone knowing full well it would kill him. Captain America refuses, saying “We don’t trade lives, Vision” (Rogers, scene 7). When Vision brings up that he sacrificed himself to save the world and that this was no different, Banner bails Cap out giving Vision the option of trying to remove the stone. By not sacrificing Vision when they did, they give Thanos an open opportunity to get the mind stone. The Titan team had Quill, who angrily broke Thanos out of Mantis’ spell once he found out Thanos killed Gamora. They also had Iron Man, which is not necessarily a problem, but his PTSD makes him willing to risk everything and everyone to stop Thanos. This is proven when he tells Dr. Strange he understands that no lives can be given to save the time stone. The ax team had Thor who, just a few hours before he gets his ax, loses his planet, his people, and his last living family member. He is full of such anguish that he says “If I’m wrong then, what more could I lose?” (Thor, Scene 10). These mentalities, cause a rupture in the teams. The galaxy team has Gamora, who instead of taking her own life (even though she attempts later) begs Quill: “Swear to me. Swear on your mother” (Gamora, scene 6) and does not stop until he responds “Okay” (Quill, scene 6). The Earth team’s unwillingness to sacrifice Vision, the Titan team, being overwhelmed with grief and fear, and the ax team’s “nothing more to lose” mentality, cause each team to make mistakes. Taking the time to try and remove the mind stone from Vision, gives the “Children of Thanos” enough time to mobilize a group of suicidal alien dogs ready to destroy everything in their path. The Titan team is unable to hold back their grief, which causes Quill to make the mistake of hitting Thanos until he is able to break Mantis’ spell, as well as causing Iron Man to be on Titan in the first place. Had Iron Man been on Earth, the Earth team may have taken Vision’s suggestion. The ax team’s mentality of “nothing left to lose” causes Thor to be reckless and vindictive. Thor takes a risky shot so he can look Thanos in the eyes and watch him die. This choice allows Thanos to stay alive long enough to snap his fingers, and half the universe dies.

The question that needs to be answered is, who other than Thanos can claim the tragic protagonist title? There are a few Avengers who could claim the title, if they had more screen time. Wanda and Iron Man are the only two Avengers who can claim that Infinity War is their tragic story. Thor almost has a claim but he is too vindictive to have a real stake.

First we can examine Thor. He loses everything right from the get go and is willing to sacrifice his own life to attempt to defeat Thanos. He has the motivational speech needed to claim a tragic protagonist. Upon seeing Thor, Eitri cries “You were supposed to protect us. Asgard was supposed to protect us” (Eitri, scene 10). Not only does Thor have to relive the destruction of his people, he has to look someone under his protection in the eyes and admit he failed. But he motivates Eitri to keep trying to create a weapon for Thor, his speech includes the line “Now I know it feels like all hope is lost. Trust me, I know. But together, you and I, we can kill Thanos” (Thor, scene 11). This motivates Eitri to encourage Thor to reawaken the heart of the dying star. Once that is done, the iris breaks. Thor then makes the choice to try to hold the iris open long enough for the star to heat up the metal. Eitri says, “That’s suicide” (Eitri, scene 13). Thor replies “So is facing Thanos without that ax” (Thor, scene 13). Thor knows he may not make it out of this alive, but he takes the chance because if he does not, he will lose against Thanos. At least by holding open the iris he may survive, and he does. Once on Earth, Thor’s first thought is finding Thanos and killing him. But he is not just trying to kill him to save the universe; Thor wants to kill Thanos for his killing of Heimdall. Half his people are killed when Thanos arrives, but Heimdall is Thor’s best friend. This friendship causes Thor to be more irrational in relation to his death in particular. Thor has a perfect kill shot once he finds Thanos, but he aims for the chest so he can look into Thanos’ eyes and declare “I told you, you’d die for that” (Thor, scene 18). This need for revenge causes Thor to be sloppy and take a different kill shot. Thanos is still able to move even though he is bleeding out; he is able to look Thor in the eyes and exclaim “You should have gone for the head” (Thanos, scene 18). Once Thanos snaps his fingers, Thor realizes his mistake, but it is too late at this point.

Next, we have Wanda. Wanda and Vision are romantically involved, though he is a robot harnessing the power of the mind stone (which gave Wanda her powers in Age of Ultron). Every time she looks into the mind stone, she says “I just feel you” (Wanda, scene 5), indicating that she does not see Vision as a robot with the mind stone, but as a real person with real emotions. Once Vision realizes that Thanos is after him, he comes to the decision to sacrifice himself for the greater good. Knowing Wanda is the only person capable of destroying the stone, as it gave her her power, Vision pleads with her to destroy it. Wanda now has a horrible choice to make; pay the price of killing the man I love, or take the chance to try to stop Thanos so he might be able to live. She chooses the latter at first, but by the end of the film, Thanos leaves them no choice but to destroy the mind stone. Vision begs her to pick the greater good over him, knowing that this will tear Wanda apart emotionally. He says “It shouldn’t be you but it is. It’s all right. You could never hurt me. I just feel you” (Vision, scene 18). This resurgence of Wanda’s earlier line lets the audience and Wanda know that Vision will not feel any pain.

Tears streaming down her face she puts all her power into destroying the mind stone; even when Thanos comes to stop her, she is able to redirect some of her power to stopping him. Once she destroys Vision, Thanos comes up and tells her how much he understands her pain, but Wanda does not believe him crying, “You could never” (Wanda, scene 18). Thanos uses the time stone to undo her destruction of the mind stone and Wanda has to watch the love of her life die a second time as Thanos rips the mind stone out of his head. Wanda gets snapped while holding Vision’s body and the look of pure relief that transforms her face causes the audience to mourn her death more than all others. First the death of her brother, then the accords (and the fallout) being seen as her fault, her strapped in a shock collar, and now the love of her life died twice in front of her eyes. This grief kept piling up and her happiness at dying so she can escape it alludes to the film having the potential to be her tragedy. The only reason this paper is not about her is because she has too little screen time.

Finally, we have Tony Stark/Iron Man. In the first Avengers he makes the sacrifice play of flying a nuke through the portal to space. Once through the portal, he gets the terrifying image of Thanos’ forces getting ready to mobilize onto Earth. From that moment on, Stark is sure something is coming; he does not know yet that it is Thanos but he stays ready for anything. When Dr. Strange insinuates that Stark does not understand that the universe is in trouble, Stark replies “It’s you who doesn’t understand that Thanos has been inside my head for six years” (Stark, scene 8). This clear indication of his PTSD is the first look we get into Stark being something other than a douche bag. When Stark first lands on the ship, he realizes he will most likely never go home and he accepts it as long as he stops Thanos. He only starts to feel fear when he realizes that Spider Man stayed on the ship, and he does not fear for himself. He angrily declares, “This is a one-way ticket” (Stark, scene 8) to Peter, imploring him to realize what he has done. In Spiderman: Homecoming, Stark tells Peter that he will blame himself if Peter dies. This fear is translates into “overprotective dad vibes” for most of Infinity War.

Once they face Thanos on Titan, Thanos proclaims he knows Stark and that he is “not the only one cursed with Knowledge” (Thanos, scene 17). Stark’s only curse is Thanos and he lets him know. Thanos uses the Iron Man suit against him by breaking off the sword and stabbing Stark with it; as he lay dying, Thanos looks him in the eyes and says “You have my respect Stark” (Thanos, scene 17). Stark’s eyes cloud with anger as he has to look Thanos in the eyes and know that everything he prepared for has been in vain. He is willing to sacrifice himself for the time stone’s safety but Dr. Strange trades the time stone to save Stark. In utter disbelief Stark whispers, “Why would you do that?” (Stark, scene 17). Once Thanos succeeds in the snapping, Dr. Strange says “Tony. There was no other way” (Strange, scene 19), as he fades. This hints that with Stark dead, there would be no way for the Avengers to eventually succeed.

The most heartbreaking scene for Stark is when Peter is dying. He first stumbles up mumbling, “Mr. Stark? I don’t feel so good” (Parker, scene 19). This indicates to the audience that his spidey senses allow him to know what is happening and what is coming, but it also tugs at the heartstrings as Stark comes to the realization as well. Peter laying on the floor with tears streaming down his face, saying “I don’t want to go. I’m sorry” (Parker, scene 19). This cry of “I’m sorry” is a direct call back to Stark wanting to keep Peter alive in Homecoming. This call back hurts Stark physically. Peter is the only one Stark holds as he fades, and once he does, Stark grabs his dust trying to hold on to him. Stark gearing up to defeat Thanos, just to trip at the finish line is the ultimate tragedy, but again, his lack of screen time is what makes him a tragic side character rather than protagonist.

Now, we get into why Thanos is the protagonist. First and foremost, he has the most screen time. He has 29 minutes while Gamora(the next with the most screen time) has a mere 19 minutes. The movie is about him and his effect on the universe as well as his character development. He’s plan is introduced by his adoptive daughter Gamora, “If he gets all six infinity stones he can do it [bring balance by wiping out half the planet] with the snap of his fingers” (Gamora, scene 4). Thanos is seen as a crazy by everyone, even his own planet. He predicted their destruction and: “They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass” (Thanos, scene 15). In the comics, he is not the protagonist. In fact he is the biggest and craziest bad guy around. His motivations in the comics were to impress Lady Death. According to Mark Harrison, in the comics, he is a nihilist and in the movie he is more of a neo-Malthusianist. The OED, defines “nihilist” as “The belief or theory that the world has no real existence; the rejection of all notions of reality” (nihilism, 1a) and “neo-malthusian” as “holding the belief that the rate of increase of a population should be controlled” (neo-malthusian, A). He explains his views by telling Gamora, “Little one, it’s a simple calculus. This universe is finite, it’s resources finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist” (Thanos, scene 9). His idea of population control is wiping out half the planet, and the only way he succeeds is because he has the will to achieve his goal. The one thing, guaranteed to make him fail, is not being able to find all the infinity stones. The one stone he cannot find without Gamora is the soul stone.

Many times throughout the MCU franchise, Gamora is trying to hide from Thanos because she knows the location of the soul stone. When Thanos finally catches her, she looks Quill in the eyes and reminds him, “Not him.” (Gamora, scene 6). Thanos has the reality stone at this point so he has no fear for Gamora’s death; however, he wants to see if Quill has the backbone to keep his promise. Quill pulls the trigger and this prompts Thanos to smirk saying, “I like him” (Thanos, scene 6). Gamora is the key to Thanos’ plan. She is only one with a will close enough to his to give him pause in whether or not she will cooperate. He uses torturing Nebula to get her to reveal the location of the soul stone. He drags her with him and once there he comes to the realization that he needs to kill her in order to get the stone. The Stone keeper, Red Skull, indicates that only a soul of the person loved by the sacrificer can be sufficient in retrieving the soul stone. Gamora laughs at this because she believes Thanos loves no one. Until:

“No” (Thanos, scene 12).

“Really? Tears?” (Gamora, scene 12).

“They’re not for him” (Red Skull, scene 12).

“No, this isn’t love” (Gamora, scene 12).

“I ignored my destiny once. I cannot do that again. Even for you. I’m sorry, little one.” (Thanos, scene 12).

With tears pouring down his face, and Gamora Thumping him in the arm, he throws her off the cliff, and is awarded the soul stone. Now we can see where he becomes a tragic protagonist.

Thanos is not a hero, but he is not the villain either. He believes with every fiber of his being that he is correct and he will do anything to achieve his goal even if it stands in the way of his personal wants. The OED, defines “tragic” as “ an event, situation, etc., that causes great suffering, destruction, or distress” (tragic, adj1a). Throughout the film, he is shown from being a merciless killer to a being with real feelings and real emotions. Up until Gamora’s death, he is without question a monster. He hurts everyone in his path, physically and mentally, but his raw pain at having to listen to his daughter, the one he loves, die and knowing it was unavoidable for the greater good is heart breaking. As tears rush down his face, he stands atop the cliff as a being in pain, heart tearing grief as he hears the cries of his daughter. He has another daughter, Nebula, but he has made it clear he does not care about her in any way. If she had been with him, his plan would have failed. But because Gamora, someone he has groomed from a young age to be fearless, fierce, generous, and strong, someone who is his spitting image in every metaphorical way, someone who he is proud of even when he disagrees with her choices, because she led him to the stone, he was able to win. This is similar to Rene Girard’s principle of divine intervention. “Divine intervention would have meant the elimination of the pervasive aura of dread, along with its firmly structured economy of violence” (Girard, 7). In this quote he is talking about the sacrifice of Isaac but it applies here as well. The stones are Thanos’ God; whatever they want, they get. In order to prove his worth he had to kill Gamora, and in the end he had no choice.

From that moment on, Thanos becomes more relatable. He has real emotions and he shows them. He mourns the loss of several members of his makeshift family. His henchmen die, his daughter dies, and he does not see these as casualties of war, he sees these as deep personal and preventable loss. Not only that, he does not kill anyone he does not have to or who he does not see as a direct threat. Loki and Heimdall are both killed because they directly tried to interfere with Thanos’ plan. Other than Gamora, the two others Thanos kills, or attempts to, on screen are Iron Man and Vision. Iron Man is the only person who can stand in the way of Thanos, and Thanos is too smart to let someone smarter than him stand in his way. Vision is directly connected to the mind stone. He has to make the choice of taking lives in order to complete his goal, but he does not write them off as if they are nothing unlike the Avengers.

The Avengers are the antagonists of this film. Over and over in the MCU, they have shown to have no real regard for other lives, especially when it comes to collateral damage. They will not sacrifice Vision, but all the people in Sokovia meant nothing to them. In Captain America: Civil War Stark is faced with a mother of a child killed in the Sokovia altercation from Age of Ultron. Rogers and the other Avengers write off his death as an accident that could not be prevented. Stark is the only one who takes his death seriously but he was the only one confronted by the boy’s mother. Had he not been confronted, Cvil War may not have happened. The people killed as a result of the Avengers are never mentioned and are all written out as unimportant. In Infinity War, the Avengers are vindictive and gang up on Thanos. Full Fat videos goes into the example of Thanos as an underdog. While on Titan, the entire titan team attacks him at once. This 7 against 1 fight, shows that even against the worst odds, Thanos prevails and does not kill a single soul. The Avengers, let dozens of people die as long as it does not directly interfere with their mission or the people are not directly in their path. In Age of Ultron, the Avengers evacuate the city long after it has been in the sky. This neglect allowed so many people to die and only one, Stark paid attention to it. In Guardians of the Galaxy, the guardians hide the power stone on Xandar, even though Gamora knows Thanos is looking for it. Once the stone is on Xandar, the planet is doomed. Gamora knows that this could be a possibility but she says nothing. Once Thor arrives on Earth, Banner exclaims “You guys are so screwed now” (Banner, scene 14), in pure adulation at the prospect of all the aliens dying. Thor aims for Thanos’ chest so he can look Thanos in the eyes and watch the light fade out of them. These failings allow trillions of lives to be lost and not a single avenger takes responsibility. Stark attempts to with the accords but that leads to more loss of life as the Avengers are no longer working together.

Thanos is the tragic protagonist because he gives everything he can to achieve his goal. Once he succeeds in the “snapping” he is sucked into the soul stone, where he is greeted by a young, crying Gamora. This interaction follows:

“Daughter” (Thanos, scene 19).

“Did you do it?” (Gamora, scene 19).

“Yes” (Thanos, scene 19).

“What did it cost?” (Gamora, scene 19).

“Everything” (Thanos, scene 19).

And with the one word “everything” Thanos turns from the strongest villain hell bent on destroying the universe, to the only person willing to give everything he has and willing to do whatever it took to save the universe. In his eyes, he is saving the universe and the ultimate tragedy is having to give up everything you have and everything you are for the greater good of the universe.

If the Avengers had had this mentality, Thanos would have lost. If they had been less concerned about how the sacrifice of Vision would have affected them immediately, and had been more concerned on how it would save the universe, Thanos would have lost. He wins, because he chooses to give up his own life (the director’s confirmed in the directors commentary that he was included in the pool during the “snapping”), the life of others he holds dear, the life of half the universe, just to save the living half. The universe needed balance, and Thanos finds that balance. He is in a new world, that he changed, but it cost him everything.

Infinity War is tragic all around. As we watch every major character die on screen one by one, we are met with Mantis warning the titan team, “Something’s happening” (Mantis, scene 19); we see Wakanda lose their king as T’challa encourages Okoye to get up saying, “This is no place to die” (T’challa, scene 19), and we have one last confused, “I am groot [dad?]” (the director’s commentary confirms this translation) (Groot, scene 19). Among other tragic phrases, Nebula whispers quietly, “He did it” (Nebula, scene 19). The film ends with Steve Rogers uttering the line “Oh, God” (Rogers, scene 19). This is a tragic tale all around, but Thanos is the only one with the claim to the “tragic protagonist” title.

The tragic protagonist is someone working for the greater good of the world, or in this case universe. They are someone who is unwavering in their ideals and is willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. Throughout the film, Thanos never once wavers from his ideals; the universe will eventually run out of resources and someone needs to control the population. He sacrifices his favorite child to move forward to save the universe. Everything he does is not for himself, it is for the universe and once the universe realizes he is right, they will be more grateful for it. Thanos is the tragic protagonist because when tragedy strikes, he keeps pushing forward and he keeps fighting. The tragedy of everyone he loves dying does not stop him from completing his mission; in fact it causes him to fight harder and make sure their deaths were not in vain. The Avengers have tragic sections of the film, but they cannot move forward. Every hint at tragedy has them so focused on the event, they cannot think of anything else: not even their goal of stopping Thanos. Thanos is able to pick himself up, dust himself off, and fight anyone in his path as long as he knows his mission will be completed. He is the protagonist of this movie because he does not go out of his way to kill people, he only takes lives of those he needs to take, even saying aloud that he respects their lives. He does not fear death, he does not want to kill, he respects life at every stage. Thanos is willing to do whatever it takes to save the lives of trillions, and he is saddened by the lives he has to take, but he knows it is the only outcome to save the universe.

Work Cited

"nihilism, n." OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/127097. Accessed 6 December 2018.

"neo-Malthusian, adj. and n." OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/126046. Accessed 6 December 2018.

Harrison , Mark. “Thanos: Marvel's Most Unusual Protagonist.” Den of Geek, 2 May 2018, www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/Avengers-infinity-war/273128/thanos-marvels-most-unusual-protagonist.

"tragic, adj. and n." OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/204359. Accessed 6 December 2018.

Girard. “Chapter 1 Sacrifice .” Violence and the Sacred, Bloomsbury Academic, an Imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2017.

#thanos #infinitywar #tragedy

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