The MCU reaches the Beginning of the End in Avengers: Infinity War

What began with 2008's Iron Man has been leading up to this. All our favorite characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe unite in the ultimate battle of all time.

In the span of eighteen films, the presence of the mad titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) lingered in the air. He provided Tom Hiddleston's Loki an army in The Avengers, and sent Lee Pace's Ronan the Accuser to find an infinity stone in Guardians of the Galaxy. Seeing his forces and countless others fail he decides to retrieve all six stones himself, with Earth being one of his stops.

Space Stone (Blue), Reality Stone (Red), Mind Stone (Yellow)
Space Stone (Purple), Time Stone (Green), Soul Stone (Unknown)

What's so special about these Infinity Stones? Each hold's an infinite source of power for the wielder. If you haven't seen any of the MCU films they've played a vital part in causing most of the conflicts. The space stone was used in Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers. The Dark Elves searched for the reality stone in Thor: The Dark World. The power stone was what Ronan and the Guardians of the Galaxy fought over. The mind stone was found in Loki's staff and now resides on Vision (Paul Bettany). The time stone is in the possession of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). As for the soul stone, its location remains unknown. Should Thanos acquire all six stones it would elevate the already all-powerful titan to god-like status.

Captain America (Chris Evans) & Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.)

If things weren't bad enough, our heroes haven't been on speaking terms since Captain America: Civil War. Many have yet to be introduced to each other, but with the arrival of Thanos differences must be set aside or risk having the entire universe wiped out of existence.

Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul Betanny), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansen)
Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Red Falcon (Anthony Mackie)   

Avengers: Infinity War is truly the middle-chapter movie of our times on the lines of The Empire Strikes Back and The Two Towers. Back then the original plan was to have the film split like the final Harry Potter and Hunger Games installments. While the idea was scrapped it does feel like Infinity War-Part One with Part Two or Avengers 4 serving as the grand finale in 2019.

Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) & Groot (Vin Diesel), Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana)
Drax (Dave Bautista), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Nebula (Karen Gillan)

Thanos the Movie would be the appropriate title; from the opening scene he is the character we spend the most with. It does allow more depth to him as we witness his motivations via flashbacks and the relationship with his adopted daughter Gamora (Zoe Zaldana). Brolin displays a commanding and menacing presence unlike any adversary in comic-book movie history.

Wong (Benedict Wong), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Mantis (Pom Klementieff)

That leaves the rest of the cast to supporting roles but it’s a daring choice directors Anthony and Joe Russo take to establish our villain, since we already know the heroes. That is if you've been keeping with the MCU filmography. Each hero from Iron Man to Groot has their moment to shine;  Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange continues to be my favorite along with Spider-man (Tom Holland), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Drax (Dave Bautista), and Mantis (Pom Klementieff).

Okoye (Danai Gurira), T'Challa the Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Shuri (Letitia Wright)

With crossovers becoming a norm seeing familiar characters interacting with one another doesn’t have the same impact as it did with the first Avengers movie, leaving many interactions not as strong as I hoped for like in the cartoons. I would have liked for more time of seeing the broken-up Avengers rekindling after Civil War, among other small character moments but I guess that will have to wait until the sequel. This is Thanos’ story after all. Curse you cliffhangers.

Loki and the Black Order, the Children of Thanos

Clocking at almost three hours this is longest Marvel film to date. Not an easy feat for the Russo Brothers who are able to craft a good superhero movie and I admire the bold direction it takes which caused quite a ruckus in the theater with cheering, crying, and shouting; all that was left was for the popcorn bags to be thrown at the screen.

The entire MCU catalog before Infinity War.  

Definitely do not watch if you are not caught up with the MCU as it has come a long way achieving comic book and cinema history with this enormous ensemble. Many studios have tried to replicate its success; some have had better luck (Warner Bros’ Monsterverse), others are barely hanging (DC Comics), while the rest were dead on arrival (Universal’s Dark Universe).

Monsterverse (Top), Dark Universe (Bottom), DC Extended Universe (Right)

Avengers: Infinity War will be a fan’s dream come true. I’m not that big of a Marvel fanboy as I wasn’t that blown away and came prepared for whatever blow it gave. I will admit there were a couple of shockers. One thing is for certain: the infinity gauntlet has been cast and the battle is far from over.

Final Verdict: (B+)