Avengers Infinity War / Tropes S to Z

Tropes A to D | Tropes E to M | Tropes N to R | Tropes S to Z | YMMV | Trivia

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Avengers: Infinity War provides examples of the following tropes:

Spoilers for Infinity War, and all preceding Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

S

• Sacrificial Lion: The first onscreen characters killed by Thanos are Thor mainstays Heimdall and Loki, establishing that Thanos is ruthless and will stop at nothing to gather the Stones.
• Sad Clown: Much of the humor in the film has a dark undertone to it as the characters realize how much trouble they are in, but no one gets hit worse than Thor. Following the events of Ragnarok, he lost his father (his mother died a few years ago), his planet, nearly all of his friends, and most of his people. This movie starts with most of the rest of his people, his brother and one of his last friends killed by Thanos. He keeps trying to make jokes, but they keep becoming more and more strained. Rocket confronts him about it, and Thor admits that his life is at its worst right now, but insists that Thanos is going to end up dead just like every other enemy he has fought in the past fifteen hundred years. It's clear that he's trying to convince himself more than Rocket.
• Sadistic Choice: Six characters are forced to choose between saving one person important to them and (by obtaining or not giving in an Infinity Stone) saving half the universe. Three of them choose the former: Loki and Gamora refuse to sacrifice their siblings (Thor and Nebula) as an Act of True Love, and Doctor Strange won't let his ally Tony Stark die as a part of a Batman Gambit. All the chosen persons are spared by Thanos and survive the Snap. Other three characters decide to Kill the Ones They Love: Peter Quill and Wanda attempt to kill their romantic partners at their request, but it is All for Nothing because Thanos won't let them proceed and murders the victims anyway, and Thanos himself tosses his daughter off the cliff to get the Soul Stone.
• Sanity Strengthening: Time on Vormir for more than a human lifetime has given Johann Schmidt time to calm down from his Ax-Crazy persona previously shown. This isn't to say he's no longer evil by any stretch, but he is calm and rational when speaking about the Soul Stone, apparently having come to terms with the fact that he will never have it himself. In all he comes across as a Retired Monster.
• Sarcastic Clapping: When Gamora "kills" Thanos on Knowhere, the Collector starts to clap and sneers, "magnificent". This is actually an illusion, as reality has been distorted by Thanos wielding the Reality Stone.
• Saw It in a Movie Once: When saving Doctor Strange from Ebony Maw on the spaceship, Peter Parker suggests to space the latter, "like in that movie Aliens."
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Secretary Ross ignores the fact Earth is being assaulted by aliens in favor of the fugitive Avengers being spotted and, using his authority under the Sokovia Accords, orders Rhodey to arrest them. Rhodey, understanding that the aliens are an actual threat to humanity and Ross is being petty and short-sighted, realizes that the Accords were not a good thing and refuses to do it. Despite knowing perfectly well that he'll be on the wrong end of a court-martial for what he did, Rhodey reconciles with his comrades so they can fight together.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Thor arrives to Wakanda with the Stormbreaker and mows down a bunch of Outriders. They end up so terrified of him that they begin to flee.
• Secret Test of Character: A twisted version given to the hero by the villain. When Thanos captures Gamora, she begs Peter Quill to kill her as he'd promised to. Rather than disabling Star-Lord as he had Drax and Mantis, Thanos holds Gamora right in front of his gun and tells him to do it. What initially seems like another case of a villain mistakenly assuming that Love Is a Weakness by assuming that Peter's love for Gamora makes him too weak to stop Thanos, instead turns out to be a test of Star-Lord's willpower — when he pulls the trigger, Thanos has already used the Reality Stone to disarm his gun, causing it to shoot harmless bubbles, but he still earns Thanos's respect for being willing to do it.
  Thanos: [to Gamora] I like him.
• Seen It All: After a decade of dealing with the unusual, the MCU as a whole has reached Phil Coulson levels of "take crazy things in stride", partially due to the Godzilla Threshold that Thanos's arrival creates — the heroes don't really have the time to question the nature of the things they're seeing, after all.
  • The bus driver is unperturbed about an alien ship that is frightening the students on his bus.
  • Tony is more surprised by seeing Banner again than he is by Doctor Strange's sudden introduction via a magic portal.
  • Tony also doesn't bother questioning how he's meeting another human being from Earth on a distant planet, accompanied by a blue alien and a yellow-ish alien with antennae.
  • Peter Parker's only reaction to Tony summing up the situation as, "He's from space, he came here to steal a necklace from a wizard," is "Mr. Stark is okay with me helping out with this."
  • Steve's reaction to meeting Groot for the first time is to simply and politely introduce himself.
  • Likewise, Bucky is similarly nonchalant about fighting back-to-back with a gun-toting raccoon, only telling him that he won't sell him his gun or metal arm when asked.
  • Even Rhodey, whose last three appearances had him flabbergasted at fire-breathing villains, flying intangible androids, and Giant-Man, doesn't stop to question things like Thor showing up with a gun-toting raccoon and a talking tree this time.
• Seinfeldian Conversation: Tony Stark makes his first appearance talking with Pepper about how he had a dream that they had a kid, comparing it to how when one has a dream about needing to pee, they wake up needing to do just that.
• Senseless Sacrifice: Vision sacrifices himself by letting Wanda destroy his Mind Stone, ensuring that Thanos can't acquire it and complete his Infinity Stone collection. She succeeds, but Thanos uses the Time Stone to completely rewind Vision's body exploding, and rips it out of his head intact (essentially forcing Vision to die twice).
• Sequel Escalation: The movie has the largest cast in an MCU movie, features the biggest threat established up until this point, and is split into two parts to tell the whole story. It also has the highest death toll out of every film.
• Sequel Hook: In the post-credits scene, just as Nick Fury is turning into ashes, he drops his pager which is flashing "sending" before displaying the heraldry of none other than Captain Marvel.
• Sequel Reset: The Guardians have dialed back a couple to their old status quo since Vol. 2. When last seen they were using the remaining quadrant of the Ravager ship with Kraglin. Now they are in a similar ship and Kraglin is nowhere to be seen. Four years have gone by, after all.
• Series Fauxnale: While the film and its sequel will serve as the Grand Finale for the narrative carried through the first three Phases of films in the MCU, it will be far from the last movie in the setting — in fact, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2019 and three 2020 release dates for Marvel-related movies were reserved by Sony and Disney before this even began filming. Furthermore, several actors in the MCU ^note namely, Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier/White Wolf), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), and Tom Holland (Spider-Man) have stated that their contracts will unlikely be fulfilled by Infinity War and its sequel.
• Serious Work, Comedic Scene: This film easily has the highest stakes at that point of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the heroes trying to prevent Thanos the Mad Titan from erasing half of the population of the universe. However, there are some humorous moments:
  • After Tony Stark and Peter Parker rescue Dr. Steven Strange from Thanos' forces, the following exchange occurs:
    Peter: Name's Peter, by the way.
    Strange: Doctor Strange.
    Peter: Oh, we're using our made-up names. I'm Spider-Man then.
  • Then Tony, Peter, and Dr. Strange run into the Guardians of the Galaxy and this exchange occurs:
    Peter Quill: Where is Gamora?
    Tony: I'll do you one better. Who is Gamora?
    Drax: No, I'll do you one better! Why is Gamora?
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: All attempts at stopping Thanos mean nothing in the end, as he gets what he wants. For the unlucky, this crosses into Shoot the Shaggy Dog because the cosmic fingersnap kills them.
  • Cap, Black Widow, Banner, Scarlet Witch, Bucky, Falcon, War Machine, T'Challa and the entirety of Wakanda try to Hold the Line on Thanos's forces to give Shuri time to extract the Mind Stone from Vision without killing him. Thanos just walks through all of them after the heroes have repelled his Mooks, forcing Wanda to kill Vision by destroying the Stone, which is ultimately also for naught as Thanos just rewinds time to rebuild it and personally kills Vision himself to get the Stone.
  • Iron Man, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and the Guardians attack Thanos on Titan to surprise him and take the gauntlet from him. This fails once Quill learns of Gamora's death, ruining the plan and leading to their inevitable fates.
  • Thor, Rocket, and Groot help Eitri build a new weapon for Thor. While Thor with Stormbreaker is indeed powerful enough to kill Thanos, his shot ends up being not fatal enough, giving Thanos the opportunity to complete his plan.
• Shaped Like Itself: This exchange between Thor and Eitri, after Thor decides to hold open a forge powered by a star:
  Eitri: It'll kill you.
  Thor: Only if I die.
  Eitri: [puzzled] Yes. That's what "killing you" means.
• Shoo Out the Clowns:
  • Korg and Miek, who served as the Plucky Comic Relief in Thor: Ragnarok, are nowhere to be seen in this film, and it's left unknown if they survived Thanos's attack on the Statesman.
  • The Stan Lee Creator Cameo is done very early in the movie (he's Peter Parker's bus driver), so as to not distract from the movie's high stakes and heightened tension later on.
  • Of the heroes that Thanos dusts with the Infinity Gauntlet or personally kills, five of the twelve are members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, leaving only Nebula and Rocket (neither of whom were the most comical of the group) left out of them. In addition, the notably wisecracking Peter Parker is among the casualties. Given the Downer Ending that this movie leaves off on, there probably won't be much room for levity in the sequel.
• Shoot the Builder: Played with. Thanos forces King Eitri and his dwarves to make the Infinity Gauntlet for him, then kills them all leaving Eitri the Sole Survivor. But first he makes Eitri put his hands in molten metal so he can't forge weapons against him. "Your life is yours," he said. "But your hands... Your hands are mine alone."
• Shoot the Hostage: After Thanos has taken Gamora hostage at Knowhere, she demands Peter to shoot her to prevent Thanos from getting information regarding the Soul Stone's location from her. Peter eventually complies but Thanos turns his shots into bubbles, subverting this trope.
• Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: Peter ditches his field trip to investigate the spaceship, and help Tony Stark and Doctor Strange.
• Shout-Out: See here.
• Shy Bladder: On the way to Nidavellir, Groot has to pee but feels embarrassed:
  Rocket: Tinkle in the cup. We're not looking. What's there to see? What's a twig? Everybody's seen a twig before.
• Sickening "Crunch!": There is a very unsettling cracking sound when Thanos breaks Loki's neck.
• Signature Line:
  • "Perfectly balanced, as all things should be."
  • "Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good."
• Silence Is Golden: Downplayed during the climax after Thanos snaps his fingers and disintegrates 50% of the universe's population, as the entire sequence takes place without any background music, though ambient sounds and dialogue are still present, they are all quiet in order to drive home the impact of what just happened.
• Single Tear:
  • Blink-and-You-Miss-It, but Loki sheds a tear when he closes his eyes after Thanos stops burning Thor's face with the Power Stone.
  • When Wanda destroys the Mind Stone in his forehead as a last resort to prevent Thanos from getting it, a tear is running down Vision's face.
  • Tony Stark sheds a tear after Peter Parker disintegrates.
• A Sinister Clue: The Infinity Gauntlet is left-handed. In Avengers: Endgame, when the Avengers make a new Gauntlet, it's right-handed.
• Sinister Suffocation: Thanos lifts Loki up by the neck and starts to choke him. He draws out the strangulation a good while, with Loki desperately struggling, while also making sure that Thor is watching. Eventually, he squeezes even harder wearing a Psychotic Smirk and breaks Loki's neck, killing him.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Subverted — when Thor is told that Gamora is Thanos's daughter, he angrily exclaims that her father killed his brother and seems to be about to attack her. But when Quill tells him that Gamora hates Thanos just as much as he does, Thor ceases and sympathizes with her instead.
• Skewed Priorities: Secretary Ross. Despite the fact that the Earth is under attack from a major alien threat, and has just lost one of its greatest defenders (Tony Stark), he refuses to even entertain the idea of accepting help from the fugitive heroes, instead ordering James Rhodes to arrest them.
• Sliding Scale of Free Will vs. Fate: Fate wins over free will. Both the Villain Protagonist Thanos and one of his main Hero Antagonists Thor are fatalists who've come to believe that destiny guides them. And plot-wise, heroes struggle against the Mad Titan who claims to be synonymous with Destiny and lose:
  Thanos: Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same.
  
  Thor: I'm only alive because fate wants me alive. Thanos is just the latest of a long line of bastards, and he'll be the latest to feel my vengeance – fate wills it so.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: The most cynical film in the MCU to date. Virtue Is Weakness, following idealistic principles ("we don't trade lives") and refusing to forgo love and compassion in favor of the "simple calculus" will get half the universe killed, while coldly accepting what needs to be done no matter the cost will grant victory.
• Sliding Scale of Plot Versus Characters: The film gives importance to both the characters and the plot, with unexpected plot twists and emotional character moments. But it leans more heavily on the characters side of the scale — in a film with Spider-Man donning a new suit with iron "legs," the Big Bad throwing a moon at the heroes, and a massive Final Battle the most memorable parts are about personal sacrifices and losses.
• Sliding Scale of Unavoidable vs. Unforgivable: Placing actions of individual characters on this scale is the key question of the film, and there is no easy answer to it. Killing for greater good is "a small price for salvation" for Thanos, but "too high a price" for Wanda and other heroes who "do not trade lives". Tropers can take either of those stances or be anywhere in between, resulting in the same examples being listed here under Good Is Dumb and Heroic Sacrifice.
• Slow-Motion Fall: Gamora's death, when Thanos throws her off the cliff on Vormir to get the Soul Stone, is played out slowly to add the gravitas of the scene.
• Slow "NO!": Gamora refuses to be Thanos's sacrifice in the same frame-rate and for the same reason as the Slow-Motion Fall.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Heimdall is killed by Thanos barely five minutes into the film, but with his dying breath he summons the Bifrost, allowing Bruce to deliver a warning message to Earth before Thanos and his forces can get there. Additionally, his death serves as a major driving force behind Thor's desire to kill Thanos, as he explicitly tells Thanos "You're going to die for that" in response.
• The Smurfette Principle:
  • The Children of Thanos, of which Proxima Midnight is the only female member (Supergiant was Adapted Out, and Nebula and Gamora have long since defected from the group and their family).
  • After Gamora is taken by Thanos, Mantis is the only female Guardian, even when they join up with Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange on Titan. This is ultimately subverted when the actual battles comes, as Nebula — the reason the Guardians are on Titan at all — becomes their 11th-Hour Ranger.
  • Generally averted with the rest of the movie; there're at least two women in each team (excepting the above mentioned example), from when Scarlet Witch and Vision reunite with the Secret Avengers on.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat:
  • Tony Stark and Stephen Strange (initially) don't get along and throw jabs at each other.
    Doctor Strange: [Thanos] could destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of.
    Tony Stark: Did you seriously just say "hitherto undreamt of"?
    Doctor Strange: Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?
    Tony Stark: [still leaning] Is that what this is—
    [the Cloak of Levitation slaps Stark]
    Tony Stark: [puzzled] I'm going to allow that.
  • This escalates even further when they meet Peter Quill.
• Snow Means Death: On the snowy mountains of Vormir, Thanos hurls Gamora off a cliff as a sacrifice for the Soul Stone. It is a cold and ruthless act, but it reveals a hitherto unrecognized warmth in the Mad Titan's heart.
• So Last Season:
  • Unleashing the Hulk worked wonders against Loki and the Chitauri or Ultron and his drones. Against Thanos? Not so much. Hulk lands some solid blows on him at first, but in the end it's a powerful yet unwieldy bruiser who fights by flailing his arms around until the enemy all stop moving vs. a disciplined brawler who is equally strong but uses proper fighting technique and martial arts. And it's not even a close fight.
  • Spider-Man's high-tech suit, which helped him out a lot in previous films, ends up proving less than helpful when Spidey ends up on the side of a spaceship and finding it difficult to breathe as they leave the atmosphere, culminating when he reflexively pulls off the suit's mask. Tony Stark saves him by deploying the Iron Spider suit, which not only has a life support system but also a ton of nanomachine-based functions, and Spidey uses this suit throughout the rest of the film.
• Sole Survivor:
  • After Thanos's fingersnap turns half of the universe's population to dust, Rocket is the only surviving member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
  • Likewise, Rhodey ends up being the only non-original Avenger left after the Snap.
  • Thor is the only royal family member of Asgard still alive, which he mentions in-universe to Rocket.
  • Eitri was the only dwarf of his planet Thanos didn't kill, despite promising to spare his people if he made the Infinity Gauntlet.
  • Nebula ends up being the only one of Thanos' children alive in the end, as Thanos sacrificed Gamora and the Black Order were all killed in battle.
• Some Kind of Force Field: Although the domed force field over Wakanda City is already visible as a faint blue glow, Proxima Midnight tests it out with the tip of her sword, making it brightly crackle, while awaiting Captain America and Black Panther for a face-off.
• So Much for Stealth: On Knowhere, Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis are trying to sneak up on Thanos, but Drax wants to attack him right away. Right before he can charge and give away their position, Mantis makes him fall asleep. The unconscious Drax falls forward with a loud thud, giving them away.
• Sorry That I'm Dying: Peter Parker's dying words to Tony Stark are "I'm sorry."
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Thanos's forces at Wakanda have powerful giant spinning spiked wheels at their disposal but Proxima Midnight only unleashes them late in the battle.
• Space Is Cold: Ebony Maw's demise is to be sucked out of his ship and freeze in an instant in space.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Captain America and Iron Man survive their encounters with Thanos, unlike the original story.
• Special Edition Title: Unlike most of the previous films' opening Marvel logos, the typical fanfare is replaced by the sounds of a distress call placed by the Asgardian ship seen at the end of Thor: Ragnarok, along with the "I" and "O" in Marvel Studios being replaced with the number 10 to mark the MCU's anniversary.
• Spectacular Spinning:
  • Thanos's ring-shaped spaceships feature cool-looking spinning effect to produce Artificial Gravity.
  • Proxima Midnight unleashes giant spinning buzz-saws at Wakanda.
• Speed Blitz: Defied. When Loki pulls out the knife, Ebony Maw is startled and Proxima Midnight is still aiming her deadly spear at him — they were both not quick enough to react. Thanos, however, saw it coming and stops Loki with the Space Stone before the dagger reaches his neck.
• Spider Limbs: Spider-Man's new nanomachine-constructed suit is the MCU's version of the Iron Spider armor, and thus it has four spider-like legs sprouting out of his back when needed. Note that Peter doesn't know about them since he's surprised when they first come out to prevent him from being sucked out the Q-ship by decompression.
• Spider-Sense:
  • Visually shown in a scene with Peter Parker on a bus ride, after only being implied in previous installments. When it kicks in, we can tell by the fact that the hairs on his arm suddenly stick up.
  • In a much darker moment, Peter's Spider-Sense kicks off just before he realizes that he's about to die after Thanos's snap.
• Spoiler Cover: The poster has two of the Infinity Stones already in the Gauntlet: purple/Power (Thanos already has it in the opening scene) and blue/Space (where he gets that one by breaking the Tesseract).
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Iron Man's new armor is made of nanomachines, and one of their many applications is to let him create a wide variety of weapons throughout the film, from knives to cannons to missile launchers.
• Stacked Characters Poster: The poster has many of the featured superheroes being put in a stack, plus Thanos as the Evil Overlooker.
• Staking the Loved One: Both Vision and Gamora request their respective lovers, Wanda and Peter, to kill them to prevent Thanos from reaching his goals. Tragically, they both gather the willpower to attempt to fulfill the request, but are prevented from succeeding by Thanos and a single Infinity Stone each.
• Standard Female Grab Area: Justified, since Thanos is much bigger and stronger than Gamora and she is weaponless. Grabbing her by the arm is effective in his case.
• Standard Power-Up Pose: Thanos, when he puts the last Stone in the Gauntlet and the power of all six Infinity Stones flows through his body.
• Starring Special Effects: Thanos is the Villain Protagonist of the movie and completely CG.
• Status Quo Is God:
  • After losing his eye and his hammer in Thor: Ragnarok, Thor gets replacements for both in this film, although the first is robotic and the second has significant upgrades.
  • This is zig-zagged overall as nearly all the New Avengers — Vision, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Doctor Strange — and nearly all the Guardians — Gamora, Star-Lord, Drax, Mantis, and Groot — are killed (War Machine and Rocket are the two respective exceptions), but all the Original Avengers — Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, and Black Widow — survive (though Nick Fury and Maria Hill are killed in The Stinger, and Hawkeye's fate is unknown).
• Stealth Pun: The car Nick Fury and Maria Hill are in during The Stinger is an Infiniti QX50.
• Steven Ulysses Perhero: Lampshaded by Peter Parker when he and Doctor Strange introduce themselves; Peter thinks that "Doctor Strange" is the "made up name", and so he reintroduces himself as Spider-Man.
• The Stinger: Maria Hill and Nick Fury are disintegrated along with half of all life in the universe, but not before the latter drops a S.H.I.E.L.D. issue pager with a mysterious heraldry flashing across its screen, summoning the aid of an unknown group of heroes to join in for the battle of the Darkest Hour in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• Stock Scream: Ebony Maw uses the Wilhelm Scream when vented into outer space.
• Stop Copying Me: After meeting Thor, Quill imitates his accent and low voice but denies that he does it.
  Quill: This is my voice.
  Thor: Are you mocking me?
  Quill: Are you mocking me?
  Thor: Stop it. You did it again.
  Quill: He's trying to copy me.
• Story-Breaker Power: Three two most powerful Avengers, Scarlet Witch, Vision and Thor, are absent for much of the fighting in Wakanda.
  • Vision's phasing ability is nullified after being stabbed, and he is physically severely weakened to the point where he can no longer fly. Near the end, he's stabbed again and can't retreat when Steve begs him to. Later, Thanos grabs him by the throat and he cannot phase through his fist.
  • Okoye lampshades Wanda's absence after she finally joins the battle and single-handedly destroys a massive war machine that was about to crush Okoye and Black Widow.
    Okoye: Why was she up there all this time?
  • Thanos's possessions of the Space and Reality Stones let him counter many of Strange's most powerful spells. It's further implied Strange cannot use the Time Stone against Thanos because Thanos having more stones would allow him to overpower Strange, and it would open up the opportunity for Thanos to directly take the stone.
  • Tony cannot counter Thanos's fighting style the way he did Steve's in Civil War because he is cut off from Friday, who can perform these complex calculations mid-fight. Similarly, Peter cannot use all of the advancements of the Iron Spider suit for the same reason.
• Streaming Stars: Downplayed. In the scene where the Q-Ship with Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man flies through space, the stars are only seen as streaks as they reach the outer sides of the windscreen.
• Strong and Skilled: This is how Thanos is able to beat the Hulk so easily in a straight-up fight. The Hulk is accustomed to just smashing opponents with abandon, not relying on skill or technique, while Thanos is able to match Hulk's strength while also employing proper techniques, blocking or dodging the Hulk's wild haymakers while throwing proper combinations in return.
• Stunned Silence: After Thanos does his finger snap and teleports away, everything goes silent, no background music or anything. Seeing a huge majority of their allies suddenly disintegrating into nothing had all the survivors looking on in horrified silence.
• Suddenly Always Knew That: Thor is capable of understanding Groot's Pokémon Speak. He tells them that he picked it up as an elective during his education, but according to invoked Word of God he was just making a joke. It's never been clarified one way or the other whether MCU Asgardians maintain their Allspeak ability from the comics or are just speaking English.
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: The first twenty minutes almost completely overwrite the ending of Thor: Ragnarok, as it begins with the Asgardian ship under attack and a large number of people either dead or being massacred. Heimdall dies moments after transporting Bruce back to Earth, while Loki bites it a couple minutes later in a failed ruse (especially notable considering he was the most prominent villain who always escaped death beforehand); neither Valkyrie, Korg or Miek appear and their statuses are currently unknown (thoughinvoked Word of God from Joe Russo later confirmed Valkyrie at least survived). A short while later, the Guardians discover that the Collector is seemingly dead on Knowhere.
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham:
  • Ant-Man and Hawkeye are nowhere to be seen in this film. A throwaway line reveals they're under house arrest after taking plea deals to be with their families instead of in the Raft or constantly on the run.
  • Captain Marvel is not present to help the rest of the heroes. Only her insignia is seen on Fury's pager in the stinger, alerting her, wherever she is, that Earth needs her.
• Superpower Lottery: The Infinity Gauntlet, when fully assembled, effectively allows its wielder to do anything: blow up planets with a touch, control the flow of time, reshape reality, enter a dimension of souls, mind control anyone, teleport anywhere instantly, you name it.
• Superweapon: The infinity gauntlet was obtained by Thanos to harness the energies of the six Infinity Gems — individually, the gems are powerful, but not insurmountable, but the moment it becomes clear that Thanos is looking for all six to complete the gauntlet in an effort to become The Omnipotent, the goal immediately becomes "He can't get the rest or we're all dead." It turns out the heroes are wrong about Thanos's goals. only half of them are killed by the completed gauntlet.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: Thor assumes that Rocket is a) a rabbit and b) the captain of the Guardians' ship. Amusingly, Rocket never bothers to correct him on either count.
  Thor: I assume you're the captain, sir.
  Rocket: You're very perceptive.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death:
  • Thanos's "death" at the hands of Gamora is done in two cuts and an Et Tu, Brute? moment from Thanos. It's lampshaded by Quill with a "That was quick." Of course, it's followed up by the revelation that Thanos already took the Reality Stone and was just luring the Guardians there so he could find Gamora.
  • And of course there's the whole finger of doom issue. Not so much surprising in that it happened, as surprising in who it wound up claiming.
• Surrounded by Idiots: At one point, Tony gives a Thousand-Yard Stare after putting up with Star-Lord, Spider-Man, Drax and Mantis's collective Skewed Priorities long enough.
• Survivor Guilt: Thor has shades of this, since he believes that the only reason he has survived so far is because fate wills it so and that he's the one destined to kill Thanos. Mantis also states that Thor is feeling immense guilt, although it has other reasons as well.
• Sympathy for the Hero:
  • In a heart-felt moment, Thanos honestly tells Tony Stark, who has failed to stop him, "When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive. I hope they remember you." Apparently, Thanos has been inside his head for some time and understands his struggles as well as admires his determination.
  • After witnessing Wanda destroy the Mind Stone and Vision along with it, Thanos takes a moment to tell her he knows how she feels and even gives her an Affectionate Gesture to the Head.

T

• Take a Third Option: Steve tries to find a way to stop Thanos from getting the Mind Stone without forcing the Scarlet Witch to kill Vision. In the end she has to kill him anyway, and even that doesn't work.
• Take That!: When Spider-Man mentions Footloose, Star-Lord asks if it's still the "greatest movie in history". Spider-Man tells him "it never was".
• Takes One to Kill One: Vision realizes that since Wanda gained her powers after being experimented on by HYDRA with Loki's sceptre, she is the only one who can destroy the Mind Stone since her powers were a byproduct of it. Indeed, Wanda's powers are the only thing capable of destroying one of the Infinity Stones.
• Takes Ten to Hold: If Thanos's opening fight against the Hulk wasn't enough evidence of just how terrifyingly strong Thanos is even without the Gauntlet, it takes the combined efforts of Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy just to hold him so that they can remove his Gauntlet (already infused with the Power, Space, and Reality Stones), and even then, Thanos has to be kept off-balance while Mantis is mentally suppressing him. Even then they are struggling to keep him that way, and the second Quill accidentally frees him from Mantis's control (via punching Thanos in the face after Quill learns of Gamora's death), Thanos immediately throws all of the heroes to the ground and starts showing what he can really do with the Infinity Stones he already has.
• Talking Is a Free Action: When Thanos arrives at Wakanda to take the Mind Stone, he is attacked by the Avengers while Vision and Scarlet Witch indulge in a one-minute long heartwarming farewell moment.
• Taught by Experience: Learning from one's own mistakes is discussed by Loki and Thanos in The Teaser:
  Loki: If you're going to Earth, you might want a guide. I do have a bit of experience in that arena.
  Thanos: [unimpressed] If you consider failure experience.
  Loki: I consider experience, experience.
• Tears of Remorse: Shed by Thanos when he learns that he needs to kill his beloved adopted daughter, Gamora, in order to continue his quest.
• The Teaser: The movie starts with a 10-minute sequence on the Asgardian refugee ship. Only after it ends does the title of the movie appear accompanied by the Avengers Leitmotif.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: For the heroes on Titan, how else could the two Insufferable Geniuses that are Tony Stark and Stephen Strange, the Annoying Younger Sibling type Peter Parker and Peter Quill the Troll, work together? The first two can't stand each other because of their egos and antithetic fields of work, and the latter two just annoy the hell out of Stark and Strange either unwillingly, or pretty much willingly in the case of Quill. Amazingly, they come the closest to defeating Thanos.
• Teleport Spam: On Titan, Doctor Strange creates portals left and right, which the other heroes use to attack Thanos and try to keep him off guard.
  Spider-Man: Magic! More magic! Magic with a kick! Magic with a — [Thanos grabs him]
• Tempting Fate:
  • Thor does it twice when going over the remaining Infinity Stones with the Guardians. He says that Thanos can't get the Soul Stone as no one knows where it is, not knowing he's speaking to the one person in the universe who does. He then says the Time and Mind Stones are safe with the Avengers, when in actuality Doctor Strange was just kidnapped and Vision is on the run from Thanos's Children.
  • T'Challa's last words to Okoye before he is disintegrated by the power of the Gauntlet are an encouraging "This is no place to die!"
• Thanatos Gambit: Strange uses the Time Stone to examine millions of possible scenarios, and only finds one where the heroes succeed. At the end, as he's disintegrating, he tells Tony that even his death is All According to Plan. We never heard the one successful scenario, so Unspoken Plan Guarantee may be in effect.
• Thematic Sequel Logo Change: The logo for Infinity War is turned gold to represent the golden Infinity Gauntlet.
• Theme Music Abandonment: During the Marvel Studios title card, the triumphal theme doesn't play. Instead, we slowly start to hear the Distress Call from the Asgardian refugees.
• Theme Music Power-Up:
  • The Avengers theme plays triumphantly when Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon save Wanda and Vision from Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight.
  • The theme pops up again later when Thor, Rocket, and Groot make their entrance during the battle against the Outriders.
    Bruce Banner: You guys are so screwed now!
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Thanos almost uses all four of the stones he currently possess to land a Finishing Move on Tony. Considering how Tony's a regular human and just received a near-fatal stab wound, that is complete overkill. Knowing Thanos, it's likely a twisted form of Villain Respect.
• They Called Me Mad!: Thanos says he was called this in the past because of how he wanted to solve his planet's Overpopulation Crisis, which he felt would otherwise lead to their extinction. Considering his solution was killing half the population, this reaction was justified, even if he ended up being right about their fate.
• This Is Going to Be Huge: Peter Quill, who hasn't been on Earth since the 80s, still has some catching up about pop-culture to do:
  Peter Parker: Like in Footloose, the movie?
  Peter Quill: Exactly like Footloose. Is it still the greatest movie in history?
  Peter Parker: It never was.
• This Cannot Be!: After the Red Skull tells Thanos and Gamora that one must sacrifice someone they truly love in order to gain the Soul Stone, Gamora takes a moment to gloat, thinking that the Soul Stone will forever be out of Thanos's reach. The Keeper then helps Gamora realize that Thanos does love someone — her. Gamora's expression becomes one of utter disbelief and horror as Thanos hurls her over a cliff, allowing him to acquire the Soul Stone.
• Thousand-Yard Stare:
  • Tony has this look after putting up with Star-Lord, Spider-Man, Drax and Mantis's collective Skewed Priorities long enough.
  • Thor enters one right as Thanos teleports out post-snap. Even Steve Rogers can't break him of it and he remains in this through the end.
• Three-Point Landing: Iron Man naturally does his iconic landing as his one-on-one fight with Thanos himself begins.
• Threshold Guardians: The Soul Stone is watched over by a still-alive Red Skull, who spells out to Thanos the sacrifice he has to make in order to retrieve it. And yes, it is unusual for this trope to apply to the villain of the story rather than the hero, but again Thanos is very much the Villain Protagonist here, and he certainly believes he has a heroic goal.
• Thrown Out the Airlock: Done explicitly as a Shout-Out to Aliens; Iron Man and Spider-Man open a hole in the spaceship's hull that sucks Ebony Maw into space, saving Strange in the process.
• Time-Passage Beard: Steve Rogers sports a beard indicating that he's been on the run and underground since Civil War.
• Time Zones Do Not Exist: Every single battle at the climax of the movie is shown taking place at the same time, and when Thanos snaps his fingers, people are shown in the middle of the day in both the US and Wakanda disintegrating.
• Tiny-Headed Behemoth: The effect given off by Bruce Banner inside the Hulkbuster when he opens the helmet part, his normal-sized head poking out of the Hulk-sized machine.
• Title In: The film introduces different locations around the universe with white text on-screen, including "SPACE" when the camera cuts to the Guardians's ship.
• Together in Death: Thanos kills Gamora and Vision at different points in the film. At the end, two of the victims of his Badass Fingersnap are their lovers (Peter Quill and Wanda Maximoff, respectively), allowing them to be this, though whether all of these characters stay dead for good remains to be seen.
• Tonight, Someone Dies: The film's marketing campaign made it clear early on that not every hero that goes into Infinity War was going to make it out alive... aside from a few characters like Spider-Man and the Guardians who were confirmed to have future films in production. Which was actually a swerve, as nearly every character with future films die, while most of the now out-of-contract actors, like the original Avengers cast, make it out of this film and must now resolve everything.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Spidey has gotten far more competent in the two years since his last solo outing, successfully fighting off Cull Obsidian and Ebony Maw during the fight in New York, both of them being very powerful and willing to kill him. He then gets a suit upgrade, courtesy of Tony, which enables him to participate in the group battle against Thanos himself and even get a few solid licks in on the guy who curb-stomped the Hulk.
  • Doctor Strange becomes a far more competent fighter since his debut film due to all the time he's had to practice the Mystical Arts since then.
  • Thor gets a massive power spike when Stormbreaker is forged.
  • Iron Man's nano-tech suit gives him a wide variety of abilities he's never had before and greatly enhances the powers he already had, allowing him to fight Thanos briefly. Notably, he's one of only two characters in the film to draw Thanos's blood (the other is Thor while wielding Stormbreaker).
  • With Hulk refusing to show up, Banner himself picks up the slack by piloting the Hulkbuster armor in the Wakanda battle. He manages to be pretty effective in it, despite being inexperienced. He says it is like being the Hulk without actually being the Hulk.
• Too Much Alike: Tony Stark and Stephen Strange share a strong mutual dislike of the other, primarily because they're both Insufferable Genius Deadpan Snarkers who are evenly matched in both capacities.
• Tractor Beam: Doctor Strange and Spider-Man are pulled into Ebony Maw's ship by a beam of light.
• Tragic Mistake:
  • Stark, Strange, Drax, and Parker have Thanos (barely) immobilized after much effort, with Mantis managing to mentally incapacitate the Titan enough to allow the aforementioned heroes to slowly wrestle the Infinity Gauntlet from him; had Quill not struck the tyrant's head in a mad fit of grief and rage for Gamora's murder, throwing off the focus of Mantis's hypnotism, half the universe would not have had to die on that day. Of course, that's assuming Thanos wouldn't have been able to get the gauntlet back anyway, which given Strange's implication this outcome was the one Golden Path out of 14 million, he would have.
  • When Thor strikes Thanos with Stormbreaker, he hits him in the chest so he can look him in the eye and tell him that he would have made him pay for what he had done. Thanos proceeds to use the last of his strength to snap his fingers, killing off half of the universe's population and also healing himself and teleporting away. As Thanos points out, Thor should have aimed for his head but he wanted to gloat to him so badly that this mistake cost the heroes victory. According to the Russo brothers, this mistake is on par with Star-Lord's.
• Trailers Always Lie
  • The trailers clearly show the Hulk charging with the Avengers and the Wakandans at the beginning of the climactic battle. It's not the Hulk in the film, it's Banner in the Hulkbuster Iron Man suit after the "Big Green Asshole" decides to stick his head in the sand.
  • All footage of Thanos in promotional material is edited so that he only possesses the Power and Space stones. This led to the misconception that he'd only ever have those two throughout the movie and would attain the others in Avengers 4; the freak-out among the base was palpable when one TV spot showed a shot of him arriving in Wakanda with five stones unedited.
  • The trailer shows Stark and Gamora talking about Thanos. Inverted in a sense, since this scene does appear, but Tony and Gamora never meet and they're talking to other people in the movie itself.
• Translation Convention:
  • Thanks to the translator implants carried by each member of the Guardians of the Galaxy (sans Groot, of course), there are no barriers to communication between them and the English-speaking Avengers. Regardless of which character is speaking and where, other characters and the audience will understand everything that is being said.
  • Handwaved when the Guardians pick up Thor, who, surprisingly, can understand Groot. He claims that "Groot" was an elective course in schools on Asgard, butinvoked Word of God confirmed that he was just joking.^note Thor himself could be handwaving this and not be of a mind to explain Allspeak, which all Asgardians can supposedly use. The MCU is vague on whether Asgardians can speak it in-universe.
• Trauma Conga Line: Thor already lost his mother in Thor: The Dark World, his love Jane in between movies, and his father, his closest friends, his hammer, his eye, and his whole planet in Thor: Ragnarok. In the opening scene of Infinity War, Thor can only watch as half of the remaining Asgardians and his brother Loki are killed by Thanos and his forces. But Thor battles on. This is all lampshaded in a conversation between Thor and Rocket, in which Rocket shows uncharacteristic sympathy.
• Tricked-Out Gloves: The Infinity Gauntlet is a gold-plated glove built to hold six different reality-warping artifacts at once, making the wielder omnipotent when complete.
• The Triple:
  Peter Quill: I'm gonna ask you this one time: where's Gamora?
  Tony Stark: Yeah, I'll do you one better: WHO'S Gamora?
  Drax: I'll do YOU one better: WHY is Gamora?
• Truth in Television: Horrifically abusive assholes like Thanos can love their victims. That's part of what makes their abuse so damaging.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Loki introduces himself to Thanos (who is already very familiar with him, mind) as "Loki, Prince of Asgard, Odinson, the rightful King of Jötunnheim, God of Mischief."
• Turn the Other Cheek: Even though Vision was directly (if accidentally) responsible for turning Colonel Rhodes into a cripple who cannot even stand (much less walk) without bionics crafted by Stark attached to him 24-hours a day, when the Android returns to the Avengers Headquarters mortally wounded, he greeted him with open arms, and ignoring orders to arrest the Captain Faction, offered his wholehearted support to help him extract the Mind Stone from his forehead to save his life.

U-V

• Ultimate Forge: Nidavellir, realm of the Dwarves, is a Ring World Planet surrounding a neutron star. By drawing power from this star, the Dwarves are able to forge the strongest weapons in all of existence, including but not limited to Thor's hammer Mjölnir. Before Infinity War, Thanos forced the Dwarves to create his Infinity Gauntlet under the threat of death, and then froze Nidavellir's star to prevent anyone from creating any weapons to counter it. Thor, Rocket, and Groot, however, are able to revive the star long enough to forge Stormbreaker, an axe powerful enough to kill Thanos.
• Uncertain Doom: Pepper Potts, Ned Leeds, May Parker, Cindy Moon, Sally Avril, Tiny McKreever, Thunderbolt Ross, Eitri the King Dwarf, Red Skull, Wong, and Shuri are not shown in the ending, so their fates are not revealed in the film itself. For that matter, the fates of any and all MCU characters not present in the movie (from Ant-Man and Hawkeye to Korg and Miek from Thor: Ragnarok to Kraglin Obfonteri and the Ravager clans from the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy to the Netflix characters) are not known at this time, either. The Russo Brothers later confirmed which characters are alive, dead, or too spoilery to state. Lady Sif and Betty Ross are dead, Aunt May and Howard The Duck are alive, and the fates of Korg, Miek, Jane Foster, Ned Leeds, Pepper Potts, Valkyrie, and Shuri are massive spoilers.
  • The ultimate fate of Tanleer Tivan AKA the Collector is also this. Given the Collector's cameo was a Reality Stone-generated illusion and that Knowhere had been razed, it's implied Thanos did kill him upon acquiring the Stone. But it's also never explicitly confirmed.
• Unconventional Electives 101: Thor claims to have studied the Groot language as an elective, a language whose entire vocabulary consists solely of the phrase "I am Groot."
• Underequipped Charge: Heroes' determination coupled with desperation leads to acts that can be viewed as a demonstration of their extreme courage, extreme stupidity, or both:
  • After Thanos has beaten the crap out of the Hulk, badly injured Thor charges at him with a short metal rod he has just picked up. Thanos barely notices his attack, and Ebony Maw immediately subdues Thor after that.
  • Having run out of options, Loki attacks the Mad Titan with an ordinary dagger. The scene with Thanos towering over him invokes David Versus Goliath imagery, except Goliath non-nonchalantly strangles David.
  • As Thanos slowly walks towards Vision and Wanda, Cap and Okoye can at least rely on their vibranium shield and spear, but Natasha rushes at him with a taser.
• Understatement:
  • When Rocket goes to talk to Thor to comfort him, he muses "So, dead brother, huh? Yeah, that can be annoying."
  • Played for Drama when Thanos learns that Maw is dead, he simply says, "This day extracts a heavy toll." This is right after he sacrificed Gamora for the Soul Stone.
  • Again Played for Drama; Captain America is left so utterly (and understandably) stunned by Thanos using the Infinity Stones to literally kill half the universe, that his only response is a quiet, affectless "Oh, God."
• Unnervingly Heartwarming: Thanos and Gamorra's first interactions reek of this trope. On the face of things, their first meeting features Thanos offering assistance to a young and extremely frightened Gamorra, taking her in and even giving her a balancing game to play - during which he congratulates her on her success. It's a genuinely heartwarming moment in which Thanos gets to show off his paternal side after spending most of his previous appearances as nothing more than a genocidal extremist... but the whole scene takes place on a planet that Thanos has just conquered; in the background, his army is executing half the population, even as he encourages young Gamorra to continue the game and ignore the sight of her people being shot dead en mass.
• The Unreveal: After being the only Infinity Stone that hadn't shown up in some form or another, the Soul Stone's abilities are never shown or stated.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Hinted at; the exact details of the plan to attack Thanos on Titan and take the Gauntlet from him are not disclosed to the audience, but although that plan ultimately fails, after Strange stated that he would be willing to let Tony and Peter die to protect the Time Stone and handed it over to Thanos anyway, coupled with his last words of "There was no other way", it suggests that Strange planned for the battle to turn out that way....
• Unskilled, but Strong: Hulk is so absurdly powerful that he usually doesn't need any particular strategy beyond brute strength. His fight with Thanos is over within a minute in part because Thanos is equally strong, but shows much more skill such as defensive posturing and attacking weak spots. Up until then, no-one even knew Hulk had weak spots.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
  • Bucky doesn't even react on encountering Rocket, moving smoothly into teaming up with him in the battle without comment.
  • Aside from when it sneaks up on Tony at one point, nobody really bats an eye at the Cloak of Levitation when it's moving independently from Strange.
• Upgrade Artifact: Whereas Mjölnir was a Power Limiter for Thor's lightning powers, Stormbreaker is this and enhances his powers.
• Use Your Head: Thanos rams his head against Iron Man's helmet during their fight on Titan.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Thanos intends to kill half the universe to solve the problem of limited resources and overpopulation. This, he says, will ensure that everyone is prosperous, "a full belly and clear skies" as he puts it. He succeeds horribly.
• Vengeance Denied: Thor's main goal is to kill Thanos to avenge the deaths of his brother, his friend and his people. However, Thanos survives Thor's attack and teleports away after performing his Badass Fingersnap, leaving Thor in shock.
• Villain Opening Scene: The movie opens with Ebony Maw's and Thanos's speeches. Then in the first ten minutes, Thanos proves that he is a force to be reckoned with.
• Villain Protagonist: Similar to his depiction in The Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos is unquestionably the central character of Infinity War. The film explores his backstory and motivations, giving him sympathetic qualities and a meaty dramatic arc. Every other character arc or beat (such as Tony Stark facing his fears, Gamora dealing with her familiar feelings, and Thor grieving for his friends and family) exists in the orbit of Thanos. This is particularly felt when after the post-credits scene, it is announced that Thanos will return rather than the Avengers.
  Kevin Feige: Thanos in Infinity War is, you know, in a movie that has a lot of characters, you could almost go so far as to say he is the main character, and that's a bit of a departure from what we've done before, but that was appropriate for a movie called Infinity War.
• Villain Respect:
  • Thanos says "I like him" of Quill when Quill proves willing (after much hesitation) to kill Gamora if it means keeping the Soul Stone out of Thanos's hands. He doesn't actually let Quill kill Gamora, of course, but appreciates his resolve.
  • Openly declared to Tony Stark by Thanos for his futile but courageous final stand against him; the tyrant even sincerely wishes that the people of Earth will remember him for his heroism.
  • Silently done, when Thanos begins his march in Wakanda to the final Stone defeating every hero with one hand; Captain America not only blocks his path twice, but is capable of holding the Mad Titan powered by five Infinity Stones back, which should be impossible. This earns him a smile of approval from Thanos as he uses both hands to beat Cap back.
  • In a broad sense, Thanos shows proper respect to many of the heroes, including the above-mentioned three. He uses only brute force on The Hulk instead of the Power Stone to give Hulk a chance. He trades words of philosophy with Doctor Strange with no hostility, truly trying to make the wizard understand his motives. He is impressed Wanda had the will to kill Vision (her lover) to keep the Mind Stone from him. Finally, he's also impressed that Thor can severely wound him when he gains all the Infinity Stones. All in all, he truly means it when he says he's trying to be unbiased and fair in his crusade.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Wanda for Vision when they're attacked by Proxima and Corvus. She repeatedly blasts them away from Vision when they try to take the Mind Stone from him, refuses to leave when he asks her (for her own safety) to do so, and prepares to take them both on by herself until Cap and his team show up. Which just makes it all the more tragic when she's forced to kill him by destroying the Mind Stone despite all her efforts to protect him. And when she sees Thanos about to kill Vision again, she furiously lunges at him, only to be blown back.

W

• Walk-In Chime-In: T'Challa promises Steve and his group that they will fight alongside the full strength of Wakanda's military, and Bucky appears, commenting, "...and a semi-stable hundred-year-old man".
• Was It Really Worth It?: When Thanos assembles the Infinity Stones and succeeds in killing half the universe, he's visited by a spiritual representation of Gamora as a child, asking what he had to sacrifice to achieve his goal. Thanos's answer?
  Thanos: ... Everything.
• Weaponized Teleportation: Strange and Wong are quite adept at using their portals for attack and defence, including working together at one point to send Ebony Maw's projectiles right back at him that way.
• We Have Reserves: Black Panther says that the invaders will get nothing in Wakanda with "dust and blood". Proxima Midnight replies that "we have blood to spare" as she reveals heaps of alien troops. Who then hurl themselves at the shield, getting burned and dismembered until some of them finally make it through intact.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Thanos wants to cull the universe of half of its population because he thinks that overpopulation will eventually lead to even more people dying and a completely unnecessary amount of suffering to boot. Why? Because that's exactly what happened to Thanos's homeplanet of Titan when he stepped away from doing what was "right" the first time.
• We Need a Distraction: When Peter Parker's Spider-Sense activates on the school bus and he sees a Q-ship in the distance, he taps Ned's face and asks him to create a distraction. Ned immediately and enthusiastically shouts "We're all gonna die!", herding the rest of the kids to the back of the bus. Whether or not Ned actually heard Peter or saw the ship and panicked on his own doesn't matter, since Peter got his chance to leave the bus unnoticed.
• Wham Episode: Without question, the biggest one in the MCU. Most of our heroes are dead and there's no clear way to undo the massive amount of damage that Thanos has done to the Universe.
• Wham Line: Several.
  • The Earth-based heroes' first encounter with the Children of Thanos. When Bruce tries Hulking Out like Tony suggested...
    Hulk: NOOOO!!!
    Bruce: What... do you mean "NO"?!
  • Gamora is held captive by Thanos, and he says he sent her on a mission to find the only Infinity Stone unaccounted-for. And he knows she didn't fail.
    Gamora: I'm not your daughter. Everything I hated about myself, you taught me.
    Thanos: And in doing so, made you the fiercest woman in the galaxy. It's why I trusted you to find the Soul Stone.
    Gamora: I'm sorry I disappointed you.
    Thanos: I am disappointed. But not because you didn't find it... But because you did, and you lied.
  • Iron Man asking Doctor Strange about their chances of beating Thanos:
    Spider-Man: Hey, what was that?
    Doctor Strange: I went forward in time, to view alternate futures... To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict.
    Star-Lord: How many did you see?
    Doctor Strange: 14,000,605.
    Iron Man: How many did we win?
    Doctor Strange: One.
  • Coupled with Wham Shot, while Rocket, Groot, and Thor are wondering where the dwarves are and why Nidavellir is dark:
    Rocket: You said Thanos had a gauntlet, right?
    Thor: Yes. Why?
    Rocket: Look anything like that? [it looks exactly like that]
  • When the Red Skull tells Thanos and Gamora that to get the Soul Stone, Thanos must "sacrifice that which he loves the most." Gamora laughs that Thanos loves nothing as he turns to look at her.
    Gamora: Tears? Really?
    Red Skull: They're not for him.
  • Perhaps the biggest is when Thor runs Thanos through the chest with Stormbreaker.
    Thanos: You should have gone for the head. [snap]
  • After the above happens, Thanos disappears leaving Thor and Captain America standing there wondering what he just did:
    Captain America: Where'd he go? Thor, where'd he go?
    Bucky: [offscreen] Steve? [cut to Bucky, staring at his arm as his entire body is literally turning into dust]
  • A particularly heartbreaking one as Thanos succeeds in wiping out half of the universe's population, and the audience is wondering which of their heroes they're gonna watch die next:
    Peter Parker: Mr. Stark? I don't feel so good.
• Wham Shot:
  • After his grandstanding monologue, Thanos holds up the Infinity Gauntlet... and we see he already has the Power Stone.
  • Near the start of the film, it looks like The Hulk is going to curb stomp another foe as he launches a surprise attack on Thanos and begins to pummel the Mad Titan. Then Thanos uses pure muscle to pry Hulk's hands off of his throat and proceeds to kick his ass. Two wham shots take place in this scene: first when Thanos overpowers the much-larger Hulk (even Hulk himself has a confused look on his face when this happens), and then when he military-press slams Hulk to the ground and stands over his barely conscious body.
  • After grabbing the Tesseract, Thanos crushes it to reveal the blue Space Stone.
  • The guardian of the Soul Stone is none other than a still-alive Red Skull.
  • T'Challa holds the relatively expendable Okoye's hand as the audience expects her to die, only to see T'Challa, a character presumed immortal due to his popularity, crumble to ash.
  • As usual, The Stinger provides one where Nick Fury tries to send a distress signal before he gets disintegrated. The symbol that appears on his communicator resembles that of Carol Danvers' costume.
• What Happened to the Mouse?
  • Wong mentions that he's going back to protect the Sanctum after Strange is kidnapped as Tony and Peter go after him. He never appears again, and his fate is not known as of the end of the film and the fingersnap.
  • While several Wakandan soldiers and T'Challa himself are shown being Reduced to Dust via Thanos's Badass Fingersnap, the fate of Shuri is left a mystery, as she was last seen trying to defend Vision from Corvus Glaive.
• What Is One Man's Life In Comparison?: The Vision makes this argument to Wanda when it's determined she's going to have to kill him in order to destroy the Mind Stone, which would prevent Thanos from completing the Gauntlet. However Steve argues against it and tries to salvage The Vision's mind while separating him from the Mind Stone so they can destroy it without killing him. Ultimately it is for naught as the eleventh hour forces Wanda to destroy the Stone while it's still in Vision's head.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The Avengers and Wakandans have never had any problem killing their enemies, so their slaughter of the Outriders and Black Order members isn't surprising. Spider-Man by contrast hasn't killed anyone yet, and yet has no problem creating the plan that sends Ebony Maw into space. Though it could also be the insane ramping up of stakes to a cosmic scale.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Tony Stark tells Bruce Banner that (due to the events of Captain America: Civil War) he won't contact Steve Rogers despite Thanos's imminent arrival because the two are not on speaking terms, prompting Banner to question this reasoning and later call Rogers himself.
  • Peter Quill gives one to Rocket for leaving with Thor to forge a Thanos-killing weapon, accusing Rocket of doing so only because he doesn't want to confront Thanos.
  • Eitri is really unhappy to see Thor, saying "You were supposed to protect us. Asgard was supposed to protect us!" Thor explains that Asgard was destroyed, and Eitri relents.
  • Tony is distraught at Strange giving up the Time Stone and asks "Why did you do that!?" We are not shown Tony’s response to Strange’s response, but later upon his death, Strange quickly assures Tony there was no other way, suggesting Tony took it as well as you’d expect.
• Where It All Began: Implied. Thanos orders his Children to rendezvous with him on his home planet Titan once they’ve collected the Mind and Time Stones and after he gets the Soul and Reality Stones. It seems Thanos intended to perform the Snap on his home planet where his mad crusade began. He doesn’t get the chance due to realizing his Children have failed in their tasks and having to go to Earth for the final Stone.
• Who Are You?: Thor asks, "Who the hell are you guys?" after he wakes up on the Guardians' ship.
• Who Needs Enemies?: When Ebony Maw mocks that Tony Stark would be unable to save his friend (Dr. Strange), Tony comments, "We're not really friends. Saving him is more of a professional courtesy." Later, Strange tells Stark, in no uncertain terms, that if it came to a choice of saving him, Peter Parker, or the Time Stone, he'd choose the Stone.
• Who's on First?: When Thor says that Thanos is going to Knowhere, Mantis replies that he must be going somewhere.
• "Will Return" Caption: The film ends with a "Thanos will return" caption, which then crumbles to dust.
• Withholding the Big Good: Captain America enters the film at the start of Act II. The Russos originally wanted to hold back Cap until halfway through the Battle of Wakanda, but Marvel execs and audiences wanted to see Marvel's Big Good in the movie much earlier.
• Wizard Duel:
  • Doctor Strange and Ebony Maw engage in one in New York. It involves a lot of flying, telekinetic lifting of objects and magic items play a key role. Strange loses. Although since a spell prevents Maw from just seizing the necklace, he takes Strange prisoner and brings him on his ship.
  • Doctor Strange vs. Thanos wielding four Infinity Stones. They throw energy beams at each other, Strange creates two dozen copies of himself which Thanos dispels, and so on.
• The Worf Barrage: During his Last Stand against Thanos, Iron Man unleashes several old and new weapons in his suit, weapons that had defeated many enemies before and even hurt the big bads of the previous Avengers movies. He uses everything in his arsenal, to the point of almost completely exhausting his nano-machine supply, and all he gets for his effort is "a drop of blood."
• The Worf Effect:
  • Thor is beaten offscreen by Thanos before the movie even starts, meaning our villain is introduced dragging the God of Thunder's limp body around like a doll so you know he won't be taking any prisoners.
  • Hulk gets beaten handily during the opening sequence just to drive home how unstoppable Thanos is. Ebony Maw even prevents the Children of Thanos from fighting Hulk just so Thanos "can have his fun," and Thanos takes him on without the aid of the Gauntlet's power and purely his own strength. Hulk, meanwhile, is sidelined for the rest of the movie.
  • The first scene has Thanos already holding an Infinity Stone — the Power Stone, which was under the protection of the Nova Corps on Xandar, meaning he had already taken it by force. Thor later confirms it, letting us know all of Xandar was decimated in order to demonstrate that yes, Thanos is strong.
• World of Snark: If you thought every MCU movie before featured droll wit, you ain't seen nothing yet because they all come together into one big ball of it in this film, considering it combines Taika Waititi's humour from Thor: Ragnarok, James Gunn's humour from both films of the Guardians, and the tendency of the MCU as a whole to give even the darkest, most stoic characters at least a single moment of snark. Then again, given the nature of the film, the moments are few and far between.
• Worthy Opponent: Thanos grows to respect Stark, both for their similarity in being "cursed with knowledge" and for his, Stark's, Last Stand. Tony himself is shocked when Thanos addresses him by name.
• Wounded Hero, Weaker Helper: The nigh-invincible Vision and Reality Warper Scarlet Witch suffers a Curb-Stomp Battle from Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight, and have to be rescued by Bad Ass Normal heroes Captain America, Falcon and Black Widow.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: Vision gets impaled by Corvus's spear which is capable of injuring him even in intangible form. While he manages to survive, he spends the rest of the movie incapacitated.
• Wrecked Weapon: After Thanos snaps his finger with all the Stones installed and wipes out half the life in the universe, the gauntlet looks charred and cracked. It's not clarified if the gauntlet is actually damaged or hindered in its abilities (Thanos easily teleports away afterwards), but the impression is the same.
  • After Thanos' forces curb-stomp the Asgardians off-screen, a critically injured Heimdall is seen with his sword Hofund shattered.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Thanos bodyslams Hulk as a finishing move and later, choke slams Spider-Man.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: A line in Thor: Ragnarok ("We were eight at the time.") hints that Thor and Loki might have been raised as twins (or are at least less than a year apart), and the Minor Kidroduction at the beginning of Thor shows them looking the same age (both actors were 11). However, while Thor shows that the battle against the Frost Giants was in 965 (which is also likely Loki's birth year), 1053 years before the events of Infinity War, in this film Thor states that he is 1500 years old.
• Written-In Absence: Hawkeye and Ant-Man never appear in this film, although Bruce recommends the former join up with them to combat Thanos. It's revealed that they worked out plea deals after Civil War so they could go back to their families. Their fates (and that of their families) after Thanos wiped out half of the universe's population are not revealed, however.

Y-Z

• Yank the Dog's Chain:
  • Asgard was destroyed in order to kill a mad goddess, but the Asgardians have escaped extinction and are heading to Earth in hope for a better future. Then Thanos attacks their ship, and their already dwindling population is decreased by half. Worse, according to invoked Word of God Lady Sif and the In-Universe actor who played Loki were among those killed by Thanos's culling, meaning that half of those left perished with the Snap.
  • After all his inner struggles Loki finds some measure of peace and acceptance, only to witness half of those he chose to protect slaughtered and his brother tortured. Then Thanos brutally kills him.
  • After losing her parents and her brother and being overridden by guilt over the events of Captain America: Civil War, Wanda finds some happiness in her relationship with Vision, only for Vision to get badly wounded and to ask her to destroy the Mind Stone, killing him in the process. She spends the majority of the movie trying to find another way, but after an intense battle in Wakanda, as Thanos approaches the couple, Wanda finally decides to destroy the Stone, killing Vision in a particularly painful manner. While she succeeds, Thanos reverses time to restore Vision and his Mind Stone only to rip it off of Vision and kill him again. Wanda is helpless to stop him, and dies herself after the Badass Fingersnap a few moments later.
• You Are Fat: Drax and Rocket chide Star-Lord for being fat while comparing him to Thor.
• You Are Not Alone: Natasha says this near-verbatim about Wanda to Proxima Midnight, when Proxima is seconds from killing Wanda, relishing in her about to die without her lover by her side.
  Proxima Midnight: He'll die alone, as will you.
  Black Widow: She's not alone.
• You Are Too Late:
  • The Guardians of the Galaxy pick up the distress signal from Asgardians' Statesman but by the time they arrive, the Statesman is already destroyed and there's no survivors except Thor.
  • Quill, Gamora, Mantis, and Drax head to Knowhere to obtain the Reality Stone before Thanos can. When they arrive, they find he's already there, trying to torture the Stone's location out of the Collector. Gamora attacks and seemingly manages to kill him, only for everything to wash away, revealing that Knowhere has been completely trashed and Thanos already has the Stone.
• You Can See Me?: Played for Laughs. Drax is convinced that he learned how to turn invisible. A shame the fellow Guardians don't share his conviction.
• You Can't Fight Fate:
  • Thanos is apparently a firm believer in this trope, as he gives the aforementioned "Destiny arrives all the same" speech.
    Thanos: Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same.
  • Thor strongly believes that fate has commanded him to kill Thanos, or else the deaths of Odin, Frigga, Hela, Loki, the Warriors Three, Heimdall, and half the Asgardians would have been for naught.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: It wouldn't be an Infinity Gauntlet adaptation without it. When Gamora warns that Thanos gaining the Reality Stone in addition to the Space and Power Stones already in his possession will make him too powerful to stop, Thor bluntly replies that he already is. Thanos gathers all the Infinity Stones and, despite Thor running him through with Stormbreaker, wipes out half of all sapient life. The surviving heroes are left to pick up the pieces and somehow make things right in the sequel.
• You Have Failed Me: In the invoked commentary, the directors reveal that Thanos ultimately kills Loki for "disobedience".
  Stephen McFeely: Remember, [Thanos] had a relationship with Loki, even if it was off-screen where he entrusted him with a duty in Avengers 1 and Loki failed.
  Joe Russo: [Thanos] is making him pay.
• You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: While on the Q-Ship after dealing with Ebony Maw, Tony says this word for word to Doctor Strange after the latter claims to know how serious Tony's fear of Thanos is.
• You Have No Chance to Survive: The Children of Thanos enjoy likening the Avengers' attempts to fight back to parlor tricks and that all is lost for the glory of Thanos.
  Proxima Midnight: He'll die alone, as will you.
• You Killed My Father: Other than trying to save the Universe, Thor is strongly driven by a craving for revenge on Thanos for killing his brother, his best friend and half of the people he's sworn to protect as King. For a moment, it even seems as if Thor is going to be the one to deliver the death blow.
• You're Insane!: Gamora to Thanos, when he tells her that he genuinely believes that he helped her planet by slaughtering half of its people.
• You're Not My Father: Gamora to Thanos, when he repeatedly calls her his daughter.
• Your Other Left: When Thanos is about to discover the Guardians on Knowhere, Quill tells Gamora to go to the right, but she goes left instead, prompting Quill to utter exasperatedly, "Your other right!"
• Your Size May Vary: Unless Thanos's Q-ships do come in different sizes, the one that attacked Earth in the beginning of the film couldn't possibly have the same capacity as the one that attacked Wakanda later, which house multiple dropships, each of which contain countless Outriders.
• You Said You Would Let Them Go: Implied. Eitri forged the gauntlet for Thanos in hope he would let his people live but afterwards Thanos kills all 300 dwarves anyway except for Eitri.
• You Talk Too Much!: During the opening, Thanos has just slaughtered half of Asgard and beaten Thor bloody, and is holding him by the head, but Thor still isn't impressed by his grandstanding.
  Thanos: Destiny arrives all the same. And now it's here... or should I say, I am.
  Thor: You talk too much.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Subverted. Gamora convinces Quill to promise to kill her if she's captured by Thanos. When he does capture her, Thanos taunts Quill into shooting her, which he does... only for the Mad Titan to turn the gun and its laser blast into bubbles.
• Zerg Rush: The Outriders have massive numbers on their side and charge against the Avengers and the Wakandans. Several of them manage to take down the Hulkbuster armor, dragging it to the ground.

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