Awesome / Avengers: Infinity War

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"How are you guys gonna stop that?"

"BRING ME THANOS!"

— Thor Odinson would have words with the Mad Titan.

Avengers: Infinity War is the culmination of ten years' worth of movies building up to this moment, where almost all of the Avengers, their allies, and other unrelated heroes unite to battle the mightiest MCU villain to date, who wields the power of the Infinity Stones. Of course, Marvel Studios brought their A-game to the table.

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Film

Prologue

• Thanos' opening introductory speech that culminates in his signature pose with the gauntlet in front to the right — power stone installed, just like in the Phase 3 announcement.
  Thanos: I know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail nonetheless. It's frightening, turns the legs to jelly. I ask you to what end? Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now it's here. Or should I say, I am.
• Loki's Badass Boast towards Thanos demonstrates that he now has the balls to oppose Thanos, who used to terrify him:
  Thanos: Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian.
  Loki: Well, for one thing: I'm not Asgardian. And for another: We have a Hulk.
• Then Thanos establishes why he's the true threat to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: he fights Hulk and wins handily. Without using any of the Infinity Stones.
  • The way they fight. It feels more like actual people fighting each other compared to the high octane action from when the Green Goliath battled Abomination. In a way, the normalcy of the fight is what makes it that terrifying as the Hulk finally discovers the one entity that can fight him fist by fist.
  • Hulk doesn't get completely destroyed, though, as he lands some very strong hits for a while and starts knocking Thanos around. Some members of the Black Order, excluding Ebony Maw, actually seem worried for Thanos in this scene. Of course that is before Thanos regroups. He fights the Hulk like a seasoned prizefighter would a greenhorn who only knows brute force. Also Hulk has the drop on Thanos and still loses, Hulk gets free hits from the element of surprise and that isn't enough.
  • As Hulk goes down, Thor grabs a nearby metal debris and shatters it on the back of Thanos's head. Thanos doesn't even blink before sending Thor flying with a kick.
• Then Ebony Maw shows how powerful telekinetic he is by using the nearby metal debris to restrain Thor effortlessly, leaving him helpless till they leave.
• Heimdall using the last of his connection to the Bifrost to teleport Banner back to Earth so he can warn the Avengers about Thanos. He gets extra awesome points for it being a Heroic Sacrifice; Thanos finishes him off with Corvus's spear for this seconds after.
  • And it was no random place on Earth either, but to Doctor Strange — the omniscient Asgardian made sure all of Earth's defenders are ready for the incoming Thanos.
• Loki offers Thanos to be his guide on Earth and swears his "undying fidelity" to him. This turns out to be a ruse so he can attempt to kill the Mad Titan. While his effort fails and results in his death, Loki's love for his brother and people gives him enough courage to stand up to the being he's feared for so long.
  Loki: You will never be a god!
  • This line is especially awesome since Loki literally called himself the God of Mischief seconds ago, so in addition to telling Thanos that he will never win, he's also talking down to him.

Attack on Greenwich Village

• Before the attack, Bruce gets one when Tony hesitates calling Steve because of what happened during Civil War and he tells him to forget about his personal problems. Tony relents and would have done it had they not been interrupted by Ebony Maw's arrival.
  Bruce: Tony, listen to me. Thor's gone. Thanos is coming. It doesn't matter who you're talking to or not.
• Peter Parker jumping out of the bus to save New York without any kind of hesitation whatsoever, risking the possibility of being discovered by his classmates.
  • Let's just put this simple action into perspective. He sees a flying alien ship, is likely very aware that he is way out of his league and knows that the remaining Avengers are probably on the case but he still without any hesitation suits up and heads in that very direction to help because he knows he can.
• Ebony Maw is the kind of antagonist who can crush your spirit with a downer patronizing spiel about how meaningless it is to fight. And it's Doctor Strange and Tony Stark who take the edge off Ebony's creepiness in just two sentences. (Crosses into Funny).
  Tony: [cutting off Maw's speech] I'm sorry; Earth is closed today! You need to pack it up and get outta here.
  Ebony Maw: Stonekeeper. Does this chattering animal speak for you?
  Doctor Strange: Certainly not. I speak for myself. [he and Wong take battle stances] You're trespassing in this city and on this planet.
  Tony: [to Maw, nonchalantly] It means "Get lost, Squidward."
• Tony has built many Iron Man suits in the past, but on that day his decade-long journey has reached what might be its end point: the Mark L armor — the culmination of all his determination and research. This armor is more powerful than its predecessors, having near limitless power to allow it to perform many of Iron Man's impressive feats and the ability to shapeshift into a variety of weapons and gadgets. The Transformation Sequence is no slouch followed by the Let's Get Dangerous! of Tony removing his sun glasses. His first use of the armor is to smack Cull Obsidian like a ragdoll.
  • Even though he eventually loses, Tony's Mark L armor manages to keep going, despite getting battered up by Cull Obsidian and getting thrown into the air by Ebony Maw. Compared to previous armors that get scratched during their first confrontation, the Mark L was able to remain undamaged as if nothing happened.
• Strange and Wong have an impressive moment of teamwork when Ebony Maw uses his power to levitate a number of bricks into the air, turn them into spikes and fire them at the two wizards. Strange simply opens a portal to warp them away and almost at the same time, Wong opens another portal to warp them back, firing them back at Ebony Maw. This results in Ebony Maw receiving a wound to his face, which he isn't pleased about.
• Spider-Man gets to show off how absurdly powerful he is when he enters the fight. While other characters get consistently knocked around by Cull Obsidian's pincer weapon, Spidey stops it cold with little visible effort. Not much later, Peter swings a half of a taxi cab that Cull throws at him back on top of the alien, all while swinging himself with the other hand. Finally, Peter manages to pull Doctor Strange against a tractor beam, despite his only anchor being a street lamp.
• Maw traps Strange into a wall of bricks and taunts him, reaching for the Eye of Agamotto. However, his arrogance is short-lived as he burns his palm thanks to a protective rune.
  Doctor Strange: It's a simple spell, but quite unbreakable.
  Ebony Maw: Then I'll take it off your corpse. [propels Strange into a car in anger]
  • Maw then has Strange tied up by some cables, trapped, Strange tries to talk Maw out of killing him, but Maw isn't so merciful.
    Doctor Strange: [choking] You'll find removing a dead man's spell quite troublesome.
    Ebony Maw: You'll only wish you were dead.
• The Cloak of Levitation briefly manages to keep Strange out of Ebony Maw's clutches by slipping him out of his bindings and flying him around the streets of New York. It should be noted that Strange himself was unconscious at this point, continuing to cement the Cloak's status as the Badass Cape to end all Badass Capes.
• Wong managing to get the better of Cull Obsidian, saving Stark and Banner by sending the behemoth to the Arctic via his Sling Ring. He even lops off one of the monster's arms with a Portal Cut as an unexpected bonus.
• The Black Order are no slouches themselves, and prove to be powerful servants of Thanos, able to stand up to Earth's mightiest heroes.
  • To elaborate, when Stark reveals his new armor, Ebony Maw simply propels him far away, at a very high speed. Nanomachines don't mean much when you can simply throw your opponent around like a ragdoll. Likewise, Ebony Maw breaks a fire hydrant to have the water stream knock Wong down before he can do anything too meaningful and Dr. Strange cannot perform any better since Maw summons some cables to tie up his hands and choke him before any real spell can be thrown around. When Maw throws a car at them and Iron Man bats it back, he simply raises a hand and the car is instantly sliced in two. Finally, Maw makes Spider-Man into a minor annoyance at best, casually using a billboard to knock him down a bit, and pulling away the street lamp he's anchoring to so Strange can be beamed up to the Q-ship.
  • As short as their battle was, Cull Obsidian was gaining the upper hand against Iron Man. Cull got back up from one of the most powerful repulsor beams Iron Man has done, and nothing Stark does afterward had a lasting impact, especially with Cull skillfully making use of his shield. Cull manages to trap Stark in his pincer and would have impaled him there and then if not for Wong's portal.

Meeting the Guardians of the Galaxy

• The Guardians receive the distress call from the Asgardian ship, and while they reach there a little too late, they get Thor, who survived the explosion of the ship.
• Thor working out exactly where Thanos is heading next, with sound logic as well — Thanos took the Power Stone from Xandar after ravaging it, took the Space Stone from the Asgardians, and since nobody knows where the Soul Stone is and the Time and Mind Stones being on Earth under Doctor Strange's and the Avengers' protection respectively, he's going for the next soft target — the Aether (a.k.a. Reality Stone) from Knowhere. It reminds you that the Prince...*ahem* King of Asgard is no fool.
• Then Thor objects to Gamora on going to Knowhere and says that they have to go to Nidavellir, for a Thanos-killing weapon, despite saying Thanos is already too powerful to stop. This is awesome in two ways. Firstly, despite suffering their power first hand, Thor believes there's a weapon which can stop Thanos with one more Infinity Stone^note By the time he arrives with Rocket and Groot at the Battle of Wakanda, wielding the newly forged Stormbreaker, he's right. And secondly, it shows the kind of Determinator Thor is. You can beat him with enough power. But break his spirit? The alleged most powerful being in the universe is just not enough.
  • Also Nidavellir is famous enough for its weapons that Rocket starts gushing over it. And they are Asgard's personal smiths.

Attack on Vision

• Mixed with Nightmare Fuel: Corvus announces his presence by impaling Vision with his spear via Jump Scare, and then lifting him up and throwing him away. Before Wanda could recover from the shock, she is sent flying across the street and through a shop window by an energy blast from Proxima's spear. They establish right away that they are playing for keeps.
• Considering they were ambushed and Vision was greatly impaired, Scarlet Witch gives a stellar battle performance by singlehandedly keeping both Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight at bay and trying to retreat while having to lift both herself and Vision. It's all the more impressive because Wanda is a Squishy Wizard who's constantly pressured at close range by two close-combat specialists. She actually goes CQC with Proxima wielding her spear by shielding just her hands
  • There's also her flying off through the air with Vision, knocking him through a statue and dragging him at high speeds on the ground. Wanda knows that her boyfriend is Nigh-Invulnerable and thus no need to worry about him getting damaged by such (relatively) trivial things.
• Corvus makes the mistake of angering Vision by threatening Wanda, prompting a burst of violence from the generally peaceful robot who slams Glaive into a wall and begins a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
• Props to Corvus for smartly turning Vision's Stone Beam against himself by redirecting it with his weapon, practically taking Vision out of the battle. And it's made even cooler when some of the beams cause an explosion near Wanda and Proxima, while the two are battling each other.
• Wanda also completely averts the Squishy Wizard trope on this fight — she gets sent flying by Proxima twice and takes a hard fall through a glass roof, but this doesn't slow her down one bit.
• Steve Rogers, Falcon and Black Widow come to Scarlet Witch and Vision's aid. They outright curbstomp Proxima and Corvus thanks to a well-oiled battle plan, even gravely injuring the latter.
  • Their entrance is awesome: Vision is down, Wanda is facing off against Proxima and Corvus, her back to a railroad track so she can retreat no further. A train goes by as she squares off, summoning her Chaos energy. As the train finishes speeding past, Proxima spots a shape in the shadows, recognizes it as a threat, and throws her spear at it. Captain Freaking America catches it effortlessly, which elicits an Oh, Crap! from Proxima at such a thing being possible, and he dramatically strides into the light as the Avengers theme plays.
  • Then Falcon suddenly appears to dropkick Proxima, who's sent flying and leaving Glaive alone. While Sam distracts Glaive with some missiles, Cap throws the spear...not at Glaive, but at Black Widow, who catches it and begins smacking around an alien twice her height—she slides behind Corvus and strikes the back of his knee to get him off-balance, rolls under his strike and impales him, before flooring him with a high kick followed by a spin kick. Proxima retrieves her spear and tries to come to Glaive's rescue and attack Widow, but her strike is caught by Cap, using Corvus's dropped spear. This ensues a short struggle where Cap and Widow pressure Proxima, leading to Sam dropkicking her again on the ground.
• As the two aliens are down, Widow tries to sound threatening, but the Children of Thanos escape to safety by being beamed up, with Corvus summoning back his spear as well.
  Natasha: We don't want to kill you, but we will.
  Proxima: You'll never get the chance again. (Gets beamed up to the Q-ship with Corvus)

Second act

• On Knowhere, Thanos makes an elaborate illusion of the Reality Stone to orchestrate what looked like a prime opportunity to assassinate him in order to kidnap Gamora. He even utilizes the moment to confirm that she still cares about him, despite the assassination attempt.
  • And Gamora actually manages to convince Quill to kill her, despite their relationship and everything else you can imagine. While Thanos obviously stops him, Quill earns his respect.
• Steve has zero fear or hesitation in telling Ross that the Sokovia Accords grant Ross no more power over the Avengers than the paper they were written on.
  Ross: The world's on fire, and you think all is forgiven?
  Steve: I'm not asking for forgiveness, and I'm way past asking for permission. We're here to fight. If you want to get in our way, then we'll fight you, too.
• Rhodes's Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! and telling off Ross for his short sightedness. Ross orders Rhodes to arrest them. His answer: hang up on him. Rhodey knows he's just earned himself a court martial and couldn't care less, instead being ecstatic seeing his old teammates again.
  • Before the others arrive, Rhodes also gives a short but succint dressing down to Ross over his adherence to the Sokovia Accords in the face of an alien invasion, as well as admitting the Accords have done more harm than good and berates Ross for refusing to admit that.
    Ross: Still no word on Vision?
    Rhodes: Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh.
    Ross: On a stolen Quinjet with four of the world's most wanted criminals.
    Rhodes: You know they're only criminals because you chose them to call them that, right, sir!?
    Ross: God, Rhodes, your talent for horse-shit rivals my own.
    Rhodes: If it weren't for those Accords, Vision would have been right here.
    Ross: I remember your signature on those papers, Colonel.
    Rhodes: That's right. And I'm pretty sure I paid for that.
    Ross: You having second thoughts?
    Rhodes: (glaring at Ross) Not anymore.
• Peter's argument to Tony that convinces Tony to let him stay and help fight Thanos.
  Peter: You can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man if there's no neighborhood.
  • This actually leaves Tony speechless for a few seconds; he can't find a good retort because he knows Peter is right. At this point viewers can see by the expression on his face that two thoughts are currently wrestling in his mind: "God damnit kid you shouldn't have come anyway" and "I really underestimated him, he's ready for big league". The latter prevails and he asks for Peter's input on how to neutralize Ebony Maw.
• Following the above, Tony "knighting" Peter and declaring him an Avenger.
• Spider-Man and Iron Man disposing of the seemingly untouchable telekinetic Ebony Maw by venting him out of his ship a la the Xenomorph from Aliens.
  • Let us reiterate: Spider-Man, the rookie teen hero, comes up with a plan that renders Ebony Maw — who earlier that day wiped the floor with Iron Man, the Sorcerer Supreme, and Spider-Man by himself — utterly inconsequencial in under ten seconds.
    Ebony Maw: Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine.
    Tony: Yeah, but the kid's seen more movies.
    (Boom. Cue a very satisfactory death for the slimy villain)
• Although she isn't the best of Thanos' daughters, Thanos acknowledges her skill as he mentions that she almost killed him. Yes, Nebula almost managed to assassinate Thanos alone.
  • Nebula wordlessly begs Gamora not to tell Thanos where the Soul Stone is, even though she knows full well that Thanos will torture her again. Nebula is usually fairly stoic, and we've just heard her screaming in agony from what Thanos was doing to her. But she's willing to undergo that rather than let him complete the Infinity Gauntlet. Gamora might be the deadliest woman in the galaxy, but Nebula might just be the bravest.
  • Then Nebula effortlessly escapes her cell, baiting a guard near her face by faking a faulty eye piece, then suddenly Neck Snap him, informing the Guardians that Thanos is headed to Titan.
• The Guardians of the Galaxy vs. the Earth heroes on Titan, who briefly clash due to a misunderstanding. Star-Lord shows that a seasoned Guile Hero with some gadgets can stand up to the Avengers. He manages to plant a magnet-bomb into Iron Man when the latter tries to wrestle with him, leaving him stuck on some debris, then when Spider-Man foolishly leaps toward him, uses some bolas to tie him up and then use him as hostage.
• The Tesseract was so disgusted by the Red Skull, that it banished him to the hiding place of the Soul Stone, knowing that a creature as hateful and selfish as him would never be able to attain it in spite of knowing how.
• Vision asking everyone present in Wakanda to destroy the Mind Stone so that Thanos would not get his hands on it, regardless of the fact it would kill him. Cap's response
  We don't trade lives.
• Upon reaching Nidavellir, Rocket shows his keen eye by spotting a model of the Infinity Gauntlet, showing that Thanos had been there.
• After a rough get-together, and both Thor and Eitri reveal to each other their sorrows, Thor revives Eitri's hope with an epic combination of Patrick Stewart Speech and Whoopi Epiphany Speech, showing that he's truly become The Leader he was supposed to be:
  "Eitri, this isn't about your hands. Every weapon you've ever designed, every axe, hammer, sword... it's all inside your head. Now, I know it feels like all hope is lost. Trust me, I know. But together, you and I, we can kill Thanos."
• Apparently, Thor was supposed to receive the Stormbreaker following his coronation, i.e. the Asgardians had already ordered a Thanos-killing weapon, which can also theoretically summon the Bifrost, way before he arrived or even knowing about him. Talk about Crazy-Prepared.
• The forging of the Stormbreaker is a long string of awesome moments:
  • First, Thor has to reignite the dying neutron star that is the power source of Nidavellir. He does this by attaching a cable to the space-pod that he, Rocket and Groot used to get there, landing on one of the rings that make up the forge-station, and then using that cable to hurl the space-pod like an Olympic throwing hammer (or like Mjolnir by its leather strap), clinging on to the end of the cable and shouting for Rocket to hit the engines. He then digs his feet into another ring, using the combination of his strength and the space pod's momentum to pull the rings along until they kick-start back to life, with Thor dragged with enough force to shred through the metal. When Thor points out in joy to the reignited core, at least some of the audience join Rocket in his awe.
  • Then, when the focusing lenses break down, Thor jumps into them and forces them open manually, which means he then has to endure the same concentrated blast of solar energies being used to smelt the metal for Stormbreaker, an act that Eitri warns could kill him:
    "You understand, boy? You're about to take the full force of a star. It'll kill you."
  • Finally, whilst Eitri is scrambling to find the handle for the two facets of Stormbreaker's head, Teen Groot uses his shapeshifting ability to extend his hands and fuse the red-hot halves together, wrapping tendrils around each other into a stout handle and then breaking it off of himself, screaming in pain all the while.
    • For a great deal of the movie, we've seen nothing but Teenage-Groot either playing his game or otherwise being snide. Seeing him break out of his stupor and actually do anything else is praiseworthy of how he's helping like his old man. Not to mention later when he joins in the battle at Wakanda.
• As Groot finishes completing the Stormbreaker, cue Finger-Twitching Revival from Thor — the Stormbreaker hovers off the ground, crackling with lightning, with Thor's fingers following suit.

Battle of Wakanda

• Let it be known here and now that no other military force in the world could've faced the Outriders like they did-up close and with very little air support-and survive. Had they not been outnumbered they might have won the day.
• A ship looks ready to fall on Wakanda's capital, potentially inflicting tremendous damage to the city... And then Wakanda's forcefield actually stops the ship dead on its tracks, making it explode harmlessly against the energy dome, thus demonstrating that Wakanda's technology is nothing to scoff at.
  Bucky: God, I love this place.
  • And considering the shockwave the similar ships generated when they landed nearby, let's just say the Border Tribe are pretty good at their job.
• The scene where the Wakandan forces gather for battle, including an epic shot of Bruce in the Hulkbuster armor while Sam and Rhodes fly past, like two fighter jets in formation.
• When T'Challa, Steve, and Natasha walk up to Proxima and Cull Obsidian, the former telling by them that Thanos will have Vision's Mind Stone. T'Challa's retort?
  T'Challa: You are in Wakanda now. Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood.
  • Proxima's reply is equally badass.
    Proxima: We have blood to spare.
  • When T'Challa and the Avengers arrive on the battlefield, M'Baku is leading the Jabari in their chant, pumping his troops up for war.
• The return of War Machine with Rhodes making the armor live up to its name by decimating tremendous swaths of Outriders. Finally, we see his immense firepower brought to bear on something more serious than a boarding gangway. Iron Man may be a more powerful one-on-one combatant, but Rhodes can obliterate a small army.
  • The War Machine armor has been upgraded yet again. Folding micro-missile launchers deploy from the back over the shoulders, allowing Rhodey to unleash a full-on Macross Missile Massacre, and the suit can also deploy several high-explosive bombs that obliterate large swaths of Thanos's army (and, from the look of them, are probably bunker-busters to boot). If it's at all possible to hit "enuff dakka," this iteration of the War Machine has done it.
• When the Outrider army is being unleashed, T'Challa stands in front of his army and begins a Battle Chant of "Yibambe!", a real word in Xhosa, one of the eleven official languages of South Africa, meaning "hold fast". We also get an excellent shot going back to M'Baku and Okoye, his left-and-right-hand-men in this fight, roaring "Yibambe!" back at him.
• The Border Tribe, their remnants having since reintegrated into the main Wakandan army, all form protective shields around each portion of the army. Then any combatant present with firepower begins shooting the few Outriders that managed to penetrate the shield (including Bucky with his machine gun and Bruce with the repulsors of the Hulkbuster armor).
• Even when it's clear that the heroes are vastly outnumbered by the Outriders, they're all determined to go down fighting.
  M'Baku: This will be the end of Wakanda.
  Okoye: Then it will be the noblest ending in history.
• With the threat of the Outriders circling around them and, as Bruce points out, potentially getting in from behind them — which is itself a MOA for a scientist to make an accurate battlefield analysis — T'Challa orders that the barrier be opened so that they can keep the aliens in front of them and prevent them from getting to Vision. He then steps forward in front of his troops, crosses his arms, and lets out a Battle Cry of "Wakanda Forever!"
  • This leads to an epic shot that's even better than the teaser trailer's Signature Shot: T'Challa leading the charge, flanked by Steve, Natasha, Bucky, Okoye, and M'Baku, with Bruce in the Hulkbuster behind them, and Sam and Rhodes zooming ahead above them.
  • Oh, and the above mentioned Battle Cry? An improvisation by Chadwick Boseman.
• After T'Challa makes the decision to open the forcefield, the battle turns into a huge brawl with the two armies charging straight for each other. And who's leading the charge? T'Challa and Steve Rogers themselves. As everyone else starts running, they break into all-out Super-Soldier level sprints that put them first in line to take on the enemy forces, culminating in a gigantic 30-foot leap straight into the front of the Outrider army. It perfectly shows off not just their powers, but their personality as well: they will always be first into battle, because every enemy they take down is one that won't hurt someone more vulnerable.
  • T'Challa and Rogers aren't on point for the whole charge; they work their way up to that. Before they overtake everyone else, M'Baku has a commanding lead.
• Some small enjoyable moments before the Wakandan army is submerged:
  • The Hulkbuster smacking down several Outriders, even quashing some under its foot.
  • When Bucky is pinned down by one of them, he immediately goes for his combat knife to stab it.
  • Black Panther fully abusing his suit's Attack Reflector properties.
  • The Back-to-Back Badasses moment with Cap and Black Panther, both of them taking down an Outrider trying to ambush the other from behind, with T'Challa neatly rolling under Cap's strike to do so.
  • War Machine concentrating all his firepower into the chokepoint to whittle down the horde as much as possible before sadly being smacked down by Cull Obsidian.
  • Just before War Machine is smacked down by Cull Obsidian, we get a terrific aerial shot of him unleashing his armory on the chokepoint. On the ground below, one can see T'Challa, Steve, and Bruce all battling the horde, having all positioned themselves at the entrance to the battle deliberately to greet the Outriders.
• Thor's proper entry into battle. It's late, but the God of Thunder and Allfather of the Asgardians demonstrates his phenomenal powers.
  • While the Avengers are all struggling and getting overwhelmed by the Outriders (including the Hulkbuster), the Bifrost beam slams down right in front and on the Outriders. A lightning-clad Stormbreaker spins out and smacks down every single Outrider pinning down the Avengers and their allies, and returns to its wielder's hand, just in time for Thor to dramatically step out, set to the main theme of the Avengers, with Rocket riding on his shoulder before jumping down and Groot by his side. They then charge at the enemy, with Thor flying forward and taking down a substantial portion of the army in one huge charged-up hit. (In many theaters, the audiences were reported to have applauded at seeing Thor return in all his former glory, weapon, eye, and all.) His new full outfit, now in red/black instead of his former red/silver, looks absolutely magnificent. This is essentially meant to be the counterpart to "I'm always angry" from The Avengers. Banner's remark to the Outriders sums up the awesomeness:
    Banner: Ah ha! You guys are so screwed now!
  • Then there's Thor's next action: demand that Thanos come and face him. Many previous entries in the MCU had clearly established that the interstellar community was utterly terrified of the Mad Titan, and considered going against him tantamount to Suicide by Cop. Here, an enraged Thor merely gives it as a Badass Boast:
    Thor: BRING ME THANOS!!!
  • What really clinches it is the sheer Oh, Crap! face on Proxima Midnight and that Cull Obsidian is pissed!
  • Rocket and Groot also charge headfirst into the Outrider army alongside Thor, totally devoted to helping save the universe alongside their new friend, roaring battle cries. And they more than pull their weight during the battle, with Groot skewering foes with whipping vines and Rocket mowing down creatures by the score with his blasters.
• Numerous Wakandans are seen trying to take on the far larger Cull Obsidian, who is effortlessly and violently plowing through them with his weapon. When too many Wakandans begin falling to Thanos's brute, guess who shows up to stop him? King T'Challa, having saved up enough kinetic energy to personally knock Obsidian on his ass, having none of that.
• Despite being likely the most diminutive combatant on either side of the battle, Rocket effortlessly keeps up thanks to his superior firepower. When we first cut to him, he's blasting Outriders left-and-right, yelling "Come and get some, space dogs!"
• What can top the sight of Bucky and Rocket firing guns back-to-back? Bucky picking up Rocket and spinning around with Rocket firing his gun while Bucky fires his too.
• Groot effortlessly impales and kills three Outriders. These may be the most dangerous army Earth's defenders may have faced, but they are just cannon fodder up against Groot.
• When the aliens deploy their giant war machines, Wanda is forced to go help, and saves Widow and Okoye from being crushed by lifting one of these machines, then throwing its parts into an incoming horde of Outriders.
  Okoye: Why was she up there all this time?
  • And then the Black Order turns it around to their MOA, because this was exactly their plan so as to get Wanda away from Vision. And to top it off, Proxima's earlier implication that Corvus had died after the previous battle was to get their guard down by not expecting him, meaning this was the plan all along.
• Shuri and her guards fighting Corvus Glaive to protect Vision from him, long enough for Vision to get back to his feet and tackle Corvus out a window.
  • As per tradition, a Dora Milage—this time Ayo—lasts the longest against him.
  • Back in the field, a few Wakandan soldiers in the background are seen fighting off two Outriders with their bare hands and more than holding their own. Wow!
  • Falcon spots Vision and Corvus tumbling out of the building, but he is intercepted by an Outrider. So Bruce goes to help.
• Although he only helped create it, Banner does a superb job on his first outing in the Hulkbuster, after few hiccups. He even uses a combination of the tech and his own wit to kill Cull Obsidian.
  • When Cull and Corvus double team Vision, Bruce is the first on spot, declaring You Shall Not Pass!. When Cull traps the armor's hands in his weapon, Bruce fires up the repulsors and takes him far away from Vision. He then tries to invoke the Hulk again only for Cull in that time to trap one of the armor's hands on the weapon again, armbar it before flipping over the Hulkbuster to use that momentum to tear the arm off. When Hulk refuses, Banner uses the one arm left to shoot himself into the air and down punch Cull. When Cull does a Punch Catch to the ground and knocks him to the ground before unsheathing his forearm blade, Banner picks up the arm Cull tore off earlier, traps the blade in it when Cull tries to stab him, and then has it (and Cull) shoot up into Wakanda's forcefield, killing the Black Order agent by dragging him along the barrier till he is blown to bits.
    Banner: [getting another Big "NO!" from Hulk] Oh, screw you, you big green asshole! I'll do it myself!
    Banner: [to Cull Obsidian before killing him] See ya!
  • Look at it this way, Banner managed to defeat Thanos's Brute without needing The Big Guy.
  • The fact that, by proclaiming "I'll do it myself", Banner is inadvertently quoting Thanos.
• Black Widow and Okoye double team Proxima Midnight. Although they don't quite manage to beat her (though Natasha managed to temporarily disarm her), they are able to distract her long enough for Wanda to recover and telekinetically chuck the Black Order agent into a rolling death wheel thing. Needless to say, Proxima ends up looking less like a badass alien warrior and more like pickled toe jam.
  Proxima: [talking about Wanda's lover, Vision, after suckerpunching her] He will die alone, as will you.
  Black Widow: She's not alone.
  [cue Ass-Kicking Pose from Natasha and Okoye]
• Corvus has Vision down and is taunting him, cue Cap coming out of nowhere and rugby tackling him.
  • Cap knocks down Corvus for a while and disarms him twice, all the while telling Vision to run. Even only half concentrated on the struggle, Cap slowly gains the upper hand. Keep in mind, this is the strongest foe Rogers ever fought, one who took Vision one-on-one, and Cap still keeps him at bay. Then Corvus floors him and starts to choke Steve effortlessly with one hand, with Cap unable to budge him one bit. So Vision runs him through with his own spear, exactly like he did to Vision when they first met. As Vision tosses aside the corpse, Captain asks him why he didn't run like he asked him to, Vision has only this to say:
    Vision: We don't trade lives, Captain.
• Although it's hard to call it a victory in light of what happened in the ending, it's implied that the rest of the Wakandan Army have actually won against Thanos's Outrider Army. Even if there are many casualties, among them T'Challa himself, Wakanda as a whole still stands. It shows us the reason why no one ever managed to invade Wakanda.
  • When we first cut back to the battle following the end of the fight on Titan, M'Baku is just finishing smashing an Outrider's head in with his club. He lets out a roar, clearly enjoying the fighting, and begins chanting the Jabari battle cry, with his countrymen responding with gusto. The shot of the Jabari chanting amongst their fallen foes makes it clear that M'Baku is leading this chant because they're on the verge of victory.
• Giving Thor credit where it's due, it's implied that the reason he arrives so late to help the heroes fighting Thanos is because he was too busy helping the Wakandans repelling the Outriders offscreen, and we saw earlier that Thor's arrival really does change the tide of battle into the Wakandans' favor, with him singlehandedly destroying several enormous dropships by himself by simply flying through them and their forcefields (which the Wakandan aircrafts are shown to be unable to break through) and wiping the floor with the Outriders. By the time Thanos arrives, the Outriders are heading back to their ships (which Thor easily destroys). Note that they're not retreating: they're running in abject terror. Thanos is a Bad Boss who would kill his servants for failure, but with the beating that Thor is giving them, it's clear death at the hands of the Mad Titan is preferable to death by the hammer of the God of Thunder.

Battle on Titan

• Strange's Badass Boast before the fight starts. When Thanos (who's willing to sacrifice everything and has already sacrificed his beloved daughter) boasts of the strength of his will, Strange replies, "I think you'll find our will equal to yours." And he says this while activating both of his mandalas.
  • He gets one at the beginning of this exchange, as well, replying to Thanos's statement that though Maw was killed, he still fulfilled his mission of bringing him the Time Stone.
    Strange: You may regret that. He brought you face-to-face with The Master of the Mystic Arts.
• Iron Man does one hell of a Dynamic Entry by slamming a building-sized debris into Thanos from above. Cue Thanos disintegrating said debris, revealing he was unscathed, and transforming the pieces into a swarm of bat-like creatures to pursue Iron Man.
• How do puny heroes defy the Mad Titan wielding four Infinity Stones? One answer: Together.
  • Spider-Man throws some web into Thanos's eyes, distracting him enough for Drax to jump out and slice Thanos's thighs. Cue a battle between Thanos, Drax and Strange, which Thanos handles remarkably despite having his eyes blocked. The Titan manages to kick Drax through a rock and perform a Barehanded Blade Block on Strange, who would be sent flying by a kick if he didn't create a shield.
  • Star-Lord jumps into battle to save Strange, shooting at Thanos with his blasters, then using magic platforms made by Strange to avoid Thanos's energy blasts and jump above him to stick a grenade on Thanos's back. Quill manages to sneak in a Flipping the Bird moment before jumping to safety through a portal before the grenade explodes, staggering Thanos.
  • Figuring out that Thanos needs to close his fist in order to use the Infinity Gauntlet, Strange uses this distraction and instructs the Cloak of Levitation to prevent him from doing so.
  • The sequence where Spider-Man and Strange cooperate, as Peter darts in and out of sling-ring portals on either side of Thanos, striking or webbing him on each pass while whooping with excitement about getting to use magic to maneuver.
    • Thanos cuts short Peter's fun, catching him by predicting where the webslinger will strike, then chokeslamming him into the ground and throwing Peter at Strange, knocking both down.
      Thanos: Insect!
  • Iron Man unloads his missiles on Thanos, only for him to absorb the explosions into his Gauntlet and then fire it back at Iron Man as a concentrated beam of fire and heat, sending him flying across the battlefield.
  • Nebula makes her grand entrance into the battle by ramming her ship into Thanos. Then she manages to trade blows with him, ever so slightly, notably manipulating her sword to fly around Thanos like a boomerang to catch it and land a solid hit on his cheek.
  • Then comes the big teamwork moment: Strange uses the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to keep Thanos's palm open, then Drax slides in to make Thanos kneel and holds down his leg, followed by Quill using his gravity bomb to keep Thanos's right hand tied, then comes Spider-Man who shoots a web on Thanos's back and pulls as hard as he can to keep Thanos off-balance. Finally, Iron Man steps in to hold Thanos's gauntlet, freeing Strange to open a portal and bring the trump card before shifting the Crimson bands to restrain Thanos's non-gauntlet hand.
  • The trump card of the Guardians of the Galaxy against Thanos during the battle on Titan? Mantis, whose abilities to force anyone to sleep manage to stop Thanos in his tracks, and would have allowed them to remove the greatest source of Thanos's power (at least temporarily) if Quill hadn't flown off the handle.
    • Remember, Mantis was able to subdue Ego, an ancient living planet of immense power. Against Thanos, the best she can do is get him half-asleep. Sure, she may have had who knows how many centuries of experience with Ego, making her more effective with him, but still, that this man is even in the same league as a Celestial is impressive. Eternals heavily implies at the end that Thanos was a disfigured Eternal.
    • And props to Quill, too! Even though he flew off the handle later, he was the one who came up with the plan to incapacitate Thanos. And it worked!
    • Props to Thanos for managing to still overpower the heroes while he's tied from all limbs, and having the sheer force of will to resist Mantis' sleeping ability and stay even vaguely aware.
• Forced to remember that he's killed Gamora, Thanos finally stops going soft and shatters a nearby moon with the Power Stone and hurls the debris at the heroes in a glorious shower of building-sized meteors. That's right, Thanos casts Meteor.
  • And just before that he throws Mantis across the battlefield and uses a single power stone blast to knock out three of the Guardians, effectively taking ALL FOUR of them out for the rest of the fight.
• Spider-Man rescues the Guardians of the Galaxy while web-swinging through a low gravity environment after Thanos throws chunks of a moon on the surface of Titan.
• Doctor Strange's duel with Thanos, whereupon he unleashes a barrage of dizzying, explosive, and spectacular spells (this includes turning a miniature black hole into a kaleidoscope of butterflies and using his comic-accurate attacks, the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak and the Images of Ikonn, to disable and distract) against the Mad Titan, which is made even more impressive as he refuses to use his Time Stone during it.
  • It's also noted that Strange is the only fighter to have dueled Thanos as an individual while forcing him to use all of the stones in his possession in the span of less than a minute (Power was used to to break the Mirror Dimension and Strange's fire spell, Space was used to throw the black hole, Soul and Power were used in conjunction to break the Images of Ikonn — the one and only time the Soul Stone is ever used — and then the Space and Reality Stones used in conjunction was used to capture him). Though his fight still ended in a quick loss, the fact that he was able to force Thanos's hand on multiple instances showed that he was likely the greatest threat to Thanos on the Titan team. A telling fact is that in fighting most other foes one-on-one, Thanos relied on fisticuffs or non-lethally incapacitating enemies with the Stones. Immediately after dodging Strange's fire spell, Thanos throws a kind of blast that would've incinerated the good wizard and then throws a black hole at him. Thanos recognized Strange's strength and wasn't fooling around. Also that fire spell was probably really powerful, considering Thanos dodged it instead of tanking or blocking with the Gauntlet, and retaliated with a lethal blast.
  • At the start of the film, Doctor Strange throws down with Ebony Maw in their Wizard Duel, only to lose to him. When the time comes to confront Thanos, Strange fares far better and far longer than he did earlier. It needs to be remembered, that before we get to see him fight Thanos, Strange had been meditating and exploring future timelines. Strange says he explored 14,000,605 paths, he fought Thanos that many times.
  • In essence, Strange is in complete control of the entire Battle in Titan, using his knowledge from the Eye of Aggamotto and Mastery of the Mystic Arts to assist the team in subduing Thanos, and is always one step ahead of the Mad Titan during their brief exchange, and even when Thanos gets his hands on the wizard and takes the Eye from him, Strange has already stored the Time Stone in it in another dimension (from our perspective, it's revealed that he hid it as a star in the sky). By the time Strange relinquishes the Time Stone for Stark's life, Thanos is actually skeptical about this genuine act of goodwill compared to the beginning where he is unfazed by Loki's assassination attempt. And if what Strange tells Tony is true, then throwing the fight against the Mad Titan is just another step in Strange's plan to defeat him, meaning that Strange orchestrated the entire Titan fight from beginning to end with no one none the wiser.
    • This becomes even more awesome in the context of later films. The entire fight and Strange’s surrender was a tactic to ensure the timing of The Snap coincided with Scott Lang being in the quantum realm. All so he could eventually escape and become instrumental to the plot of Endgame.
• However brief it was, Tony Stark holding his own against Thanos, who was actively using the Infinity Gauntlet, with nothing more than his technology, his wit, and his power of will, is a straight minute of pure awesome. He did better than Thor or the Hulk, for that matter! Iron Man is pushed to the very apex of his cunning and technological prowess in his ferocious fistfight with Thanos himself, who shrugged off and parried every blow and energy beam like so many raindrops, eventually smashing Stark's armor beyond its ability to regenerate. Yet instead of surrendering, Tony fights on by forming what's left of the suit's nanites into a sword, which the Mad Titan rips off and impales him with. Cradling the mortally-wounded Stark, Thanos warmly tells him that the bravery of his last stand has earned his respect, and sincerely wishes that the people of Earth will remember him for the hero that he is. Tony may not have given Thanos a fight he himself could win, but he sure gave him a fight to remember.
  • The one-on-one battle is amazing. Tony's moves are fluid and continuous. There was no hesitation nor coming up empty with what to do next — that's when you can tell he's a goddamn experienced veteran who's been at this shit for years. Not even a Power Stone blast stops him!
    • Note that, although Thanos used the Gauntlet less than against Strange, this isn't because he was holding back. It's because Tony kept stopping him from closing his fist long enough to use the Gauntlet to its full extent. Thanos, being well-aware of this, countered it by relying on brute force instead because he didn't have a choice. And all this came from the squishy human in a self-made suit.
  • Thanos exclaims "Come on!", anticipating Tony unleashing everything he's got, and Stark only manages to inflict a small cut on his cheek. At this, Thanos simply utters, "All that for a drop of blood?" Cue the aforementioned thrashing.
  • The fact that Tony was able to make the Mad Titan bleed is an achievement in itself. It shows just why he earned Thanos's sincere respect; it might even be a deliberate call back on Tony's part to Ivan Vanko's line about making God bleed to remind Thanos that despite how powerful he is, he's not invincible.
  • Even before they start the fight one-on-one, as Thanos tosses away and knocks out Strange with the effort of throwing a used tissue paper, Tony (who just recovered from having a chunk of a moon land on top of him, mind you) has this to say to Thanos:
    Tony: [clearly pissed off] You throw another moon at me and I’m gonna lose it!
    Thanos: [in recognition] Stark.
    Tony: You know me?
    Thanos: I do. You're not the only one cursed with knowledge.
    Tony: My only curse is you.
    [Tony fires multiple rockets at Thanos, and the fight is on]
    • What makes this even better is that beneath all that bravado, every time a shot inside the helmet is shown it's obvious Tony is scared shitless. Does he let that stop him? Hell no!
• Tony remaining Defiant to the End garners some Baddie Flattery from Thanos:
  Thanos: You have my respect, Stark. When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive. I hope they remember you.
  • No really, Thanos is so impressed by Stark that when he raises the Infinity Gauntlet to deliver the finishing blow, ALL FOUR STONES ARE GLOWING!!! Thats right, the Mad Titan considers Tony to be a worthy adversary and threat to the point where he doesn't take risks in facing him in the future, or considers it an honor for Iron Man to fall to the full power of the gauntlet. Either way, if it wasn't for Strange, Tony would have been reduced to nothing but cosmic dust.

Final Clash

• Thanos becoming pretty much The Juggernaut as he tears through those in his way to Vision till he reaches Wanda.
  • The Hulkbuster charges at him, only for him to use the Space Stone to make it intangible and phase it into a rock formation.
  • He then takes out Steve with a Power Stone attack.
  • Then he catches Black Panther leaping at him by the neck and takes him out by slamming him to the ground, with the kinetic energy wave taking out an incoming Falcon.
  • Using the Space Stone, creates a shield to block War Machine's bullets, telekinetically crushes the armour before tossing it aside.
  • Takes out Bucky with another Power Stone blast.
  • Stops Okoye's spear throw with the Space Stone before taking her out with a Power Stone blast before trapping Natasha within criss-crossed rocks.
  • Easily breaks free of the vines Groot entangles him in.
  • No-sells Cap's vibranium spike shield strikes before dropping him with one punch.
• During Thanos's slow walk to Vision, the only one to give him pause aside from Captain America is the War Machine, unloading all of the weaponry in his arsenal to stop the Mad Titan, who has to resort to pushing him away with the Space Stone just to get rid of the Red, White and Blue Attack Dog.
• Captain America vs. Thanos is short, but filled with awesome:
  • Remember that moment from the trailer when Captain America held off Thanos while he had two Infinity Stones? As it turns out, the guy already had five of them. Although the stones aren't glowing, so he's not using them (because Thanos can't close his fist).
  • This needs to be put into perspective, Thanos has managed (as mentioned above) to beat the Hulk senseless barehanded, was able to knock down Iron Man in one punch with his non-gauntlet hand, and throughout the movie never shows any fear that he will lose. Then Cap comes in and manages to catch the gauntlet and hold it in place.
  • Even before he catches the gauntlet, Steve shows why he's The Leader. Like the others, he gets knocked aside by Thanos, but gets up, runs past Thanos and into his path, then actually manages to hit the Mad Titan three times with his shields, including once to the face, all in three moves. And he did this after fighting an army and with nothing more with a couple of vibranium shields, all before catching the gauntlet.
  • If you pay close attention, in the first combo Cap still has both shields on but when he catches Thanos's fist he has only the left, so there was even more to this fight offscreen and when we returned Cap was still standing with enough strength for a punch catch on the Mad Titan.
  • As noted in the trailer section below, Thanos actually looks impressed by Captain America's effort. This is their only interaction in the film, but the First Avenger manages to earn the Mad Titan's respect within seconds.
  • After Thanos has had enough in those few seconds, he closes his fist to catch Cap's hands within his, and then drags Cap into his punch. Showing once again that the Mad Titan is as much brain as brawn.
  • Steve survives Thanos punching him full-force in the face, the same punch that scared Hulk out of his mind and knocked Tony in his Bleeding Edge suit to the ground. He even looks none the worse for wear in the next scene, which is pretty awesome in itself in spite of everything else that happened.
• After Thanos finally drops Steve, who's the only one left standing in his way to Vision's Mind Stone? Wanda the Scarlet Witch. And if the expression on his face is any indication as he battles her next, he severely underestimated her.
  • We've already seen Wanda perform feats in this movie beyond those of her past appearances. When seeing the Wakandan Army in trouble while waiting for Shuri to release Vision's stone so she can destroy it, Wanda leaps down into the battlefield, using her telekinesis to stop several giant rolling death wheels, all tens of feet high, and effortlessly sends all of them rolling over their own army, clearing out a vast majority of enemies in one fell swoop. Okoye even Lampshades why they left Wanda up there in the first place. Sure, the attack was a ploy to get her out so Corvus could sneak in and attempt to take the Stone, but it was either that or risk losing half the Wakandan Army, and Wanda shone in that moment, showing why she has such a Story-Breaker Power.
  • When it's finally her turn against Thanos, how does she manage to top her previous act? She blasts him with such a powerful beam of energy that it holds him back. She does this with one hand. And all the while, she uses her other hand to destroy both Vision and the Mind Stone. As much of a Tear Jerker as it is, it shows how terrifyingly strong she is. And credit to Thanos for powering through it all, showing her respect at the end for what she had to lose, then rewinding time with the Time Stone, sending her flying, and ripping the stone right out of Vision's head.
  • She doesn’t just hold Thanos back one handed; she holds him back one handed while he's using the Space Stone. And for good reason: Wanda can match the power of an Infinity Stone, because she herself has been empowered by another Infinity Stone. Just like Loki failing to brainwash Tony - which pitted the Mind Stone's container against a an arc reactor reverse-engineered from the Space Stone's container - one Infinity Stone cannot overpower the other when they are put at odds.
• Thor was this close in killing a full power Thanos, downing him with a bolt of lightning and hurling Stormbreaker right in his chest, an act that involved Stormbreaker effortlessly powering through an energy blast fueled by all six Infinity Stones. Had he aimed for Thanos's head, he would have ended the war right there, something Thanos even points out to him. In fact when the Stormbreaker is deflecting the blast from Thanos and getting very close to him, Thanos has a pretty big Oh, Crap! face.
  • There's a good level of catharsis for Thanos as Thor shoves the Stormbreaker deeper into his chest, causing Thanos to yell out in genuine pain, even if it was only for a brief moment.
    Thor: I told you, you'd die for that.
• And now, the most unexpected awesome moment of all - against all the odds, Thanos takes home the gold and wins the Infinity War!
  Thanos: You should have gone for the head...
  (Thanos slowly raises his Gauntlet, causing Thor to look at it...and realize what's going to happen...)
  Thor: No!
  (SNAP)
  • After Thanos' fingersnap, the Gauntlet is shown to have been scorched heavily. Thanos wiping out half the universe required so much power and energy, that the Gauntlet could not withstand it in totality. And even then it's shown to be only cosmetic damage, as Thanos warps away immediately afterwards — meaning that now, Thanos has burning scars on the Gauntlet while most likely retaining all of its ultimate power — a reminder that his victory was cemented as permanently as the burns on the weapon itself.

Miscellaneous

• Doctor Strange deserves props for his actions in finalizing a plan to stop Thanos. Using the Eye of Agamotto, he lives out 14 plus million potential scenarios to find one that ended in their favor. His sacrifice of the Time Stone means that he is willingly giving himself up to be erased by the snap, but the Sorcerer Supreme seems to have enough faith in his plan to at the very least provide a path for the survivors to defeat Thanos once and for all. Even as he disintegrates, he assures Tony that "there was no other way."
  • He wasn't born into a super-powered race, he doesn't rely on technology or any immensely powerful weapon, nor were super powers handed to him in an accident or through an experiment. He's simply a normal human being who, through nothing but sheer will-power and endless effort, gained such a mastery over the mystic arts that he's become one of the only Avengers that can stand tall against one of the most powerful beings in the universe using the full power of several infinity stones against him. If that wasn't enough, it's heavily implied that he's laid most of the groundwork for the other Avengers to be able make a 1 in 14,000,605 shot against defeating Thanos.
• Bear in mind, when fighting the Guardians and the Avengers, Thanos only uses his stones about half the time — the rest is pure strength, skill, and determination. When Thanos does use the stones, he does so in creative ways that the heroes can never anticipate, especially when he uses two or more in combination with each other. The most spectacular, is the moment when he splinters a fricken' moon and hurls it down on Titan like a meteor storm.
• In The Stinger, even as Nick Fury is being destroyed, he still manages to page someone before he completely disintegrates. The person he's paging? Earth's Mightiest Hero: Captain Marvel. The battle continues.
  • On closer look, Nick pressed the button on his pager when 80% of his body has already disappeared, including his upper body. Even to the end, Nick Fury won't let anything get in the way of doing his job.
• Similarly to Nick Fury, T'Challa had to have KNOWN he was dying (every other hero did). Did he tremble in fear or cry? No. The King of Wakanda went out like a hero, with the simple but important act of trying to help a friend back to their feet.
  T'Challa: Up. This is no place to die.
• The sheer scope of what the Infinity Stones can do when properly channeled and not being perverted for crass weaponry, used to make murder-bots, or used as an uncontrollable fantasy nuke is staggering. With a flex of his wrist Thanos has been able to completely alter a person's physical nature and the entire reality of a situation around himself, reverse the flow of time to recover the exploded Mind Stone, and (as mentioned previously) pull an entire moon out of orbit to chuck at his enemies. And once the Infinity Gauntlet is fully assembled...*snap*
• From a villainous perspective, let that sink in: Thanos won. He went up against both the Earth's and the galaxy's mightiest heroes, essentially ran the gauntlet through them, and he either took down EVERYONE in his way or survived against them long enough to see his goal fulfilled. He started with only one Infinity Stone to the Avengers' three. And despite the odds, he collected ALL SIX Infinity Stones, in the course of ONE movie; four of which he got onscreen (minus the Power and Reality Stones), and in the end, he performed his Badass Fingersnap. He let nothing stand in his way of achieving his goal. Thanos shows his Determinator credits on a very large scale, as well as sheer planning, brute force, and overall badassery. The build-up to him was well worth it.
• The fact that by the end of the film, our heroes have killed all members of the Black Order. While Thanos won at the end of the day, they made sure his victory came at a price.
  • And they gave a good fight in general in all encounters. When Thor said that Earth was one step away from being equal to Asgard — one of the most powerful and advanced civilization in the known universe — he wasn't exaggerating.
• Bruce Banner deserves special recognition for his overall performance throughout the film. Starting from the beginning: after The Hulk is viciously and decisively defeated by Thanos in the first 10 minutes of the film, Heimdall transports Banner back to Earth so that he can warn the Avengers of the impending invasion. Keep in mind that under normal circumstances, Banner remembers nothing that his green alter ego does upon changing back, but in this case, the situation was so dire he obviously forced himself to do so in order to prepare his allies. From that point, Banner, upon realizing that the Avengers have broken up ("like a band?"), tells Tony to get past the B.S., contact Cap, and gather their forces. Later, when the Secret Avengers are at a loss as to how to deal with the fact that Thanos is coming for The Vision's Infinity Stone, it is Bruce who postulates the theory that the Mind Stone might be removed without killing the synthezoid he helped create or sacrificing his personality. And then, realizing that he will not be able to call on the power of The Hulk to help save the day this time, Banner garbs himself in the Hulkbuster armor (which he also helped devise) and proves to be a huge combat asset - taking out large groups of the Outriders and even killing Cull Obsidian, The Brute of The Children of Thanos. To say that Doc Bruce Banner stepped up to the challenge in Infinity War is a severe understatement.
• Three simple words: Thanos will return.

Other

Trailers

"So no matter what, I promise you, if you need us — if you need me — I'll be there."

• From the much-bootlegged ComicCon/D23 teaser:
  • The mere sight of the Avengers and their allies standing side-by-side with the Guardians of the Galaxy. It really drives home that yes, it's finally happening.
  • Black Panther and Bucky getting ready to throw down with Cull Obsidian, a scene taken directly from Infinity.
  • Spider-Man wearing the Spider-suit Tony had intended to give him at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming.
  • Doctor Strange conjuring magical platforms for Star-Lord to jump across.
  • Proxima Midnight throwing her spear at Captain America... and Cap managing to catch it.
  • In what has become the Signature Scene of Infinity War, Thanos using the Infinity Gauntlet to shatter a moon and hurl the remains at the Avengers and Guardians. And he's doing that with just two of the Infinity Stones (although in the movie itself he has four of them, not that it mattered since he only used the two shown in the trailer).
  • The fact that the Hulkbuster will see action once again.
  • The Milano has been rebuilt, looks cooler than before, and is now capable of warping to different areas across the galaxy.
• From the first official trailer
  • The Marvel Studios logo coming onto the screen, prefaced by shots of the MCU's protagonists that show just how expansive the universe has become and that we've finally come to the culmination of a very intricate plan that started with Iron Man back in 2008.
  • "In time, you will know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail all the same. Dread it... run from it... destiny still arrives." Enter Thanos.
  • "And get this man a shield."
  • The Wakandan military charging towards hordes of alien invaders. And who is helping Black Panther lead the way? What we've spent all of Phase Three waiting to see: the Avengers, reassembled. Sadly, this shot is not in the movie itself, but still.
  • Blink and You'll Miss It but if ones looks closely you can see the Hulkbuster armor in the battle.
  • Thanos beginning to add the Infinity Stones to the Infinity Gauntlet.
  • The return of Alan Silvestri's fanfare, blaring triumphantly to signal that the Avengers are back and ready to kick ass.
  • While not as impressive as the scene of him shattering a moon, we do get various bits showing how formidable Thanos is in combat. He pins Spider-Man with what seems to be no effort, and a single punch from him leaves Iron Man crumpled on the ground motionless^note And note that this is his right hand, without the Infinity Gauntlet.
  • A subtle one, but Rhodey is in the War Machine suit and getting in on the action again. Considering last time we saw him, he could barely stand, this means he has committed to his recovery and come out the other side guns blazing.
  • "Who the hell are you guys?" Oh Thor, just you wait and see.
• The Super Bowl TV Spot:
  • Tony's Bleeding Edge armor, inspired by the armor of the same name from the comics. It is easily one of the most advanced pieces of tech ever shown in the MCU, including space-tech and Wakandan tech. Like the Black Panther suit, it's composed out of lightweight nanites, but its offensive capacities are much more impressive: Aside from the standard Repulsor/Missile/Unibeam arsenal, itself dialed up the Armor also provides Hammerspace-contained blades/riot shields/Jet boosters/Arm Cannons and detachable cannon weaponry, and improves Iron Man's strength and durability to the point he can trade blows with Cull Obsidian and later on even draw blood from Thanos himself. Note that the only other thing shown to injure Thanos was a full-force attack from Allfather!Thor.
  • Spider-Man riding on top of the ship.
  • This is even more of a personal awesome moment for Peter, as Spider-Man: Homecoming established that he does have a decent fear of heights yet he still latches on to try and do something to stop it.
  • Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Spidey standing side-by-side.
  • Steve's new shields are badass - think armguards plus Wolverine Claws as shields and you get the idea.
  • After the charging heroes scene and the movie logo, the last clip shown is of Thanos smirking, reminding us that it's all of them versus just him...and he likes his chances.
• From the second trailer
  • Captain America vs Thanos. During the battle in Wakanda, the Mad Titan reaches out with the Infinity Gauntlet, which has two Infinity Stones in it (five in the movie proper), and the First Avenger manages to hold him back. The best part? You can see Thanos (who had previously been shown manhandling Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Thor) is struggling against Cap, with Thanos having a look of absolute "how is this possible" shock on his face.
  • Thor charges up his lightning while Groot and Rocket look on in amazement. Yes, even cynical, sarcastic, irreverent Rocket is seemingly in awe of the God of Thunder doing his thing.
  • Star-Lord and Doctor Strange working together.
  • Just seeing Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy share the screen together is this by default.
  • Tony's new suit of armor can turn its jet boots into a full-on shuttle engine.
  • Spider-Man swinging through the debris field on Titan is utterly epic-looking.
  • We've got one advantage: he's coming to us. We have what Thanos wants. So that's what we'll use.
  • The lock-and-load montage as the T'Challa, the army of Wakanda, Steve, and the rest of the Avengers prepare for Thanos attack on Wakanda, showing that the heroes - if it's the last thing they do - are going to go down fighting at their hardest.
  • There's confidence, and then there's geniunely telling an opponent that you hope those they'll fail to save at least remember who they were.
    "When I'm done... half of humanity will still exist. Perfectly balanced - as all things should be. I hope they remember you."
• From the 'Chant' TV spot:
  • T'Challa rallying Wakanda's armies with a "Yibambe!" battle cry, a real word in Xhosa meaning "hold fast".
  • Anyone who's seen Black Panther only got to witness the nation against itself in the climax. Now they get see T'Challa reign as king properly and command the whole might of Wakanda's military. We already got that part in previous trailers and previews, but this one in particular fully cements how Wakanda is now united against a common foe.
    T'Challa: Today we don't fight for one life: We fight for all of them.
• Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon take on Corvus Glave and Proxima Midnight and win. Let us repeat — one human Super-Soldier and two Badass Normals take on two of Thanos's superpowered children and won.
• Spider-Man managing to land a kick on Thanos's face, complete with a Big "YES!". Later on, Iron Man clashes with Thanos with a massive Laser Blade attached to his armour.

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