Avengers: Infinity War (spoilers ahead)

I've already read some criticism of the use of the female characters in this movie. Black Widow's part was very small. I at least expected more interaction with Banner given how they parted, but nothing but a hello? She and Okoye have their moment taking down one of the Black Order, but of course it is the woman. Now if you know anything about the character, Proxima Midnight is a badass, but they hadn't really established her very well in the movie.

Scarlet Witch's power is on display as she makes quick work of the big wheel things. She is also the only Avenger to actually slow Thanos down once he has five stones, but her part is relatively small.

Then there is Gamora, who plays a vital role, but it's not because she does anything great. She is a sacrifice. First she tries to sacrifice herself, but she can't even go out on her own terms because Thanos won't allow it. Instead, Thanos just grabs her and throws her off a cliff to her death. Some comic book critics are calling it another example of women in refrigerators, which refers to female characters whose only purpose in the story is to die in a way that affects male characters. (Specifically a reference to Green Lantern Kyle Rayner finding his murdered girlfriend's body shoved in a refrigerator. )

Gamora's death leads to Quill screwing up the heroes' shot to get the gauntlet off Thanos. More importantly, it on some level humanizes Thanos by showing there really was someone he loved in the universe. Of course, he's a psychopath, so he kills her to get the stone, but the moment adds some complexity to the character. Other than adding some exposition, did isn't that her main role?

Edit: I'm not sure I buy the criticism above entirely, but I understand it.

It does lead to one thing I didn't care for. We really don't get much information on the Black Order. They are just a bunch of underdeveloped henchmen with ill-defined powers. They do a nice job with Ebony Maw, the one who captures and tortures Dr. Strange, but no much about the rest. For example, as I mentioned above, the fight with Proxima Midnight at the end would mean more if they had established her proficiency. Also, her relationship with Corvus Glaive isn't mentioned at all even as they fight together. In the comics, they are husband and wife.

I absolutely get why it was done this way. There is already so much jammed into the movie, that spending time developing the Black Order would probably make it feel overstuffed. It's a problem, but I'm not sure there was a good solution.

 

Avengers 4 Won't Reverse All That Happens in Infinity War

The screenwriters for Avengers 4 are trying to sell the idea that it is a separate movie, that the Infinity War deaths are real and everything isn't going to be undone.

For those that read the comics, this is like Dan Slott insisting that the real Peter Parker wasn't coming back while he wrote Superior Spider-Man. They can shovel all they want, but I'm not buying what they're selling.

 

I would buy it if they had killed off Stark and Captain America to move the plot along to the newer versions of those characters.

Of course it is entirely possible they make another SpiderMan and Black Panther in the timeframe between when those first movies took place and the snap.

 

I doubt it. It is weird enough that they are going that route with Ant-Man & Wasp, which sure seems like it is set between Civil War and Infinity War. I doubt they would continue to do that.

I think the more likely scenario is the deaths leading up to the snap hold up, but not the ones that were snapped away.

 

The thing with the newer characters like Spider-Man and Black Panther, though, is that they also are newcomers to the MCU in storyline terms and not just in the idea that we just saw their first movies.
T'Challa became Black Panther in Civil War. Spider-Man not long before that. I haven't seen Doctor Strange's solo film, but I think he's in the same boat (although with his powers there might be more wiggle room). So if you go to the prequel well, where in that small timeline do you cram an adventure that's big enough to carry its own movie? And, as OOP noted, how many times can you go to that?
It'll work for Captain Marvel, where we'll likely see her origin and then have her fly off to space for 20 years. Ant-Man and Wasp can go to it once since they weren't in Infinity War and we're catching up. Eventually, though, we want to see what comes next and not what came before.

 

Right, but that was next to nothing.

Loki, Gamora and Vision are small potatoes as the only ones that would be gone for good.

 

Having just seen it tonight, I agree that there will be some version of the standard comic book reset. Turn back time. But why Dr Strange didn’t do something like that when he went back and saw the 4 million versions of the story line, why not just destroy the tesseract and soul stones?

Thor showed he’s the biggest badass in the MCU. The nano Iron suit is very cool. IronSpider suit is great. How the hell Widow survived is a head scratcher. As she is in the MCU, she has no super power, no regenerative powers, no anti aging, not even PEDs, yet she survives all while engaging in hand to hand combat with aliens.

I have seen every MCU movie, often. Unless Spider Man and Black Panther are brought back, I have no interest in seeing them in a movie that takes place between their last movie and before this movie.

 

I think it's safe to assume everything Strange did after he looked at the futures was to steer them toward the one timeline where they win. Every timeline where they tried to destroy the stones right there, every timeline where he didn't give up the time stone, etc., all led to Thanos winning.

 

But Thor said Heimdall was his best friend!

Seriously, he did that in the conversation with Rocket. Where the heck did that come from? Wasn't he closer with the Warriors Three? You know, the dear friends whose death the character has completely ignored?

I'm not some big Warriors Three fan, but that's one bit they didn't handle particularly well in Ragnarok or Infinity War.

 

Black Panther can be replaced. Boseman is a great BP, but the hero is costume, not the man. Any king of Wakanda is the Black Panther.
Peter Parker, on the other hand ...

 

I understand that's the mythology, but there's no way, from a commercial standpoint, that Boseman is getting replaced after one movie. Perhaps more than almost any other MCU movie, "Black Panther" has been a crossover box office smash. To most movie-goers, Boseman is the Black Panther, even though, like I said, you are technically correct about the mythology of the universe.

 

Agreed, though I do wonder how well a sequel will work without Michael B. Jordan.

And in case any of you is the curious type, here is something I also posted on the geek thread.

www.didthanoskill.me