Avengers: Infinity War

Review

Demetrius Alexander

The movie begins directly after the events of “Thor: Ragnarok”. Thanos and his Black Order, consisting of Corvus Glaive, Cull Obsidian, Ebony Maw, and Proxima Midnight, have overtaken the Asgardian ship that is in possession of the Space Stone, which is revealed to be the Tesseract that Loki had taken before the destruction of Asgard. Thanos has already claimed the Power Stone from a now decimated Xander, making him strong enough to defeat the Asgardians, as well the Hulk. Loki offers to give up the Space Stone to Thanos if he spares Thor, but is killed after Thanos sees through his deception. Heimdall uses his remaining strength to send Hulk to Earth before he is killed by Glaive, leaving Thor behind as  the ship explodes.

Hulk manages to crash land into the Sanctum Sanctorum, turning back into Bruce Banner before informing Doctor Strange and Wong of Thanos’s arrival. Upon hearing this, Banner and Strange go to retrieve Tony Stark, who they tell about Thanos and the Infinity Stones. Soon after, Cull Obsidian and Ebony Maw arrive in New York to take the Time Stone from Doctor Strange. While Banner is unable to turn into the Hulk, Stark, Wong, Strange, and new arrival Peter Parker attempt to fend off the invaders. Doctor Strange is captured by Maw, pursed by Stark and Parker while Wong stays to protect the Sanctorum and Banner goes to warn the rest of the Avengers.

Wanda Maximoff and Vision, who carries the Mind Stone embedded in his forehead, are attacked by Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive in Scotland, only to be saved by Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Sam Wilson. The five take refuge at the Avengers Facility in Upstate New York, meeting up with James Rhodes. The group debates on what they should do with the Stone in Vision’s head, with Vision suggesting they destroy it, while Steve proposes that they travel to Wakanda, the one place with the technology advanced enough to remove it.

Meanwhile, Thor is found and saved by the Guardians of the Galaxy. He tells them that Thanos would most likely travel to Knowwhere to retrieve the Reality Stone from the Collector, but states that he needs a weapon capable of killing Thanos before facing him again. Rocket and Groot offer to accompany him to Nidavellir, the home of the dwarves, to receive this weapon while Peter Quill, Drax, Gamora, and Mantis head to Knowhere. Upon their arrival, it is revealed that Thanos has already claimed the Reality Stone, having created an illusion to mask the already destroyed Knowhere. He takes Gamora, aware that she knows the location of the Soul Stone from torturing Nebula, who later escapes  and tells the other Guardians to meet her on Titan, Thanos’s home world. At the same time, Thanos and Gamora travel to the planet the Soul Stone is hidden on, where they are greeted by Red Skull, who informs them that the only way to acquire the Soul Stone is to sacrifice someone that they love. Hearing this, Thanos reluctantly throws Gamora from a cliff, and is rewarded with the Soul Stone.

Stark and Parker succeed in rescuing Doctor Strange from Ebony Maw, launching him out of the ship’s airlock. They plan to face Thanos on Titan, and meet up with Drax, Quill, and Mantis. The six then come up with a plan to take the gauntlet from Thanos, who soon arrives on Titan. The group, along with Nebula, who arrived during the battle, manage to subdue Thanos while Stark and Parker attempt to pull of the gauntlet. But it is then revealed that Gamora was killed, and Quill takes his anger out on Thanos, causing the group to lose their hold on him. He then defeats the group, leaving Strange to have to give up the Time Stone to save Stark. Thanos then leaves for Earth.

Meanwhile, Thor, Rocket, and Groot on Nidavellir, only to discover that that only one dwarf, Eitri, remained. Thanos had forced him to make his Infinity Gauntlet, and in return, he killed all the other dwarves and took Eitri’s hands. With the other’s assistance, they manage to create the axe known as Stormbreaker, which shall give Thor the power of the Bifrost. At the same time, the rest of the Avengers arrive in Wakanda, where they have Shuri try to extract the Mind Stone from Vision’s head. Thanos’s Outrider army soon arrive as well, and the Avenger, along with T’Challa and the Wakandan army mount a defense against them, while Corvus Glaive attacks Vision within Shuri’s lab. Just as the Outrider arm begins to become overwhelming, Thor, Rocket, and Groot arrive to assist them. While they manage to kill Glaive, Proxima Midnight, and Cull Obsidian, Thanos soon arrives. Wanda attempts to destroy the Mind Stone, but Thanos reverses time with the Time Stone to take the Stone, killing Vision in the process. Thor attacks Thanos, but he survives and snaps his fingers before teleporting away.

Thanos succeeds in  wiping out half the universe, taking Bucky, Groot, Wanda, Quill, Drax, Mantis, Parker, Stange, Wilson, and T’Challa, who all disintegrate. Thanos awakens, healed of his wounds and his goal succeed. In the end credits, the rest of the world is beginning to fade from existence, along with Nick Fury and Maria Hill. Before disappearing, Fury manages to send a distress call to Captain Marvel.