How to Fall Forever: Regarding Avengers - Infinity War

It all started with an idea: The Earth's Mightiest Heroes would inevitably face challenges greater than any of them could handle individually necessitating banding together. As a team, the Avengers didn't make too much sense to me beyond that edict. They weren't like the X-Men who were bonded through their mutual persecution or the Guardians of the Galaxy, the interstellar misfits that need each other. The Avengers are a piecemeal, self-appointed all star squadron. So what happens when this A-list faces something they can't handle even as they stand together?

They stand together anyway.

A lot of that comes from the film's biggest underlying theme. No, not death, though that is a major one. No, the biggest theme in Avengers: Infinity War is promise. Some longstanding. And every single one with a cost.

For Tony Stark, who stands front and center for much of the film, it's a promise he's made since the climactic battle in The Avengers. Haunted after catching a glimpse of Thanos' forces on the other side of the wormhole over New York, the Iron Man swore he'd be ready when an invasion of Earth would be inevitably launched again. It fueled his crippling anxieties in Iron Man 3. It led him to develop Ultron in an attempt for an artificial intelligence-based planetary defense. After six years of preparation, Tony is still going to find himself in over his head.

Steve Rogers has always pledged to do what he believed to be right, to be where he's needed the most no matter the consequences to himself especially after exposing SHIELD as a HYDRA front. For the two years following Civil War, him and his team have been on the run, hunted for righting wrongs without governmental authority; the former propaganda tool is now a man without a country, his voice barely above a whisper. But even after their acrimonious split in a Soviet missile silo that ended with both men nearly beating each other to death, Captain America did promise he would return whenever Iron Man needed him the most. Having said that, his faith may still be in people but Steve Rogers won't be looking for forgiveness and he's way past asking for permission.

Thor has always been the third crucial component of that Avengers trifecta and he has the most emotional journey out of our heroes. By his own admission, the God of Thunder has roamed the worlds of monsters and man for 1500 years. In the span of the last seven, the Odinson has lost both his parents, his kingdom, his adopted brother, and half of his fellow Asgardians before his eyes. Sorry, eye; he lost one of those too. For someone who can catnap through a decade, that's a lot of loss in a relatively short amount of time. It's a wonder Thor still chooses to defend Earth after all it's cost him but he did make a promise to Phil Coulson in a New Mexico desert that he would do just that. And he's also sworn to get his final revenge on Thanos.

There are smaller promises peppered throughout the narrative too: Doctor Strange's oath to protect the Time Stone. Vision and the Scarlet Witch's promise to each other to keep their star-crossed romance alive no matter the cost. Star-Lord's reluctant promise to Gamora to kill her rather than let her fall in Thanos' giant, purple-ass hands. Black Panther upholding his word to help out Captain America by any means necessary. And, of course, Thanos has sworn to use the Infinity Gauntlet to wipe out half of all sentient life in the universe.

Thanos really is the main character of Infinity War. He gets more screen time than any other character (More than Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Panther combined). Most of the film's big moments directly involve him. He makes the narrative's arguably biggest sacrifice by killing Gamora. In a lot of ways, Infinity War is structured like a heist film with six different MacGuffins to drive the plot forward. It also gives the opportunity for the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy to divide into sub-teams.

Tony Stark teaming up with Stephen Strange is done in-narrative because Strange keeps the Time Stone around his neck but what makes it really work is that both men are snarky narcissists from opposing backgrounds: the man of science and the master of the mystic arts. That means there's going to be a lot of personal friction and that makes for more interesting storytelling. Also, given the surrogate father-son dynamic established between Tony and Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Homecoming, it makes the most sense he would tag along with his mentor in their magical mystery tour. Thor, given his location along with the increased tonal shift into the comedic absurd with Ragnarok, makes him the Avenger most likely to make first contact with the Guardians.

And even with these eclectic team-ups, what elevates Infinity War over Age of Ultron is that it doesn't paint all these distinct Marvel properties with a same bland brush. When The Spinners' Rubberband Man blasts across a colorfully cosmic nebula, we get that distinct Guardians of the Galaxy flavor. Wakanda still totally feels like it did two months previously in Black Panther complete with Afro-futurist technology, unwavering Dora Milaje, and percussive leitmotif. Thor still has that newfound sense of humor from Ragnarok. Whenever we hear a harpsichord, we know Strange is about to do his weird hand shit. This is a film that celebrates the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it blends it.

And ultimately watches it crumble to dust.

The best entries of the MCU revolve around the concept of deconstruction. The corruption and dismantling of SHIELD in The Winter Soldier. The disassembling of the Avengers in Civil War. The destruction of Asgard in Ragnarok. Infinity War is about the unraveling of half the Marvel Universe. Thanos is always one step ahead of the heroes and while they stand together, they don't stand as firmly as they should. At no point do all of the Avengers and Guardians take on the Mad Titan at once. In their defense, a lot of that is due to astronomical separation but it certainly doesn't help. Star-Lord hopelessly can't stick to a plan. Thor nearly turns the tide with Rocket Raccoon and Groot but even then he stops just short at an all too crucial moment to taunt Thanos one last time. One of the larger moral dilemmas is if Wanda Maximoff has the strength to destroy the Mind Stone in a desperate bid to keep it from Thanos but at the cost of Vision's life. In the end, she does and it's a heartbreaking moment...but by then Thanos can pull a Cher with the Time Stone and complete the Gauntlet anyway.

I have no firm idea how the cliffhanger at the end of Infinity War will be resolved. Ant-Man and The Wasp presumably occurs concurrently with the third Avengers film and I'm willing to bet a post and/or mid-credits scene confirms that without compromising that film's story. In the meantime, the survivors will have to cope that while they're still technically Earth's Mightiest Heroes, they just weren't mighty enough. But this fight isn't done. Not by a long shot. And they can promise you that.