Avengers Infinity War my Thoughts and Predictions
What is there to say about Avengers: Infinity War. Now that I've seen it it seems inevitable that it turned out the way it did. But as not only a fan of comic books, but someone whose first true comic book experience was reading the infinity gauntlet comic books I feel some need to comment on it from what I hope is an interesting perspective. Spoilers of course.
I'll begin with the simplest part. I loved this movie. That's not exactly a hot take, but it needs to be said. But the reasons for it and what is likely to come next might be worth commenting on. I loved the movie because of the characters. The action is fun, but I've seen far to many movies with action I don't care about for that to impress me much. Action only matters if you care about the characters and no amount of CG or lack of CG is going to change that.
Now down to the more specific points. After years of speculation I was pleased to see that the soul gem was just someplace. It being on earth honestly would have made the marvel universe seem to small unless there was some explanation and the truth was we didn't have time for an explanation. As for how Thanos got them I have a few thoughts. First, it seems clear to me that Dr. Strange gave Thanos the time gem because doing so was the one chance they had of success. This goes back to something he said earlier, where if it comes between saving you and the stone I'll pick the stone. And I don't think that changed. He wasn't going to sacrifice half of the universe for Tony Stark.
The other gem that was interesting was the mind gem. I saw two things that I believe may be important in this. First, it seems clear to me that the Gem had been disconnected from Vision in every way but physically. That means that while he is damaged he can be repaired. More important though is what Scarlet Witch did in destroying it. I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that is going to be more important than it appears. While Thanos was able to reverse time to fix it, I'm not sure it was as perfect as it appears. In the comics the mind gem, when used with the other gems makes a person omnipotent. But, what if there in now some tiny flaws in it. Flaws that weaken it just enough that the person holding it can be surprised.
That leads to the ending of the movie. I suspect now that everyone looks back it's clear that the original avengers are the ones who are left. As a writer it should have been obvious this was what was going to happen and I'm a bit disappointed in myself for not seeing it. In the end this story isn't spiderman or Dr. Strange’s story, it's the story of Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye. They were there at the beginning, they were the ones who saved new york and they're the ones who will be in the final fight with Thanos. The others will probably be there, but in the end someone has to say Avengers Assemble, Captain America and Iron Man have to work together and Hulk has to smash something.
So what will happen in the next movie? I honestly don't know, but I have a few ideas. One of the less likely ideas could be that Thanos, having done what he wanted, and knowing that the only thing that could undo the death of half of the universe is the gauntlet he may disassemble it. Unlikely, but it could be interesting to mirror Thanos' quest to create the gauntlet in this movie to the Avengers to do it in the next.
More likely in my opinion is that someone on the avengers will get the infinity gauntlet. This part is of course inevitable since they have to undo the destruction of half of the universe so we can have another Black Panther movie. But if you watched carefully in the movie when Thanos used the gauntlet to kill everyone it melted the gauntlet. So undoing that may very well destroy the gauntlet and likely the person who uses it. I'm not sure who that will be, but if you give me three guesses I'm pretty sure I'll get it right since it almost has to be Thor, Tony or Steve.
My final prediction is a split. There are two possibilities and I think both are interesting. First, it seems entirely possible that they will choose to destroy the gems. It has been made clear that they can and it removes them as distractions in further movies. A good plan. But the other is the creation of the illuminani.
In the comics this is a group of six people who eventually end up with the stones and have the job of protecting them so that the gauntlet can never been reassembled. They are, Iron Man, Black Bolt, Dr. Strange. Mr. Fantastic, Namor and Professor Xavior.
If there is an Illuminati in the movies it won't be this exact makeup. It seems likely that Vision may be one of them, and strange would likely end up with one. I can see Professor X having the mind gem as a good idea since it wouldn't dramatically change his character. I'm not sure about Mr. Fantastic but it would be interesting to include him simply because he will be new to the universe. Of course in both of those cases it wouldn't be revealed who has the stone right away. The other likely recipient of a stone is Adam Warlock. He has not yet been in a movie, but will be in the Guardians of the Galaxy and has long been connected to the Soul Stone so having him end up with it makes sense both to include the guardians and avoid changing them to much. Of course you could always give Drax the Power Gem as well, but the other reasonable option for that is Hulk. The idea being that you want to give gems to characters less effected by them.
There are plenty of other predictions of course. Perhaps Hawkeye will be in the Ant Man movie and the Agents of SHIELD will have to deal with a world where half the population is dead, but that is enough for today.