Yes, I know we’re kind of late with this article, but we were a little too busy covering every other news and memes related to ‘Avengers: Infinity War’.
But, better late than never, amirite?
Okay, so here we go. I’m assuming that whoever is reading this didn’t watch the first day first show of the greatest movie of this year, or probably this decade. This would be just a recap of all the movies and everything we’re expecting from the most anticipated movie by Marvel, ever.
With the movie being of just 160 minutes and 76 main characters (is this some sort of world record for having the most number of main characters?), so yeah, there will be a lot to unpack in the movie itself, so it’ll help to be prepared. It’s always good to be prepared.
Let’s begin this MCU masterclass.
First and the most important thing that we need to discuss – What the hell is Thanos’ deal?
After his first appearance in ‘The Avengers’ in 2012, Thanos has mostly lurked in the shadows for the most part, for most of the movies, until now. As everyone knows, he’s the main antagonist of ‘Infinity War’.
The character brought to life by Josh Brolin had been described as “an amoral philosopher. He’s not the Devil, although he sometimes has the devil standing next to him.”
He’s known to his followers as Dark Lord and to his enemies as the Mad Titan and he also controls Black Order, which is made up of Proxima Midnight, Cull Obsidian, Corvus Glaive and Ebony Maw.
Now, let’s talk about his previous appearances. In 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, he joined forces with Ronan the Accuser, but was then betrayed because he just wanted to use the Power Stone to his own advantage.
Then, in 2015’s ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’, Thanos has an uncredited appearance in a post-credits scene. So basically, here’s where Thanos has decided to apparently stop hiring minions to do his bidding, saying, with his hand in the Infinity Gauntlet, “Fine. I’ll do it myself”. I’m pretty sure it’s clear, but if Thanos acquires all six Infinity Stones, he will become the most powerful man in the universe.
Speaking of the Infinity Stones, here’s an explanation of what they are exactly and where all of them are. Yes, we have all been joking about the ‘rainbow rocks’ that this purple alien is doing anything and everything to find, but here’s why Thanos is so adamant to collect them.
First, there’s the Space Stone, or Tesseract, which, as the name suggests, controls space and creates portals. It was last seen with Loki, as he stole it from his late father’s vault at the end of 2017’s ‘Thor: Ragnarok’.
The Mind Stone instils powers and can be used for mind control.
Now, let’s come to the Reality Stone, or Aether, which is a liquid with destructive properties. Remember how that infected Jane Foster in 2013’s ‘Thor: The Dark World’. Now, it is with the Collector.
The Power Stone is a big one as it can annihilate anyone who touches it and level an entire planet. That sounds bad, just imagine it in action. Currently, it’s with the Nova Corps, given to them for safekeeping by ‘Guradians Of The Galaxy’ after they took it from Ronan.
The Time Stone is what was used to trap Dormammu, an evil inter-dimensional entity, in a loop in 2016’s ‘Doctor Strange’. Right now, it’s with Doctor Strange himself, as he wears it around his neck.
Okay, we’re down to the last one and the most mysterious one. The Soul Stone has not yet made its debut in the MCU and its location is also unknown. So, we just have to watch ‘Infinity War’ to find out more about this stone.
In case you don’t have the time to binge watch every movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, here’s a little recap with the main highlight from each movie.
Iron Man (2008) – The movie that started it all! It was pretty smart of Marvel to start off the franchise with Robert Downey Jr, because who will not love him.
The Incredible Hulk (2008) – The highlight of this one is Tony Stark aka Iron Man briefly showing up and hinting at forming a team.
Iron Man 2 (2010) – Not a fan favourite sequel, but hey, it did introduce us to the character of Black Widow.
Thor (2011) – This movie marked the first appearance of Loki
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) – This movie laid some groundwork for the first Avengers movie that would come out the following year, and it also introduced us to Bucky Barnes. But, the main part is that this movie is the first one where we saw the first Infinity Stone, the Space one, in the form of a glowing blue cube called the Tesseract.
The Avengers (2012) – Now, this one was Thanos’ debut as he appeared in a post-credits stinger scene.
Iron Man 3 (2013) – Fans actually loved this sequel.
Thor: The Dark World (2013) – This movie introduces us to the Reality stone in the form of red goo, which was given to The Collector and is assumed till now that he has it still.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) – This one introduces us to the character of Falcon and also marks the return of Bucky, who resurrects as a super assassin known as the Winter Soldier.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) – Now, this is the first movie to give us a lot of insight about Thanos.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) – This movie acts as an introduction to Scarlet Witch and Vision, with Vision being created by the Infinity stone from Loki’s scepter and an Iron Man suit.
Ant-Man (2015) – Well, this one has Paul Rudd!
Captain America: Civil War (2016) – After all the damage done in the last Avengers movie, this one shows the government wanting to establish the Sokovia Accords to keep the Avengers under U.N. oversight. While Iron Man likes this idea, Captain America doesn’t. This is also T’Challa aka Black Panther’s first appearance.
Doctor Strange (2016) – An origin story that basically introduces us to the Time stone.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) – Well, this is Tom Holland’s big debut as Spider Man.
Thor: Ragnarok (2017) – In this hilarious movie, we meet Valkyrie, who will also pop up in Infinity War.
Black Panther (2018) – I guess this one is still fresh in everyone’s mind so don’t even need to recap it.
Wow, that was a lot of movies. I’m going to end this somewhat educational journey about the Marvel Cinematic Universe by saying that everyone should be prepared for some deaths in ‘Infinity War’; we’ve known for a long time we’ll be losing some people, but if you’re still in denial, it’s finally time to face it.