Avengers: Infinity War Trailer Thoughts

Yesterday I wasn’t that excited for Infinity War. Perhaps it was due to a case of MCU fatigue, or maybe the decision to change a doomsday story into a comedy left a bad taste in my mouth. One of my friends advised that I would enjoy Thor: Ragnarok if I treated it as a comedy, instead of a Thor movie. Hence my decision not to see it.

After seeing the trailer for May 2018’s biggest release, I am now firmly aboard the hype train. Simply seeing all of these Marvel characters on screen is its own treat. Captain America is back, with the beard that has been teased via concept art for quite some time now. Along with Cap comes the return of the Winter Soldier, with a new metal arm. I remember watching the Infinity War promo many months ago and hearing Kevin Fiege say that it was important to break the Avengers apart before introducing a threat like Thanos.

“Get this man a shield,” says T’Challa. It could be clever editing but I am sure that this line is directed to Captain America and this makes it likely that Cap and his fellow anti-registration heroes are still in Wakanda when Thanos invades.As a result, it looks like Black Panther and Wakanda will have a central role in the film.  This would make sense since they would still be fugitives of the American government and still at odds with Iron Man. Even though the relationship appeared to be healing at the very end of Civil War it was clear that Cap and Stark weren’t going to reunite as drinking buddies just yet.

Speaking of Iron Man, his gift to Spider-Man looks glorious.

I have been stalling on watching Spider-Man Homecoming, mainly because I was put off by the Iron Man 3.5 vibe. From what I understand Tony Stark has relatively little screen time but I didn’t like the fact that Spider-Man was now tied to Iron Man because of the latter’s rushed introduction and exit from Civil War e.g. “We just got the rights to Spider-Man so we’ve got to add him to the movie somehow.”

The special effects for some shots could use some work but we still have some time for post-production so I’ll reserve my judgment until then.

Despite all the eye candy on display one of my favourite parts of the trailer is actually right near the beginning, with the different members of the Avengers saying “There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if we could become something more. So when they needed us, we could fight the battles that they never could.” This brings us back to a similar phrase being uttered by Nick Fury in the Avengers trailer in 2012.

Thanos’s few lines in this trailer leave me thinking that he can hopefully be a memorable villain for the MCU, in addition to Kilgrave and Loki. I have to say that Thanos looks better with the helmet. In my humble opinion, he simply looks incomplete without it. The lack of the helmet stands out more since we already saw the helmet in Guardians of the Galaxy.

In the comic, the conflict was focused on the heroes vs Thanos himself. The trailer shows the heroes also facing an army of minions and I am hoping that Thanos still has room to stand out and that this doesn’t end up as another situation where a sub-villain detracts from the main one e..g X-24 stealing Donald Pierce’s thunder in Logan.

I hate the Marvel/DC talk but I will say that Marvel’s format of having solo or even multiple solo films prior to a team up film can make the final product much more satisfying for fans. I was excited for Justice League as a fan of the comic books and tv shows, but Infinity War is now anticipated by the casual fans who probably still make fun of comic book readers. Additionally, we don’t have to worry as much about characters lacking development since they already got the bulk of their development from their solo films.  The majority of characters are not being introduced here. They are only being developed further as they adapt to a new situation. With that said, the film still runs the risk of having some characters fall by the wayside since there are simply so many. Another risk is handling the switch of tones between characters who are coming off of different storylines. The cast of Civil War had a relatively dark storyline, while Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Thor: Ragnarok  were full on comedies.

Despite these worries, I am a believer again. The Winter Soldier is my favourite MCU film and I am hoping the Russo Brothers can bring all of these characters together for something that has the “fun” so many people crave these days, while also giving us something that is truly epic.