Marvel Studios dropped their first official U.S. trailer for Avengers: Infinity War today, going above and beyond for a first look at this highly anticipated entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Hardcore fans have been watching for years as multiple franchises have been meshed together, all leading up to the ultimate battle between superhero/mystics/space warriors versus the two-eyed, one-gloved, flying purple planet eater — A.K.A. Thanos. The buildup has been so well orchestrated, and we now sit in great anticipation for the ultimate threat of not only global destruction but total universal annihilation.
The trailer starts with an audio mash-up of multiple Avengers narrating why the team exists—“to fight the battles they never could.” Sorry folks, the “they” refers to us; weak, normal, powerless humans. Nick Fury, Tony Stark, Vision, Bruce Banner and Natasha all join in on this moving, motivational speech (though somewhat insulting to people of Earth; I mean, we have some skills, right?).
The visuals flash between each of these heroes as they speak, and then show a crushed staircase. Bruce Banner has fallen from the skies, punching a hole into the Sanctum Sanctorum. Strange and Wong are there to witness Bruce’s fall from the heavens. Right after, we see a clothed Bruce and Company, with the trailer cutting between Peter Parker (on a school bus, where he belongs, because he’s just a kid, right?) and Strange/Banner/Stark, and we get to witness their first view of a giant, mechanized portal hovering above the City That Never Sleeps. We also see Peter’s arm hair stand on end…a very clear suggestion that he’s coming into his Spider Senses. More on what all this means at the end of this piece, where the sweet, reckless speculation beings.*
At this point, we hear Thanos begin to speak, typical bad-guy posturing, something about how being involved in a righteous cause makes defeat even more devastating. He isn’t referring to himself. He’s taunting, and as such, he’s pretty confident that he’ll roll through Earth and its Avengers without much effort.
Loki pops up, holding the Tesseract (which he commented on briefly in Thor: Ragnarok), and then we see feet stepping over some dead bodies. These bodies have belts similar to one worn by Dr. Strange, so likely this means that some havoc has been wreaked in some Sanctorum somewhere, but whether or not is was done by Loki remains a mystery.
Finally, we get a reveal of Thanos in all his lavender beauty. Sans helmet, he looks pretty darn intimidating. Despite some excellent rendering, he seems a bit CGI-ish, but nowhere near as horrible as Steppenwolf in that unholy debacle released by Marvel’s number one competitor this past month.
The balance of the trailer is flashes of fight scenes—Iron Spider-Man, Black Panther, Captain America (without his star!), Black Widow (with blonde hair!); Iron Spider-Man being slammed to the ground by Thanos; a grungy scepter being stabbed into the Vision’s yellow forehead stone, after which Thanos drops it into his large, golden gauntlet! (He’s doing it! He’s collecting the Infinity Stones!) Tony Stark looks up, a giant shadow casting its darkness over him, and then we see Thanos with an incomplete Infinity Gauntlet.
More heroes are shown in the next few flashes—Bucky/Winter Soldier (he’s awake!), Black Panther with his Wakandan Army, Falcon, and finally, fantastically, a united Team Avenger racing into battle.
True to the films we see in theaters, after the big title splash for Avengers: Infinity War, there is a small tag—One-Eyed Thor, saying, “Who the hell are you guys?”—and seeing a curious gaggle of the most sardonic of all heroes—the Guardians of the Galaxy! Which is to say, Peter, Gamora, Rocket, Mantis, Drax…and Teenager Groot!
By way of analysis, I feel that the tone of the trailer is just right. We get to see all the heroes, we get to see Thanos, we get to see the team coming together. Thanos’ threat is made real and significant, and better yet, with comments that suggest that he is seeking to balance the universe, he fully believes that his cause is righteous…a huge empowerment to any baddie, or hero for that matter. I truly, honestly hope that Thanos’ is given enough screen time to fully flesh out his character and cause. An unmotivated villain is the worst kind. Again, please refer to Steppenwolf (why was he so heck bent on destroying Earth? We never even learned that. He was just evil, so we had to accept it? Nope. Not in today’s world of educated filmgoers).
Check out the trailer and chime in with your own analysis. I’m hoping for a very creative ending with this film, not some kind of super-punch that wraps everything up and destroys the bad guy. You know, something original, like the end of Thor: Ragnarok. Speaking of which…
(The next paragraph is a potential spoiler for anyone that hasn’t yet seen Thor: Ragnarok, so be warned)
*At the end of Thor: Ragnarok, Loki and Thor make first contact with Sanctuary 2, Thanos’ megaship and home away from home. So I feel it correct to assume that Thanos wields his nasty powers on the ship of Asgardian refugees, possibly killing all aboard (please not Korg, please not Korg…) and sending Banner and Thor out into the deep reaches of space. Thor goes one way, where he is picked up by the Guardians of the Galaxy (the footage shown at the D23 Expo confirms this, by the way), and Bruce passes through some type of portal with Sanctuary 2 & Thanos, where he conveniently falls through the roof of the Sanctum Sanctorum. I imagine he’s able to give Strange and Stark a heads up about the threat posed by Thanos.