Avengers: Infinity War Part 1

***Welcome to Part 1 of 2 of my Avengers: Infinity War thoughts and impressions.  I had a lot to say, so I split this up into two parts.  The second part should be up by Saturday afternoon the latest.  Warning:  There might be a few spoilers with other Marvel Movies.  Thanks for reading and enjoy***

I remember, 10 years ago after watching Iron Man, I talked to my friend via text message about how great the movie was.  I told him how excited I was for The Avengers.  He replied with confusion.  I asked him he watched the scene past the end credits.  I told him there was an extra scene where Tony Stark was met by Nick Fury at Stark Manor.  Nick Fury mentions about a program being started by SHIELD called the Avenger Initiative. He vented frustration about missing that scene, but got excited and happy as I did. Gathering the biggest heroes of Marvel into one collective group.  This venture into film storytelling that was started 10 years ago.  A universe of heroes and crossovers that haven’t been done in movies of this nature.  Combining actors, solo movies into crossover movies. To make at least 2-3 movies a year and not make the movies and audience suffer from a burnout or fatigue.  The Marvel Cinematic Universe. (MCU)

After that scene, I don’t think anyone really knew what was going on or what would happen.  10 years ago, if you told me that Disney would buy Marvel; that Spiderman would show up and be brought back to Disney and Marvel from Sony in a way; as well as get lesser known heroes from the comics like the Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, and even Black Pather known to a mainstream audience.  Meaning in terms of popularity and as a movie box office hit, I would have said that would be a pretty improbable.  Heck, if I told my past self that Black Panther would be a movie and as of April 24, 2018 would gross $681 million and be the 3rd highest US grossing movie of all time, my past self would think my future self to be crazy.  Marvel and Disney created a Marvelous (pun intended?) film series and movies.  With the exception of 4 movies, the 18 movies in the MCU each grossed over $200 million domestically.  18 movies that really didn’t have too many weak points, and stayed strong in the eyes of the public. The only weak films in the lineup to me is Thor: Dark World and maybe Captain America: The First Avenger (but I still liked that one).  I’d like to go into detail all the MCU Movies and I did put up notes on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, but first Avengers: Infinity War

In the movie, Thanos (Josh Brolin) pursues the goal of conquering the universe by gaining control of all the Infinity Stones.  Stones with mystical powers that can control Time, Space, and Reality.   (Some of the abilities that 3 of the 6 stones have.)  Once he combines the stones to the infinity gauntlet, he could destroy half of the universe with “A snap of his fingers”. It’s all hands on deck as Iron Man, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, The Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther and many other heroes try stop the threat of Thanos.  This project is the biggest undertaking in movies I’ve seen so far.  There are at least 60 heroes to be featured in this movie.  A fairly massive story arc that expands from all 18 movies. Even, some heroes, who may be killed off. The intensity is building up for me.

This is a fulfilled accomplishment in live action movies.  I did have Avengers and X-men cartoons, but all were animated. When the Avengers came out in 2012, I thought that it was incredible.  Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.)  interacting with each other on a movie screen.  The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) fighting enemies with Thor (Chris Hemsworth).

You have these heroes and A list actors playing them, getting together for a massive live action movie.  You have many big name actors involved with Infinity War; such as Robert Downey Jr., Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, Josh Brolin, Scarlett Johnson, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Cumberbach; that is just a few of the actors involved with this massive project.  And one that seems that could only work now.  I’d like to side track for a moment to something that I saw a picture of if the Avengers were made in the 90’s:

Most of those actors, I feel, wouldn’t give a comic book role a second glance.  Its a fan fiction picture, I understand.  I happened to view it at a time and mindset when comics didn’t seem to have mainstream appeal during the 90’s and a movie like the Avengers might have been not a great movie choice.  I can’t see Brad Pitt or Leo, as they were rising to film popularity, taking a role on the Avengers. Comic book movies weren’t really taken seriously in Hollywood (In my eyes) until X-Men was released in 2000. The spark that might have started the MCU concept, 8 years earlier. The success of the Marvel movies changed the mind of actors to take on these roles.  An example of this is Anthony Hopkins and Michael Douglas have joined as Odin and Dr Hank Pym respectively.  Some of the bigger name actors that joined and took on roles in the MCU.  I did have hits like Batman in the theaters or even a few Superman movies.  (granted the good Superman movies to me took place in the 1970s).  The late 80’s early 90’s comic book movies were near difficult and expensive to do.  Due to the effects and budgets that were needed to make the movie.  Thankfully, CGI hased help with making the effects look better and pratical.  I think that Infinity War budget is close to $1 billion with marketing.  Imagine pitching a $1 billion dollar movie in the 90s.  Also, that billion dollars is in 2018, adjusted for inflation in the 90s, yeah no one would want to talk or associate with you in Hollywood with this type of project.

Thank you for reading part 1, check out PART 2 where I will actually talk about the movie.