We’ve now survived the trauma that was Avengers: Infinity War. We’ve seen the movie and moved through our stages of grief, including bargaining. Now we’re ready to quickly review the movie and move on to the next (and yes, there will always be more movies.)
Even a cursory understanding of how the Infinity Gauntlet works makes it clear it’s going to serve as the reset button. That’s fine. How is Avengers 4 going to deliver on the emotion that Infinity War teased us with? How will the end of Steve Rogers’ and Tony Stark’s journeys impact not just us as viewers, but also the rest of the MCU?
How did Infinity War impact us? What do we want to see in Avengers 4? What reconciliations will feel like a payoff? What character spotlights will warm your heart? What interactions are you most looking forward to? Who do you most want to get their due? If any of these ideas turn up in the movie, we’ll expect our royalty check direct deposit within 60 business days.
Jamil:
I’ve dipped in and out of the MCU since the first Iron Man movie. I mostly went to see Avengers: Infinity War because I wanted to be part of a cultural moment.
This time, I was interested though to see whether Iron Man or Captain America would bite the dust. I
took bets in the run-up to opening day, and I was more than a little disappointed that neither of them died. Both Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. have telegraphed for years that this was the end of their tenure with the franchise. Their deaths could have given the movie the emotional impact it was missing, because let’s be real — Spidey’s “I don’t want to go” line doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It was hard to get worked up about the death of a character who already has a sequel in the works.
What I need now is a reason to care about what’s going to happen in Avengers 4. I need a reason to be in the theater to experience that emotion, instead of catching up with reviews later.
Ja-Quan:
Bet, so they faded my boy T’Challa. They gave the homie Spidey an honorable death and straight up massacred damn near ayebody outside of the OG Avengers squad. I ain’t mad, cuz I know all my day 1 hittas is bout to rise up from the grave like Pet Cemetery. Here’s what I need to see happen in the next Avengers installment, all things considered. I need A) The squad to take out Thanos and B) Make it believable.
You see how all the intellectual heroes were spared after The Snap? Billionaire philanthropist tech prodigy and legacy no-longer-playboy Iron Man is still kickin’ it with Will Robinson, lost in space. 16 PhD-holdin’ renowned scientist, Bruce Banner gotta let his geeky side shine since his formidable half has become so shooketh thanks to the hands he caught [link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BiR-DdtnONB/?utm_source=ig_embed], he afraid to leave his stoop. We got master MacGyver mechanic and legendary shit talker, Rocket Racoon. Finally, rounding out the leftover mega minds that will save the universe is Shuri, Wakandan child genius AKA the smartest person on the planet. She will blow minds once the team sees what she can really do.
I need these cerebral assassins to become the fantastic foursome that we all need. Hell, I’d be cool with them BEING the new Fantastic 4. It just seems too convenient that the smartest heroes on the roster were spared. They must come together (perhaps with the assistance of Scott Lang, son of one of the smartest people to ever grace the MCU) to figure out how to undo the death and destruction that Thanos hath wrought. Do that for me, and I’ll believe that the universe was really at stake.
Aisha:
Everything I thought was going to happen, happened and then some. I knew Spiderman was gonna get it, even though many didn’t believe me — I knew. But…not like this…not like this. I also thought Cap and Tony were gonna eat it. I was like ‘their contracts are up, Chris Evans wants to move on with his life’. Robert Downey Jr. has been Iron Man for 10 years, the man started the MCU! But then here we are – BLACK PANTHER TURNED TO DUST, but old man Cap and old man Stark lived. I just can’t handle it all. Thor made it, so I guess he’s gonna join Rocket as the new Guardians of the Galaxy because they literally all got – got. It’s the freakin prequel to HBO’s The Leftovers.
So here is my theory. Everyone is in the Soul Stone for sure. The most brilliant minds are in there enjoying paradise, but it’ll be like that Next Generation episode where Picard lives another life, then realizes something is up and it’s not real. They are gonna connect and start trying to figure out how to get out. With Dr Strange in there he def knows some inside future vision info.
Meanwhile on the outside, Cap, Iron Man, and Thor will start cooking up a plan. Thor has mad knowledge about the stones, Iron Man’s got the experience, and Cap has got the self-sacrifice, give-it-all attitude. They bring that all together. Nebula tells them where Thanos is; they get the gauntlet, bring it back to Peter Dinklage, who fixes it up, and they use the Time Stone to go back in time.
That is the easy fix. In the end, I think a large sacrifice will be needed to bring people back — Cap and Iron Man will need to die. Boom. Somewhere, Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock fit in. Who knows? I’m just still recovering from it all…
Chris:
As a comic book fan, there’s a certain amount of things you expect to happen in a movie adaptation. A level of forethought you gain from having read the source material. Did I see the Avengers taking an L and half of them being blasted to dust coming? Yeah. Nonetheless, the fade at the end of Avengers still hurts. I’ve seen the movie twice and watching them take my boy Spidey away is just as traumatizing as the first time.
As comic books go, though, death doesn’t remain. I fully expect the same in the movies. While I’m glad that the Russos went with such a bold approach by having the bad guy win, these are the fables of our heroes overcoming overwhelming odds even in their darkest of moments. I’m pretty sure every death post-snap will be reversed.
However, I fully expect the Russos to stick to their word – make sure that the stakes still matter. Here’s what I’m expecting to happen. What we are left with at the end of Infinity War is basically the original Avengers. There are a few others like Ant-Man and Captain Marvel who will most definitely join the fight, but for the most part, the original six will be taking the fight to Thanos.
If the Russo are going to make sure that there are still consequences, I wholeheartedly believe that some of the original six Avengers are going to bite the dust in their battle to bring half of the universe back. Mainly, Iron Man and Cap. They need to die for the snap to have any real meaning. In fact, they need to die to have what I really want, which is a chance for new heroes to rise.
This is a chance to bring in some legacy heroes with the promise of a fresh start. Along with the fact that most of the OG Avengers’ contracts are up and the actors are aging, new talent will be needed.
Morgan:
I loved Infinity War. I’ve seen it twice, but I wasn’t as shook at them ashed deaths as everyone else was. Because of who they “killed” off, I knew immediately that this wouldn’t be permanent.
So with that being said, I need the deaths that occurred pre-snap to stay that way. Yes, as much as I love Gamora, Loki, and literal magical negro Heimdall, they gotta stay skulled up.
Avengers 4 can only truly pay off if it holds the weight of some of that loss.
Since half the cast is gone, that means we’ll have more meaningful moments with our OG’s. So I need to see Cap and Tony reconcile their relationship. Something that I didn’t notice until the second time around was that by the end of this movie, they still haven’t seen each other.
We also need that Wakanda connection, so I’d like to see some more Shuri. She could join up with the squad in a fresh Panther suit trolling Tony and kicking ass.
Who’s gonna REALLY die, tho?!
I think most of them are still safe, actually.
Hawkeye gone bite it because I hate him and I literally couldn’t care less about him.
The two most probable are Cap and Iron Man, and I think only one of them is gonna die. Cap is on an arc right now. I can’t see him going out as Nomad. Plus, he ain’t had NO time with Bucky yet. You gonna kill Cap without the two of them catching up over the last 70 years while eating steak and eggs at a diner?!
That leaves Tony. Infinity War starts with him mentioning dreams about having a kid with Pepper. Expressing desire like before the conflict usually means a character is about to go get skullied.
Whoever lives between Cap or Tony is definitely gonna have their role in the MCU change drastically. Evans said that Avengers 4 is his last time playing Captain America. He may have been right. Maybe after the events of that movie he becomes Steve Rogers: Head of S.H.I.E.L.D or something. That’ll pave the way for Bucky or Falcon to take up the mantle.
The Avengers are gonna look pretty different after this movie. But they should. This was the culmination of 10 years. It’s a new beginning after this.
Garrett:
Wha… but I…. no… No…. WHAT!? Then just stunned silence, that was me. I’ve been with the MCU since the beginning, through the good times and the “dark” second phase. This was the BEST payoff we could have gotten from a ten-year experiment. I loved this movie and just about everything worked for me, including the “deaths.” Not even afraid to admit a thug tear or two may have slipped out when Black Panther faded out, and definitely flowed with Spider-Man. Now, this being the truest comic book movie ever, I know most of these deaths won’t be permanent. Spider-Man already had his sequel announced and Black Panther being bigger than sliced bread all but guarantees he’ll be back. All that’s ok, the story telling was well enough for me that I took it at face value. Right now, these characters are dead and the universe is broken.
14,000,605 possible futures and only in 1 did the Avengers win. I believe that is the future we are in. Dr. Strange gave Thanos the Time Stone at the proper moment to go into that future. We are left with the OG Avengers and a few outliers and it’s up to them to fix everything. And this right here, this right here!? This is where I need them to introduce multi-universe travel. I think Ant-Man and The Wasp will actually lead into that, as the Russo brothers said this movie would be very important to Avengers 4. I also think that everyone who faded out can be brought back to life, while anyone who died before that is perma-dead. (No more resurrections for you, Loki.)
Tony, Cap, and the rest of the OGs are not safe though. Cap for sure is going to eat it sacrificing himself in some noble way, while I want Tony to walk off into the sunset and retire. Since Iron Man 3, he’s been working towards hanging it up. I think he deserves to live with Pepper and have a baby. My dark horse pick for who needs to die/stay dead is Gamora. Thanos threw her off a cliff in order to get the Soul Stone. Many think that she actually has become the Soul Stone, and that’s why I want her to stay dead… for now. Having her stay dead or trapped as the Soul Stone would be a great way to introduce the already announced Adam Warlock in Guardians 3. Adam is heavily tied into the Soul Stone, and that would be a great way to push that movie forward.
I hope this is what we’ll get from Avengers 4 but honestly, I trust Marvel to make the best story here. I’m sure I’ll get everything I want and more, and I cannot wait.
These kinds of speculations are the fuel of nerd obsessions, whether you’ve read all the comics or not. What do you most want to see in the next movie?
Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here!
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook,Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube and Google+.
Show Comments