ARE YOU READY FOR ‘INFINITY WARS’?
Hmainlyeads up, true believers, Thanos is coming.
That line sends shivers up my spine,
because about five or six years ago, I could only count with my two hands the number of people I knew who were familiar with Thanos, Ultron, and the likes of them. While a few superheroes have been staples for staples for a long time (like Adam West’s Batman, which I religiously followed), others have not been as fortunate. It was only a few years ago that people were introduced to Ant-Man, Black Panther, Martian Manhunter, and many others that simply didn’t make the A-list like Batman or Captain America.
So you can understand my giddiness at feeling like I’ve stepped into a time warp and am back in my childhood, where comic book heroes are suddenly cool again. As a geek at heart, I feel incensed at how some people classify hobbies like watching cartoons (or anime) and reading comics as being “childish” for someone past the age of twenty. Yeah, and watching videos of cats and dogs rolling over each other on 9gag for four straight hours is an “adult” hobby, right? But I digress.
Back to Thanos. Infinity War is a long time coming for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and it shows. When the movie’s directors and personnel issue a plea for everyone to please not spoil anything, you know it’s serious. There has been so much hype (and money) poured into this effort that the MCU can’t afford to drop the ball. And, for better or for worse, when Infinity War comes out April 25, the geek in me will be satisfied. I learned early on how important it was to treat the movie and the comics as two separate entities.
Snapshot, Not Album
Firstly, how can a director manage to cram everything in the comic into a two- or three-hour movie that satisfies everyone? He/She can’t. Remember Captain America: Civil War? That was almost three hours long and didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the Civil War arc in the comic books. It took me almost a month to read every single comic (and tie-ins from other storylines) related to the Civil War arc of Marvel. Was I ultra-disappointed by the movie? No, because I thought of it as a separate entity from the comics and enjoyed the ride for what it was worth. It’s the same with Infinity War. I read the original Infinity War arc twice and won’t expect the movie to somehow capture all the nuances and characters involved. Nor should it—the comics were written in the 90s, and some concepts would have changed since then. You’ve Changed, Bro Of course it goes without saying that the directors will take creative liberty to change the storyline to have more drama, more Chris Evans, more Scarlett Johansson, or all of the above. Not that I have any complaints about more Scarlett Johansson, mind you. It’s virtually impossible to stay true to the comic books simply because the MCU exists with a totally different storyline and timeline from it. For example, the MCU has Age of Ultron (2015), Civil War (2016), and Infinity War (2018) in that order. By contrast, the comics has it as Infinity War (1991), Civil War (2003), and Age of Ultron (2013). So it would make sense to change up the storyline to fit the context. And I’m fine with that.
PG Era
Lastly, the directors understandably need to change the tone of the movie to fit a more general audience. Where MCU movies have a reputation for being witty and funny for all age groups, the original Infinity War ended as a hero’s quest to find meaning in life. Whereas that was totally relatable for angst-related teenage kids, it won’t help the MCU draw a big audience. It is what it is; MCU directors need to do what they can to get the most revenues in a movie. One part of me is saddened by the “watered-down” version of the story, but the other part of me is just happy that my childhood heroes are finally seeing the light of mainstream media.
At the end of the day, Infinity War is and will be a trip down memory lane—a way for me to come to terms with my geekiness and reassure myself that it’s okay to be different. Because what was “weird” back then is suddenly “in” right now. For bringing me back to the good ol’ days, I’d gladly be infinity war(ped) over and over again.