USA TODAY International Edition
‘Avengers’: Gone may not be for good
Spoiler alert! The following contains details about the ending of Avengers: Infinity War.
Hey, kids, let’s have a talk about death.
If you’ve seen Avengers: Infinity War, which had the biggest box-office opening ever, you might be flipping out over all the casualties. The road of 18 previous Marvel movies introduced a bevy of superheroes who’ve left an indelible mark, and with one snap of the fingers and the combined might of the mystical Infinity Stones, many of the good guys just disappeared.
Poof. Dust in the wind. The end. Really? Well, probably not. Infinity War embraces a number of tropes from superhero comic books, including two kinds of death. There’s real death, usually of a figure whose loss means something. But more often there’s comic-book death, wherein a hero dies for plot or publicity reasons and returns sooner rather than later.
Which brings us to Infinity War and its jaw-dropping finale. Fans bet on one or more of the elder statesmen to be victims of Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet.
Instead, Marvel went all in with the most unexpected folks. Audiences who’ve made Black Panther a box-office powerhouse might be a bit saddened by the sudden departure of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa. We’ve been privy to the ups and downs of Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), so it hurts the soul a little to see him go.
And while Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) are high-profile members of the body count, who wasn’t wrecked by Spider-Man (Tom Holland) tearfully telling father figure Iron Man that he doesn’t want to die?
Let’s be logical for a second: There’s no way Marvel is killing off Black Panther. And there’s a Spider-Man sequel set to kick off Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so Holland’s not going anywhere. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 also has been announced.
The fourth Avengers film will bring together remaining heroes, folks who weren’t in Infinity War — Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp — plus Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel to fix what has happened.
The sheer chutzpah and body count of Infinity War knocks us for a loop, and this malaise will last until the good guys come through in Avengers 4.
The mourning period might be brief. That’s both what’s good and bad about death and superheroes: Even the most heartfelt losses are more minor inconvenience than permanent vacation.