Film Avengers: Infinity War

Infinity War is on its way; what new characters would we like to see debuting? Any particular story we'd like to watch unfold?

I kinda hope there are no new characters introduced at this point since we already have 34395 characters from the existing movies.

Not really knowing what they're basing the movie on, I just hope that they up the stakes in some way - give us a really threatening villain and maybe even kill off some characters. Just... something that feels like it will have some impact or change.

Captain America, specifically Steve Rogers, is my assumption if they're at all axing anyone (Falcon or Winter Soldier would then take on his mantle and become our new Captain).

I just hope they don't make a mess of Thanos the same way they have literally every other villain that isn't Loki. Thanos is on a completely different level from every other villain they've ever shown in the MCU - with the possible exception of Dormammu's brief and rather disappointing appearance in Doctor Strange - and if they just haphazardly kill him off at the end of the movie I am going to be VERY annoyed. This is the guy who has a relationship with the physical manifestation of the concept of Death, for crying out loud. No. Just no. Do it right, for once. Do NOT kill off Thanos.

Representation of villains has always been the MCU's greatest weakness, the one thing that has stopped movies that have been just OK from being great. All I want to see is a proper conclusion to the Infinity Gauntlet storyline they've been teasing for years that does not culminate in the demise of the villain. And gives that villain adequate screen time.

Thanos has ability to duplicate his own self (i.e., Thanosi) among others, so even if he's put to rest, it won't be for every long. He's essentially a Ganondorf.

Perdition Haze said:

Thanos has ability to duplicate his own self (i.e., Thanosi) among others, so even if he's put to rest, it won't be for every long. He's essentially a Ganondorf.

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If you kill the original Thanos, does it kill off the duplicates? Or are they separate entities?

El Héroe Oscuro said:

If you kill the original Thanos, does it kill off the duplicates? Or are they separate entities?

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I believe they're separate, but they share the exact mindset of their creator. If Thanos is gone, his agenda will still likely be carried (therefore, he lives).

Perdition Haze said:

I believe they're separate, but they share the exact mindset of their creator. If Thanos is gone, his agenda will still likely be carried (therefore, he lives).

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I really wish that with each kill of a a Thanos clone, he got dumber and dumber cause he loses some of his mind haha :P

Meyneth said:

Representation of villains has always been the MCU's greatest weakness, the one thing that has stopped movies that have been just OK from being great. All I want to see is a proper conclusion to the Infinity Gauntlet storyline they've been teasing for years that does not culminate in the demise of the villain. And gives that villain adequate screen time.

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Gonna be that guy and say that the MCU TV shows really excel in this regard, especially Agents of SHIELD, which I think has the best villains. Ward is in my opinion one of the best villains in the MCU if not one of the best characters, and Kilgrave from Jessica Jones is also a stellar villain (who I'm totally not biased towards because of David Tennant).

Anyway, I'm cautiously optimistic for Infinity War. I've heard that it will take place from Thanos' perspective (or, at the very least, his will be the connective tissue of the story), which I think is a very interesting take and eases my concerns about the character bloat.

I agree. In example, I'd argue that AIDA from AoS has far surpassed Ultron as a threat. These shows are great at producing heroes as well (loving Ghost Rider so far).

Perdition Haze said:

I agree. In example, I'd argue that AIDA from AoS has far surpassed Ultron as a threat. These shows are great at producing heroes as well (loving Ghost Rider so far).

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I'll try not to derail this thread too much because I could honestly speak about SHIELD for days but yeah I definitely agree, AIDA (and just the TV format in general) was a way better execution of the AI storyline than Age of Ultron. AoU had a ton of flaws though and an underdeveloped villain wasn't even the main one, imo.

Ghost Rider is so good in the show. I hope he returns in S5 even though it's probably not gonna happen (at best I can see him either getting his own show or becoming a Deathlok type character who only comes back for two or three episodes when convenient).

Cal wasn't entirely a villain but he's another really great character from the show.

I honestly don't think of the TV series as being part of the MCU in the strictest sense, given that they don't affect the movies...although I will agree that the TV show format does allow for better character development...mostly. They're also not poorly told rehashed origin stories, and don't butcher comic book storylines, so that helps. SHIELD only does as well as it does because most of its characters aren't ripped from the comics, and most of those that are they take time to establish as individuals before they show who they're meant to be.

The problem with the MCU is that its weighed down by decades of comic book lore, and it condenses a lot of it down/omits hugely important things...it's the classic book-to-film dilemma. I mean, as good as Guardians of the Galaxy was, characterisation of Ronan in it was diabolical; it was on-par with Galactus in the second Fantastic Four movie. The MCU has this nasty habit of just throwing away its villains and I am very worried that will happen to Thanos in Infinity War...they'll try and give him a little screentime, have some poor adaptation of part of the Infinity Gauntlet storyline, then kill him off at the end and move on to something else...perhaps the Beyonders, since they'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger cosmic threat than Thanos otherwise.

MCU is actually not meant to be a direct book-to-film type of thing, however; it's a separate demension and uses the comics as baseline.

It's not meant to be, but that is all too often what it comes across as. You can't just pick and choose massive bits and pieces of various comic book storylines, add in your own little ideas here and there, and expect it to be taken as an original product. It's not. There are massive glaring holes in the MCU from where they've ripped things right out of the comics and not bothered to explain them properly. The original content, in the movies at least, is badly written and detracts from the comic book storylines they're mostly based off of. Civil War in particular was so badly done it was almost painful to watch it, and the less said about Age of Ultron the better...

...that said, I'll admit I'm biased more than a little, because I've read the comics and can fill in the gaps of what they've missed...and see what they've tried to adapt and failed at miserably. It's probably a lot more enjoyable to watch these films without that perspective. But when I see better Marvel movies - like Deadpool, and X-Men: Days of Future Past - out there I get kinda annoyed at the direction the MCU goes in. They either need more comic book plagiarism to cover up their inadequacies, or less of it so they can make an original story with these characters free from those incumbencies. This hybrid approach just does not work...which is why the TV series are so good and the movies often aren't. SHIELD is its own thing.

So yeah, as a fan of the Infinity Gauntlet storyline, and Thanos as a character, I'm concerned their approach to it is going to make a mess of it. That it'll be a poorly paced crossover with a predictable plot that ends with the death of the villain. Again. Even with the later films they've been very formulaic in their approach...you'd never guess there is an eight year gap between Iron Man and Doctor Strange, for example.