“Avengers: Infinity War” and 10 Years of Marvel
This weekend, the release of Avengers Infinity War marked the culmination of ten years of work and 18 movies at Marvel Studios. For those who are not die-hard fans, when someone says that the film marked 1o years of hard work, what they are really saying is that this is the film that every other Marvel movie has been building toward. Mr. Todd, photography teacher and Marvel fan, stated, “No other movie in the history of cinema has this much creative energy and focus put into it.” In order to understand the scope and importance of this movie, we must first understand what is so special about Marvel.
Think back to a little over ten years ago. The superhero genre was heating up with the success of the first two Sam Ramy directed “Spider-Man” films and Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins.” After the success of these movies and others like them, Hollywood executives began to wonder if there was more potential in the genre. Some thought maybe a team up movie like “The Avengers” or “Justice League” would be successful, but others laughed at the idea. They said that no movie could be good with that many characters, it would be one huge mess. Others thought it was just a fad and that video game movies were the new wave. After a failed and unreleased “Justice League” movie in 2005 that was to be directed by George Miller and featured “Call Me By Your Names” Armie Hammer as Batman, it looked like it was going to be impossible to have a team-up movie.
Then, a true Marvel fanboy, Kevin Feige, who had worked on several Marvel properties, came up with an idea. He said that no team up movie could be just made. 
Instead, he thought that each main charter must be introduced in their own movie, and then star in the team up. This way, each charter would already have an established and strong character arc as they entered the team up movie, but he knew that this wouldn’t be enough. He knew that without an end goal, the franchise that was going to star characters multiple times over the course of several years could go off the rails and lose track of where its characters’ trajectory. As a result, he planned out all 18 movies leading up to “Avengers Infinity War” in order to build up to the Infinity War and Infinity Gauntlet stories as seen in Marvel comics.
While each movie tells its own story and sets up a character and their arc, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as a whole is the story of Thanos and his acquisition of the Infinity Stones. 
The infinity stones are the bedrock of the MCU, and each one is established in a different movie. The first MCU movie, Iron Man, was released in 2008.
This movie decided the future of the MCU. If it failed, the MCU as a whole would have been scrapped, but it didn’t. It was a huge success and was loved by fans and critics alike. It made it possible for superheroes to be funny, while also diving into current issues, such as the U.S.’s involvement in the Middle East. The film was also able to build the world of the MCU with the first ever post-credit scene that features Nick Fury, the director of the intelligence agency SHIELD, talking about the Avengers Initiative. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is noted as one of the best castings of the 21 century. It is hard to think that without the success of the first “Iron Man” that another MCU movies would have been made.
Fast forward four years and the first “The Avengers” movie was coming out. After a few not-so-great trailers, many believed that “The Avengers” was going to fail, but they were wrong, dead wrong. “The Avengers” was a huge success. 
It boasted a Rotten Tomatoes score in the 90’s and was not just passable, but great. The movie used the fact that there were so many characters to its advantage and nailed the team dynamic. The movie was a dream come true for people who had wished to see their childhood comic book characters on screen. There was one shot specifically, in the third act, where all the heros are in one shot on screen as the camera pans around them which is particularly memorable.
Now, six years later, the movie that all these movies have been leading up to is here – “Avengers Infinity War.” After planning the attack on Earth in the first movie in order to get the Tesseract and failing, Thanos has finally come for all the infinity stones.
I saw the movie over the weekend and even I, a hardcore Marvel fan, was skeptical that the directors, Joe and Anthony Russo, could make a story out of a movie with 57 characters. 
However, I was dumbfounded by the result. The movie handled the immense team up extremely well. It landed all its jokes and was unexpectedly funny. The movie featured every prominent character from every Marvel movie and has an ending that will simply blow your mind away. It also broke the record for opening domestic box office weekend, grossing $258 million.
As I was sitting in the theater, the movie was about to begin, I looked over at my cousin, George Simotas 21’. We were in this same position almost six years before to the date. The same 7 pm showing on Friday night. We had grown up together talking about Marvel movies our whole life. The characters in the movies had grown up as we had and we felt emotionally connected to them because of that. I guess we weren’t the only ones either, because the guy next to us was completely balling his eyes out from the second act till the line at the bathroom post-movie.
Without including any spoilers, we asked Grace students what they thought of the ending:
“I think it’s the best superhero movie I’ve ever seen!” – Caleb Pitney ‘20
“It was great. It was the best Avengers movie … I was in tears by the end and usually I don’t like superhero movies, but this one moved me.” – Ava Pingree ‘19
“It was definitely shocking, probably something you need to see in a theater.” – Joshua Gomes ‘19
“Happy with where they are taking it.” – David Carzis ‘19
The Grace Potato score is…..