Why Avengers: Infinity War won't be anything like its source material
Avengers: Infinity War and its sequel are being billed as the climax of a 22-movie story that began with 2008's Iron Man.
After seeking the Infinity Stones throughout the MCU films, Josh Brolin's Thanos will finally be getting his hands on them to complete the Infinity Gauntlet, a big golden glove that makes its wearer omnipotent.
That famously happened in the comics in iconic 1991 miniseries The Infinity Gauntlet, which is widely assumed to be the source material for the movie, much as Civil Warwas for Captain America: Civil War.
But the third Captain America film diverged greatly from the comic, and there's even more reason to believe that Infinity War will be ignoring a lot of its very strange source material.
Infinity Gauntlet doesn't even show Thanos getting the stones
The Infinity Gauntlet kicks off with Thanos already possessing all the Infinity Stones, which is an unlikely approach for directors Joe and Anthony Russo to take. We would guess that Infinty War will deal at least in part with Thanos wresting the MacGuffins from their various owners.
This wasn't covered in Infinity Gauntlet, but in its prequel Thanos Quest. In that story, the 'Elders of the Universe' possess the stones, and Thanos acquires them after what amounts to six cosmic pissing matches. The Collector is one of the owners in both the MCU and the comics, but the others in the films are the Avengers, the Nova Corps and Doctor Strange rather than the Elders.
We don't expect rubbish comics characters like the Gardener and the Runner to show up at all.
Infinity Gauntlet's death count is unreasonably massive
There is some expectation that a Marvel hero or two could die at the climax ofAvengers 4, but we don't imagine that Disney will be willing to embrace the wholesale slaughter of The Infinity Gauntlet.
Thanos wants the gauntlet in order to kill half the population of the universe, which is the first thing he does. Half of all life – including more than a few heroes – gone in a second.
And the killing isn't over. In the fight with Thanos, Spider-Man is murdered and Iron Man is beheaded. If you think we'll be made to watch little Tom Holland die and that Robert Downey Jr will bow out of the MCU with his head rolling across the floor, you're not on the same page as Disney.
The Avengers are basically irrelevant
Apart from losing spectacularly and dying all over the place, the Avengers don't really do anything in Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos is just too powerful for a guy in armour and another guy with a shield to have any hope at all.
We expect that Marvel will make some tweaks to Thanos's power level so that the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and their other allies can actually be involved in any meaningful way at all.
Many lead characters haven't been introduced to the MCU yet
The Avengers don't get much to do in the comic – so who are the major players?
One is Adam Warlock, a gold-skinned 'perfect human' with a connection to the Infinity Stones. He is Thanos's chief rival, but although Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2teased him in the post-credits scene, he won't be showing up until Guardians 3, which will arrive some time after Avengers 4. So we can count him out.
The Silver Surfer is powerful enough to rival Thanos, but 20th Century Fox still owns the film rights to that character as part of theFantastic Four property, so he won't be showing up either.
Then there's Thanos's chief ally, Mephisto. He is Marvel's answer to Satan, and there's no way Disney is going to make the devil a main character in its family-friendly franchise.
Infinity Gauntlet's love story is just too weird
Infinity Gauntlet is essentially a love story... a really bizarre love story. Thanos kills all those people to impress the object of his affections, the living(?) embodiment of Death.
Unfortunately, the gauntlet makes him even powerful than her, which is apparently a big no-no. But whatever Thanos does, she just stands around looking unimpressed.
We can't imagine that Infinity War will centre around Thanos's would-be love affair with an abstract concept. (Though there have been rumours that Cate Blanchett's death goddess Hela from Thor: Ragnarokwill take on a similar role, but don't expect it to be central to the story. Or for Hela to be as blandly impassive as Death, who just stands around looking sad and saying nothing.)
And don't even get us started on Terraxia, the female version of Thanos that he creates to be his girlfriend when Death snubs him (she's the one who detached Iron Man's head from his body).
The 'cosmic summit' will send us all to sleep
Infinity Gauntlet sees a panel of immensely powerful cosmic entities come together to discuss at length whether they should put a stop to the chaos caused by the Infinity Stones, led by the Living Tribunal – a three-faced being with a purple tea towel on its head. This happens AGAIN in the fallout of the story, too.
Apart from these all being characters we've never met before (gigantic, inscrutable characters that the audience is unlikely to feel any connection to), it would bring to the big screen a level of bureaucratic dryness not seen since the Star Wars prequels. Surely Disney knows better than to do that to us.
The Black Order doesn't fit
As already discussed, Avengers: Infinity Warwon't feature many key characters from the comic, but it is also introducing characters who were never in the original story. The differing combinations of the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy could be fitted into the narrative fairly easily, but the inclusion of the Black Order demands bigger changes.
The Black Order are Thanos's lieutenants (and possibly his adopted children in the MCU). They were introduced decades afterInfinity Gauntlet in a storyline confusingly titled Infinity, which cast Thanos as a sort of intergalactic warlord invading Earth.
Their inclusion suggests that Thanos won't just be some all-powerful being who operates completely alone, and should lead to a more nuanced portrayal of him than inInfinity Gauntlet (where he mainly just stands in his throne room being unstoppable).
Its lacks any real consequences
It shouldn't surprise you to learn that Infinity Gauntlet concludes with the stones being used to resurrect everyone who was killed. There are basically no meaningful consequences to the story – not a great proposition for something meant to wrap up a decade of storytelling.
Marvel is bound to be cooking up something more climactic to the next two Avengersfilms.
That probably doesn't include Thanos retiring to a farm.
To add even further confusion, there is actually a comic called Infinity War. It's the sequel to Infinity Gauntlet, and is unlikely to have any bearing on the film's plot.
The plot is similar to the first one, except it's Adam Warlock's evil side, the Magus, who takes control of the Infinity Gauntlet.Theheroes fights evil doppelgangers with claws and scary teeth, and the Magus loses because one of his stones is a fake. Oh, and Thanos is one of the good guys!
By this point, you've probably learned enough to work out why this won't be happening in Avengers: Infinity War. Congratulations! You're now a Marvel expert.
After seeking the Infinity Stones throughout the MCU films, Josh Brolin's Thanos will finally be getting his hands on them to complete the Infinity Gauntlet, a big golden glove that makes its wearer omnipotent.
That famously happened in the comics in iconic 1991 miniseries The Infinity Gauntlet, which is widely assumed to be the source material for the movie, much as Civil Warwas for Captain America: Civil War.
But the third Captain America film diverged greatly from the comic, and there's even more reason to believe that Infinity War will be ignoring a lot of its very strange source material.
Infinity Gauntlet doesn't even show Thanos getting the stones
The Infinity Gauntlet kicks off with Thanos already possessing all the Infinity Stones, which is an unlikely approach for directors Joe and Anthony Russo to take. We would guess that Infinty War will deal at least in part with Thanos wresting the MacGuffins from their various owners.
This wasn't covered in Infinity Gauntlet, but in its prequel Thanos Quest. In that story, the 'Elders of the Universe' possess the stones, and Thanos acquires them after what amounts to six cosmic pissing matches. The Collector is one of the owners in both the MCU and the comics, but the others in the films are the Avengers, the Nova Corps and Doctor Strange rather than the Elders.
We don't expect rubbish comics characters like the Gardener and the Runner to show up at all.
Infinity Gauntlet's death count is unreasonably massive
There is some expectation that a Marvel hero or two could die at the climax ofAvengers 4, but we don't imagine that Disney will be willing to embrace the wholesale slaughter of The Infinity Gauntlet.
Thanos wants the gauntlet in order to kill half the population of the universe, which is the first thing he does. Half of all life – including more than a few heroes – gone in a second.
And the killing isn't over. In the fight with Thanos, Spider-Man is murdered and Iron Man is beheaded. If you think we'll be made to watch little Tom Holland die and that Robert Downey Jr will bow out of the MCU with his head rolling across the floor, you're not on the same page as Disney.
The Avengers are basically irrelevant
Apart from losing spectacularly and dying all over the place, the Avengers don't really do anything in Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos is just too powerful for a guy in armour and another guy with a shield to have any hope at all.
We expect that Marvel will make some tweaks to Thanos's power level so that the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and their other allies can actually be involved in any meaningful way at all.
Many lead characters haven't been introduced to the MCU yet
The Avengers don't get much to do in the comic – so who are the major players?
One is Adam Warlock, a gold-skinned 'perfect human' with a connection to the Infinity Stones. He is Thanos's chief rival, but although Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2teased him in the post-credits scene, he won't be showing up until Guardians 3, which will arrive some time after Avengers 4. So we can count him out.
The Silver Surfer is powerful enough to rival Thanos, but 20th Century Fox still owns the film rights to that character as part of theFantastic Four property, so he won't be showing up either.
Then there's Thanos's chief ally, Mephisto. He is Marvel's answer to Satan, and there's no way Disney is going to make the devil a main character in its family-friendly franchise.
Infinity Gauntlet's love story is just too weird
Infinity Gauntlet is essentially a love story... a really bizarre love story. Thanos kills all those people to impress the object of his affections, the living(?) embodiment of Death.
Unfortunately, the gauntlet makes him even powerful than her, which is apparently a big no-no. But whatever Thanos does, she just stands around looking unimpressed.
We can't imagine that Infinity War will centre around Thanos's would-be love affair with an abstract concept. (Though there have been rumours that Cate Blanchett's death goddess Hela from Thor: Ragnarokwill take on a similar role, but don't expect it to be central to the story. Or for Hela to be as blandly impassive as Death, who just stands around looking sad and saying nothing.)
And don't even get us started on Terraxia, the female version of Thanos that he creates to be his girlfriend when Death snubs him (she's the one who detached Iron Man's head from his body).
The 'cosmic summit' will send us all to sleep
Infinity Gauntlet sees a panel of immensely powerful cosmic entities come together to discuss at length whether they should put a stop to the chaos caused by the Infinity Stones, led by the Living Tribunal – a three-faced being with a purple tea towel on its head. This happens AGAIN in the fallout of the story, too.
Apart from these all being characters we've never met before (gigantic, inscrutable characters that the audience is unlikely to feel any connection to), it would bring to the big screen a level of bureaucratic dryness not seen since the Star Wars prequels. Surely Disney knows better than to do that to us.
The Black Order doesn't fit
As already discussed, Avengers: Infinity Warwon't feature many key characters from the comic, but it is also introducing characters who were never in the original story. The differing combinations of the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy could be fitted into the narrative fairly easily, but the inclusion of the Black Order demands bigger changes.
The Black Order are Thanos's lieutenants (and possibly his adopted children in the MCU). They were introduced decades afterInfinity Gauntlet in a storyline confusingly titled Infinity, which cast Thanos as a sort of intergalactic warlord invading Earth.
Their inclusion suggests that Thanos won't just be some all-powerful being who operates completely alone, and should lead to a more nuanced portrayal of him than inInfinity Gauntlet (where he mainly just stands in his throne room being unstoppable).
Its lacks any real consequences
It shouldn't surprise you to learn that Infinity Gauntlet concludes with the stones being used to resurrect everyone who was killed. There are basically no meaningful consequences to the story – not a great proposition for something meant to wrap up a decade of storytelling.
Marvel is bound to be cooking up something more climactic to the next two Avengersfilms.
That probably doesn't include Thanos retiring to a farm.
To add even further confusion, there is actually a comic called Infinity War. It's the sequel to Infinity Gauntlet, and is unlikely to have any bearing on the film's plot.
The plot is similar to the first one, except it's Adam Warlock's evil side, the Magus, who takes control of the Infinity Gauntlet.Theheroes fights evil doppelgangers with claws and scary teeth, and the Magus loses because one of his stones is a fake. Oh, and Thanos is one of the good guys!
By this point, you've probably learned enough to work out why this won't be happening in Avengers: Infinity War. Congratulations! You're now a Marvel expert.
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