Immediately surrounded by Marvel super fans, I plopped down into my chair, prepared to watch what is set to be the most anticipated movie of 2018, “Avengers: Infinity War”.

Marvel super fans and audiences around the world have waited 10 years and watched 18 Marvel movies that have led up to this point, so I was expecting a lot from “Avengers: Infinity War”.

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, “Infinity War” is the 19th movie in the Marvel Studios series. The movie’s prequel is “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, which was released in 2015. “Avengers: Infinity War” is evidently the movie that all 18 movies have been working towards and is supposed to close the first chapter in Marvel’s movies.

The movie earned $258.2 million in its opening week and broke the record for the number of movie tickets bought in the first 24 hours of pre-sale on Fandango. “Avengers: Infinity War” brings together the different Marvel characters for a heroic battle that determines the fate of the universe.

In “Avengers: Infinity War”, Thanos, the antagonist, is trying to acquire six different stones that are protected by different heroes. If the stones are collected by one individual, they have the power to kill half of the population. So the Avengers set out to defeat Thanos before he can gather all six stones.

The movie includes a lot of humor; however, it has far more emotional scenes than other Marvel movies including deaths, heartbreaks and sadness.

Throughout the movie, the setting was remarkably detailed. Marvel was able to capture the scenery of various cities, outer space, different galaxies and different planets depicting each well with green screens, advanced technology and sets with realistic props.

However, the scenes shot in real-world locations were captured better than the scenes shot in front of green screens. The CGI characters were not realistic looking, and in close-up shots, they looked cartoonish. Additionally, the and costumes were astonishing, each one was unique from the others and portrayed the superheroes identities through the fabrics, designs, and colors. Marvel also did an outstanding job of incorporating the infinity stones into the costumes of the characters that possess them.

For instance, Dr. Strange carried the “time stone,” and Marvel created his costume with a special design that put the focus on the center of his outfit, which was where the time stone was stored.

Additionally, it is the first Marvel film that depicts all the different Marvel heroes from “The Avengers”, “Guardians of the Galaxy”, “Spider-Man: Homecoming”, “Dr. Strange”, “Black Panther” and “Captain America: Civil War”.

Although the movie is turning out to be extremely popular, the audience was shocked at the cliffhanger ending because all previous Marvel movies had ended with the heroes winning in the end. The film ended with leaving the audience waiting for the next Avengers movie—which will be released on July 5, 2019.

Marvel fans have noticed that half of the heroes who die in the end are the characters from the newer Marvel movies, while the heroes who survive are from the older movies. This has sparked many possible plots for the next Avengers movie.

Spoiler alert. Stop reading here if you don’t want to find out how the movie ends.

But in contrast with previous Marvel movies, the film does not end with the heroes victorious and the villain terminated. Instead, the movie ends with half of the heroes defeated and the villain triumphant.

To be expected, the film is action-packed and violent. “Avengers: Infinity War” won’t disappoint even its most ardent followers, and the movie will keep you waiting anxiously for the next Avengers film.

-4 stars-

Story by Erin Parolisi. Photo provided by Marvel Studios.