Avengers: Infinity War Made A Problem For Marvel Only Killing Thanos Could Solve
It's easy to forget, in our superhero-fatigued world of 2023, just how much of a stranglehold "Avengers: Infinity War" had on pop culture back in 2018. Although most of us understood that the effects of Thanos' snap would eventually be undone, that didn't stop the movie's ending from feeling like a genuinely devastating blow. Fans were crying in theaters, and other fans (allegedly) were so stressed out they had to be taken out of the theater by paramedics.
Fans impatiently waited a year for "Avengers: Endgame" to give them a satisfying conclusion, but for the writers there was one big problem: How would our heroes defeat Thanos without it feeling repetitive, or like a copout? "Infinity War" was basically just the Avengers trying and failing to stop Thanos' quest for the infinity stones for two and a half hours straight, so was "Endgame" going to be just another two and a half hours of the remaining Avengers trying to steal the stones away from him? Not only would it have felt like a repeat, but it would've been unrealistic. If the full cast of heroes couldn't defeat Thanos, how was half the cast supposed to do it instead? In the audio commentary for "Avengers: Endgame," writer/producer Stephen McFeely discussed this very problem:
"What is a two-hour movie, where you're playing cat and mouse with that guy or trying to get him, or punch him in the face, or steal stones from him? Like, anything he does — even in the comics, which are lovely, he just sort of decides to tie one hand behind his back. You know, that's how it's solved there. So, at one point in the room, everyone's getting real frustrated, 'What is the story here?'"
A surprising first act
The solution was to make most of "Endgame" not about defeating Thanos at all. In fact, the characters end up killing the guy off remarkably early on, but the infinity stones had already been destroyed and there's no way to undo the damage Thanos had done. The beginning of "Endgame" is not about beating up Thanos but about the characters trying and failing to make peace with the new world he's created. The result is an opening act that's incredibly bleak by MCU standards, but is undeniably a fresh, surprising change of pace.
"I think Trinh Tran, our executive producer, just said, 'God, I really wish we could just kill him.' And we all went, 'Wait a second. Could you?'" McFeely explained. "It sent us down this whole road, where we solved the issue in the first, what, 12 minutes?" The result, as director Joe Russo added, was a "very different" kind of movie, "one that's reflective and pensive and character-oriented rather than plot-oriented."
Sure enough, "Endgame" is filled with some of the best character moments in the MCU, or at least some of the most surprising. Say what you will of depressed Thor or the controversial Professor Hulk, but their changes helped sell the idea that five years had truly passed for these characters, that the world has started to move on while our main characters have been struggling with grief. It's a vital tone shift that makes the movie's climactic, triumphant final act all the more effective. As Russo explained, "We need to be re-reminded of who [the heroes] are and what they believe in, and what their emotional needs are." "Endgame" let us celebrate the characters' highs in the final act, but first they needed to let us experience their lows.