Avengers: Infinity War

Plot

Having acquired the Power Stone—one of six Infinity Stones—from the planet Xandar, Thanos and his lieutenants—Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, and Corvus Glaive—intercept the spaceship carrying the survivors of Asgard's destruction. After subduing Thor, Thanos extracts the Space Stone from the Tesseract, overpowers the Hulk, kills Loki, and fatally wounds Heimdall. Before dying, Heimdall sends Hulk to Earth using the Bifröst. Thanos and his lieutenants leave, destroying the ship.

Hulk crash-lands in the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York City, reverting to the form of Bruce Banner. He warns Stephen Strange and Wong about Thanos's plan to destroy half of all life in the universe, and they recruit Tony Stark. Maw and Obsidian arrive to retrieve the Time Stone from Strange, drawing Peter Parker's attention. Maw, unable to take the Time Stone due to Strange's enchantment, captures him. Stark and Parker sneak aboard Maw's spaceship while Wong stays behind to guard the Sanctum.

The Guardians of the Galaxy respond to the Asgardian ship's distress call and rescue Thor. Thor surmises that Thanos is after the Reality Stone, which Taneleer Tivan possesses on Knowhere. He travels with Rocket and Groot to Nidavellir to enlist the dwarf king Eitri's aid in creating the battle-axe Stormbreaker. Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis travel to Knowhere, finding Thanos already has the Reality Stone. Thanos kidnaps Gamora, who discloses the Soul Stone's location to save Nebula from torture. On Vormir, the Stone's keeper, Red Skull, tells Thanos that he can only acquire it by sacrificing someone he loves. Thanos sacrifices Gamora, earning the Stone.

Midnight and Glaive ambush Wanda Maximoff and Vision in Edinburgh to retrieve the Mind Stone, which is in Vision's forehead. Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Sam Wilson rescue them and they take shelter with James Rhodes and Banner at the Avengers Compound. Vision asks Wanda to destroy him and the Mind Stone to keep it from Thanos, but she refuses. The group travels to Wakanda, which Rogers believes has the resources to remove the Stone without killing Vision.

Nebula escapes captivity and asks the remaining Guardians to meet her on Thanos's destroyed homeworld, Titan. Stark and Parker kill Maw and rescue Strange. The trio crash-lands on Titan, where they meet Quill, Drax, and Mantis. Using the Time Stone, Strange views millions of possible futures, seeing only one in which the Avengers win. The group formulates a plan to subdue Thanos and remove the Infinity Gauntlet, with which he safely houses and wields the Stones. Thanos appears, justifying his plans as necessary to guarantee the survival of an overpopulated universe. Nebula arrives soon after and helps the others subdue Thanos, but deduces that Thanos has killed Gamora. Enraged, Quill attacks Thanos, allowing him to break the group's hold and overpower them. Thanos grievously wounds Stark, but Strange offers the Time Stone in exchange for sparing Stark's life.

Cast

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man: The benefactor of the Avengers who is a self-described genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist with electromechanical suits of armor of his own making. Co-director Joe Russo explained that Stark "senses this greater threat approaching, so he is doing everything in his power to keep the Earth safe". Downey added that Stark has smaller goals than in previous films.

Chris Hemsworth as Thor: An Avenger and the king of Asgard, based on the Norse mythological deity of the same name. Joe Russo stated that Thor's storyline picks up after the events of Thor: Ragnarok (2017), which finds him in a "very profound", "very interesting place" with "real emotional motivation". At the recommendation of Hemsworth, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely consulted Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi and screenwriter Eric Pearson to help carry over the comedic and tragic elements of the re-toned Thor from that film. Joe Russo said that Thor has "the driving hero's arc of the movie which stands in direct opposition to Thanos' argument" and would have been the main protagonist of the film had Thor killed Thanos.

Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk: An Avenger and genius scientist who, because of exposure to gamma radiation, typically transforms into a monster when enraged or agitated. Banner spends the film trying to reintegrate with the Avengers and "impress upon everybody how dangerous Thanos is". Joe Russo felt the Hulk refusing to appear for much of the film was only partially because he was scared, but also because he realizes that "Banner only wants Hulk for fighting. I think he's had enough of saving Banner's ass". Russo added that this was "really reflective of the journey from Ragnarok [...] [where] these two characters are constantly in conflict with each other over control". Banner's appearance in the film continues a story arc for the character that was established in Thor: Ragnarok and concludes in Avengers: Endgame (2019), with the difference between Hulk and Banner "starting to blur a little bit". Ruffalo described Hulk in Infinity War as having the mental capacity of a five-year-old.

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America: The fugitive leader of the non-regulation faction of Avengers. A World War II veteran, he was enhanced to the peak of human physicality by an experimental serum and frozen in suspended animation before waking up in the modern world. Joe Russo said after the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016), Rogers struggles with the conflict between his responsibility to himself and his responsibility to others. The character embodies the "spirit" of the comic book identity Nomad in the film, and receives new vibranium gauntlets from Shuri to replace his old shield. An early draft of the film had Rogers first appearing at the end of the film to save Vision from Corvus Glaive in Wakanda. Markus and McFeely were called "insane" for waiting that long to introduce Rogers into the film and ultimately conceded it was "not [a] satisfying" approach.

Production

In October 2014, Marvel Studios announced a two-part sequel to Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) entitled Avengers: Infinity War. Part 1 was scheduled to be released on May 4, 2018, with Part 2 scheduled for May 3, 2019. Marvel's plan was to film both parts of Infinity War back-to-back. Anthony and Joe Russo were hired to direct the films in April 2015. The next month, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely signed on to write the screenplays for both parts of the film, which drew inspiration from Jim Starlin's 1991 The Infinity Gauntlet comic and Jonathan Hickman's 2013 Infinity comic. Anthony Russo added the film was inspired by 1990s heist films, with Thanos "on a smash-and-grab" to acquire all of the Infinity Stones. Producer Kevin Feige said the films would be "two distinct" projects with shared elements, not one story split across two films. The Russos decided to rename them to remove this misconception in May 2016, and Marvel simply shortened the first film to Avengers: Infinity War that July.

Principal photography began on January 23, 2017, under the working title Mary Lou, at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, with Trent Opaloch as director of photography. Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were shot using ARRI Alexa IMAX 2D cameras, thus marking the first time that a Hollywood feature film was shot entirely with IMAX digital cameras. In early February, Marvel confirmed the involvement of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord, and Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in the film. Additional filming took place in Scotland beginning in February 2017. The filming occurred in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the Scottish Highlands, with studio work taking place at Wardpark Studios in Cumbernauld. In late June 2017, filming occurred in Downtown Atlanta, as well as Atlanta's Central Park in early July, before moving to Queens, New York in the middle of the month. Filming concluded on July 14, 2017. For the film's final scene, where Thanos settles in a nipa hut, the filmmakers worked with Thailand-based studio Indochina Productions to acquire footage of the Banaue Rice Terraces at Ifugao, Philippines.

Later in July 2017, Joe Russo stated there were a couple of unfinished scenes for Infinity War that would be shot "in the next few months". In early March 2018, Disney moved the release of Infinity War in the United States to April 27, 2018, to have it be released the same weekend as some of its international markets. Visual effects for the film were created by Industrial Light & Magic, Framestore, Method Studios, Weta Digital, DNEG, Cinesite, Digital Domain, Rise, Lola VFX, and Perception. With an estimated budget in the range of $325–400 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made. Evans and Hemsworth both earned $15 million for the film.

Music

In June 2016, Alan Silvestri, who composed the score for The Avengers (2012), was revealed to be returning to score both Infinity War and Endgame. Silvestri recorded his score from January 2018 to late March, and found working on the film to be "a really different experience than anything I'd done before, especially in regard to the approach and balancing quick shifts in tone". Ludwig Göransson's theme from Black Panther is used in the film. Hollywood Records and Marvel Music released regular and deluxe soundtrack albums digitally on April 27, 2018, with physical releases on May 18. The deluxe edition featured some extended and additional tracks.

Marketing

In May 2017, Robert Downey Jr. and his philanthropic organization Random Act Funding partnered with Omaze for a contest in which a randomly chosen winner from those that donated would receive an Infinity War set visit. A life-sized statue of Thanos, created by Legacy Effects, was on display at D23 Expo 2017, alongside statues of the Black Order / "Children of Thanos": Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, and Cull Obsidian. Additionally, Feige, Joe Russo, Downey, Brolin, Bettany, Olsen, Klementieff, Gillan, Bautista, Cheadle, Mackie, Cumberbatch, Stan, Holland, Boseman, Ruffalo, and Hemsworth appeared at D23 Expo to present a clip highlighting the 10 years of MCU films, along with footage from Infinity War. The footage, which was screened exclusively for the panel, received strong audience reaction, with fans "literally on their feet and jumping as the footage played". Julia Alexander of Polygon said there was "quite a bit happening" in the footage and it "finally feels like Marvel has made the movie it always wanted to—and the one we've always wanted to see." CinemaBlend's Eric Eisenberg said the footage left him "literally shaking", with the film looking "like it could be one of the most epic blockbusters ever created". Haleigh Foutch for Collider described it as "dark and dramatic, and utterly epic. It's clear Marvel is trying to do something different here [...] to pay off a decade's worth of narrative and world-building. While it's impossible to tell from two minutes work of footage, it certainly looks like that gamble paid off". The D23 footage was also shown at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con. After the two convention presentations, Avengers: Infinity War generated over 90,000 new conversations on social media from July 17 to 23, the third-most during that time period behind Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League (2017), according to Comscore and its PreAct service. Infinity War stayed in third the following week, with over 41,000 new social media conversations, behind Ragnarok and It (2017). By the week of October 16, Infinity War had generated over 679,000 total social media conversations.

To promote the film's first teaser trailer, Marvel released a compilation video of some of its previous trailers since Iron Man (2008), "paired with fan reaction videos to those trailers". The first teaser for Avengers: Infinity War debuted on Good Morning America on November 29, 2017. Josh Spiegel of The Hollywood Reporter said, "The most important part of the trailer is how it carefully, deliberately introduces the notion that the Infinity War films are going to function as a passing of the torch, from one set of Avengers to a newer group". Scott Mendelson, writing for Forbes, noted that even though the trailer was not much different from the convention footage screened earlier in the year, it was "damn impressive." Additionally, the trailer had an "excellent effect", using the "Avengers Initiative speech" by Nick Fury and the "Avengers theme" by Alan Silvestri from The Avengers. Conversely to Mendelson, Alexander commented on the different marketing strategy for the film between the convention footage scenes and the trailer scenes, feeling the "two couldn't be more different". She said the convention footage (intended to please the crowd who were "jittery with anticipation") was released between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Thor: Ragnarok, and heavily focused Thor and the Guardians, while the trailer (designed to explain the film to general audiences) heavily features Black Panther and Wakanda, which Alexander said could not have been done before the additional marketing for Black Panther that happened after the conventions provided additional context. Gael Cooper of CNET observed that the trailer was viewed nearly 500,000 times in its first 15 minutes after it was posted on YouTube, but questioned if the trailer broke the site after the view counter appeared to be stuck at 467,331. The trailer was viewed 230 million times in its first 24 hours, becoming the most viewed trailer in that time period, surpassing the record of It.

Release

Theatrical

Avengers: Infinity War held its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on April 23, 2018, screening also at the adjacent El Capitan Theatre and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. It was released in most countries worldwide, including the United States, on April 27, with a few debuts beginning as early as April 25, and was shown in IMAX and 3D on select screens. In the United States, the film opened in 4,474 theaters, 408 of which were IMAX; this was the widest release for a Disney title ever and the second-widest ever after Despicable Me 3's (2017) 4,529 theaters. Three of AMC Theatres' locations screened the film for 24 hours straight, with 53 of their locations having showtimes at either 2 am or 3 am to accommodate demand. In India, the film had the biggest release ever for a Hollywood film, opening on nearly 2,000 screens in four languages. The film also screened in 515 4DX theaters in 59 countries. Avengers: Infinity War was originally scheduled to be released on May 4 in the United States. The Chinese release of the film, which opened on May 11, was originally scheduled to end on June 10, but was granted a "rare" extension of 30 days, to end on July 9. Avengers: Infinity War is part of Phase Three of the MCU.

Select footage from the film was screened in various cities during the film's press tour in early April, ahead of the Los Angeles premiere. The Russos said only a limited amount of the film would be shown at these screenings to reduce the chance of spoilers being leaked. Adam Chitwood of Collider commented that this was "highly unusual as most Marvel movies are screened in their entirety for press about a month before they hit theaters". Ahead of the United States release, AMC Theatres in New York City and Orlando, Florida aired an eleven-MCU film marathon beginning on April 25, ending in a screening of Infinity War. The El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles had a similar marathon for the film's release.

Home media

Avengers: Infinity War was released on digital download by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on July 31, 2018, and on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on August 14. The digital and Blu-ray releases include behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentary, deleted scenes, and a blooper reel. The digital release also features a roundtable discussion between MCU directors the Russos, Jon Favreau, Joss Whedon, James Gunn, Ryan Coogler, Peyton Reed, and Taika Waititi. In terms of home media sales, the physical versions of the film were collectively the top home media release of the week in which they were first released.

Despite being shot with IMAX cameras and released in IMAX theaters in the 1.90:1 aspect ratio, the home media release did not present the film in that aspect ratio, instead including a cropped 2.39:1 aspect ratio that was used for non-IMAX screenings. Joe Russo said they "spent a long time trying to" have the IMAX version on the home media, but since the IMAX Corporation has "agency over that format", the situation was "complicated". He did not rule out the possibility that this version could be available at a later point. The IMAX Enhanced version of the film was made available on Disney+ beginning on November 12, 2021.

Reception

Box office

Avengers: Infinity War grossed $678.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $1.374 billion in other territories, for a worldwide total of $2.052 billion, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time, the highest-grossing film of 2018, the highest-grossing MCU film, and the highest-grossing superhero film.

Its worldwide opening weekend of $640.5 million was the biggest of all time, beating The Fate of the Furious's (2017) $541.9 million. It was later beat by its sequel, Avengers: Endgame, which grossed $1.222 billion in its opening weekend.

It was the fastest film to make $1 billion at the worldwide box office, doing so in 11 days to eclipse Star Wars: The Force Awakens's (2015) record of 12 days. Also, in its second weekend, Infinity War passed $13.5 million from 4DX screens, which was the all-time record for the format. On June 12, 2018, Infinity War passed the $2 billion mark at the worldwide box office, becoming the fourth film to cross that milestone after Avatar (2009), Titanic (1997), and The Force Awakens. Crossing the mark in 48 days, it was the second-fastest to that point, after Avatar's 47-day record and later the 11-day record of Endgame. With $140 million worldwide from IMAX, the film is the third-largest worldwide in the format, behind Avatar and The Force Awakens, and the largest for a Marvel film. Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $500 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it first on their list of 2018's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".

In December 2017, a survey from Fandango indicated that Infinity War was the most anticipated film of 2018. Fandango later reported that Infinity War achieved the largest initial 24-hour ticket pre-sales for a superhero film, taking just 6 hours to surpass the previous 24-hour record set by Black Panther. Atom Tickets reported that Infinity War sold more tickets in its first pre-sales day than Black Panther sold in its first month. Within 72 hours, the film generated the largest pre-sales for any superhero film at AMC Theatres, with its advance ticket sales being 257.6% ahead of Black Panther's, 751.5% ahead of Captain America: Civil War, and 1,106.5% ahead of Avengers: Age of Ultron during the same time frame. Two weeks before its release, Fandango revealed that advance ticket sales for Infinity War were outpacing the last seven MCU films combined in the same timeframe, and had become the company's top April release. It was also on pace to become the top superhero film. A week before the film released, The Wall Street Journal said the film had sold more than $50 million worth of advance tickets, behind only The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), with Fandango reporting that more than 2,500 showtimes had sold out. On Atom Tickets, Infinity War had the most pre-sale volume, selling 7% higher than The Last Jedi and 250% higher than Black Panther at the same point in their sales. Atom also reported that ticket sales for Infinity War were doubling daily the week of its release, the fastest rate of increase the service has seen for any MCU title.

Critical response

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 85%, with an average score of 7.7/10, based on 486 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Avengers: Infinity War ably juggles a dizzying array of MCU heroes in the fight against their gravest threat yet, and the result is a thrilling, emotionally resonant blockbuster that (mostly) realizes its gargantuan ambitions." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100 based on 54 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter praised the writers' and directors' ability to balance the large cast of characters, saying they, "under the supervision of Marvel Films maestro Kevin Feige, acknowledge the traffic jam of egos and play it for laughs". Owen Gleiberman of Variety concurred, stating, "Infinity War is a brashly entertaining jamboree, structured to show off each hero or heroine and give them just enough to do, and to update their mythologies without making it all feel like homework". Rolling Stone's Peter Travers said the film is "too much of a good thing" and wrote, "The Russo brothers have clearly never learned the concept that less is more. They've used the premise of an Avengers reunion to put on a fireworks explosion of action and laughs that won't quit". Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times called it Marvel's "biggest and most ambitious movie yet", but concluded "it's certainly not the best. However, there's plenty of action, humor and heart—and some genuinely effective dramatic moments". Roeper went on to praise the film's cast and Josh Brolin in particular, whom he called "the film's most interesting performance". Gleiberman called Brolin's motion capture performance "supremely effective" and said, "Brolin infuses Thanos with his slit-eyed manipulative glower, so that the evil in this movie never feels less than personal". McCarthy wrote, "Brolin's calm, considered reading of the character bestows this conquering beast with an unexpectedly resonant emotional dimension, making him much more than a thick stick figure of a supervillain". Gleiberman also praised the film's action sequences, saying "Infinity War brims with tensely spectacular combat sequences, even if the question of who's going to win each one has that extravagantly arbitrary could-Mighty-Mouse-beat-up-Superman? quality". McCarthy called the scale of the action "astonishing", and Travers wrote, "Avengers: Infinity War leaves viewers up in the air, feeling exhilarated and cheated at the same time, aching for a closure that never comes". Josh Spiegel, also of The Hollywood Reporter, said the film takes "a cue from the ending of The Empire Strikes Back in its super-sized finale; this is the equivalent of Han Solo frozen in the carbonite, on steroids".

Audience response

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, and those at PostTrak gave the film an 87% overall positive score and a 68% "definite recommend". American YouTube personality Tony "Nem" Mitchell watched the film 103 times in theaters, a world record. When Mitchell's streak was gaining media awareness around his 44th viewing, he noted that IMAX reached out to give him 50 free tickets to continue the streak, and the Russo brothers invited him to Endgame's premiere. Mitchell said this was the way he "want[ed] to support Marvel and the Russo brothers". Seventeen-year-old Kieran Harvey from Staffordshire also watched the film in theaters 100 times. Harvey stated that he "didn't plan on seeing it this many times it just sort of happened" adding that Infinity War "just felt so different to anything I've ever seen before, and I just love it so much so have been going as much as I can!"

The ending of the film sparked various Internet meme reactions, including one referencing Spider-Man saying he does not feel good as he disintegrates, which was applied to other things. The website, DidThanosKill.Me was created for fans to see if they would have been spared by Thanos or not. The ending also spawned the creation of the Reddit subreddit, /r/thanosdidnothingwrong. A user within the subreddit suggested that half of the approximately 20,000 subscribers at the time be banned from the subreddit, in order to mimic the events of the film. After the community agreed to the measure, the moderators approached Reddit's administrators to see if the mass ban would even be possible. Once the administrators agreed to the random ban of half the subscribers, it was set to occur on July 9, 2018. Notice of the impending ban made the subreddit's subscribers increase to over 700,000, including both of the Russos who subscribed. Ahead of the ban, Brolin posted a video saying "Here we go, Reddit users," and ending it with a snap. Over 60,000 people watched a live Twitch stream of the ban occurring, which lasted several hours. The ban of over 300,000 accounts, which included Anthony Russo, was the largest in Reddit's history. Those banned then gathered in the new subreddit, /r/inthesoulstone. One Reddit user who participated described the ban as embodying "the spirit of the Internet" with people "banding together, en masse, around something relatively meaningless but somehow decidedly awesome and hilarious". Andrew Tigani of Screen Rant said this showed "how impactful the film has already become to pop culture. It is also a testament to how valuable fan interaction can be via social media".

Accolades

At the 91st Academy Awards, Avengers: Infinity War received a nomination for Best Visual Effects. The film's other nominations include an Annie Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Critics' Choice Awards, among others. In 2020, Infinity War was ranked seventh in an Empire magazine poll for the 100 greatest films of the 21st century.

Sequel

Avengers: Endgame was released on April 26, 2019, with the Russos returning to direct, and Markus and McFeely once again writing the screenplay.