Avengers: Infinity War — spoiler-laden discussion of characters, post-credits scene and cliffhanger ending

SPOILER ALERT: Marvel threw some mega curveballs at us in Avengers: Infinity War, leaving a bunch of questions that need to be answered.

SO, SO many spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War. You’ve been warned so don’t come crying to us if this ruins your virgin Avengers experience.

So that happened. Marvel went there. It threw some mega curveballs with that shocking cliffhanger ending and you, no doubt, have some questions. Join us as we try to digest and explain what just went down.

After a decade of producing 18 high-octane multi-billion dollar blockbusters in the interconnected Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it was all leading to this: Avengers: Infinity War.

The Russo brothers did a decent job of marrying together way (way, way) too many characters and disparate plot strands, fleshed out a semi-interesting villain and provided thrills and gasps along the way — even if everything didn’t quite gel and, let’s be honest, IW isn’t likely to make anyone’s top five Marvel movies. It’s like a perfect example of good but not great, but that’s more because of corporate demands than artistic deficiency.

Thanos played by Josh Brolin is a genuinely terrifying movie villain. Picture: Marvel Studios 2018

LAST CHANCE BEFORE MAJOR SPOILERS

Big bad Thanos finally appeared on screen for more than three seconds at a time to enact his dastardly plan to wipe out half the universe’s population in the name of resource-control (ugh, Dick Smith is probably loving this). But more so, Marvel has done what few superhero movies have done before — the good guys lost. And a lot of them lost their lives too (if maybe not permanently), so let’s delve into what this all means for the franchise going forward and for your favourite powered people.

AU REVOIR, FAN FAVES

Let’s count them down, shall we: Heimdall, Loki, The Collector, Gamora, Vision, Bucky Barnes, Scarlet Witch, Star-Lord, Drax, Mantis, Groot, Falcon, Black Panther, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Maria Hill and Nick Fury.

Wait a minute, don’t some of those guys have sequels coming up, I hear you say. Spider-Man and Guardians Of The Galaxy sequels have already been confirmed and they’re probably not going to be anchored by Rocket or Peter Parker’s friend Ned, so we should expect some kind of time travelling magic that resurrects some if not all of the heroes that turned to dust once Thanos completed his Infinity gauntlet and clicked his purple-hued fingers. Particularly since Doctor Strange said he saw over a million versions of the future and there was only one way in which they win — surely he wouldn’t have given Thanos the time stone unless he had a good reason.

Especially, astute fans will have noticed, as most of the heroes that were killed off in the genocidal move were part of the “new wave” of Marvel superheroes that are meant to carry to MCU forward in the post-Avengers 4 “Phase Four” universe, as Marvel Studios maestro Kevin Feige has spoken about before.

Chris Evan as Cap, aka ‘The First Avenger’. Picture: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios 2018

In fact, most of the superheroes left standing are the first wave ones whose actors’ contracts are up after Avengers 4 (Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man, Chris Evans’ Cap and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor) and were mooted as leaving the series. So we wouldn’t be etching those tombstones yet.

Despite all that, Heimdall’s and Loki’s deaths seem pretty permanent — total bummer because the MCU can never have enough charismatic British actors. As for Gamora, we wouldn’t count her out yet since her death is so closely related to an Infinity Stone and you wouldn’t think Marvel would want to forge ahead with its Guardians franchise without its female lead at a time when audiences expect compelling female characters.

After years of waiting, fans can also expect a stand-alone ‘Black Widow’ film.

MISSING IN ACTION

Ant-Man and Hawkeye was conspicuously missing from the fray with an offhand remark about both of them bowing out after the Sokovia Accords and the toll it took on their families.

Ant-Man will be seen in his own sequel in about two months’ time, though that is set in the time between Captain America: Civil War and Infinity War, which should explain in greater detail why he’s not here.

Meanwhile, Hawkeye will be in Avengers 4 and Jeremy Renner has been spotted on set with a different look. Comic book readers will have theories on this, but we wouldn’t want to spoil that yet.

THAT POST-CREDITS SCENE

While you waited out the long scrawl for that obligatory Marvel post-credits scene, trying to not think of rushing for the bathroom, you may have noticed Bill Bailey’s name come up in the “Thanks” list. We don’t know if it’s the comedian or someone else with that same, probably common, name, or why he’s there. Any pointers, let us know.

Anyway, the real point here is, the post-credits scene could go a long way to explaining what’s going to happen next. Just as Nick Fury starts to disintegrate, he presses a device to alert someone. The symbol that flashes up on the screen is the insignia of Captain Marvel, the yet to be introduced mega-superhero to be played by Brie Larson.

In the comics, Captain Marvel can fly and shoot photon beams, as well as being imbued with your run-of-the-mill super strength. She’s been touted as probably the strongest hero in the MCU to date and could likely give Thor and Hulk a good arse-kicking.

Captain Marvel will have her own movie but that won’t be released until 2019 and it will be set in the 1990s (get your nostalgia hat ready). Of course, the question is, since Nick Fury has known about her for decades, where the hell has she been and why wasn’t she called upon when all those other world-threatening events happened?

Expect her to be a big part of Avengers 4, which comes out after the Captain Marvel movie.

After waiting that many years for Infinity War, we’ve been left with more questions than answers.

Share your thoughts and theories with @wenleima on Twitter.

Avengers: Infinity War is in cinemas now.