Infinity War decoded
The first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War is setting the world on fire. Since it’s Marvel Studios, that means literally. Entertainment Weekly broke down the footage to explore just what we’re seeing in this throwdown between intergalactic tyrant Thanos and … EVERYONE.
The Beginning
“There was an idea …” The voice we hear is Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, but we’re looking at a distraught Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., minus the Iron Man armor.) It’s a fitting opening, because this is where it started — a post-credit tease in 2008’s original Iron Man, with Fury showing up to inform Stark he was “part of a bigger universe.” Now that whole universe is in peril.
Falling Into Place
Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) has made this entrance before, falling from the sky to open up a new doorway in the roof of some structure or other. In this case, he has plunged from the world of Thor: Ragnarok into the Sanctum Sanctorum.
The Sanctum Sanctorum
That’s the home office of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and librarian sorcerer-warrior Wong (Benedict Wong), who look upon their new visitor with alarm. And these guys have seen some strange s—.
Science vs. Magic
We hear Tony Stark’s voice continue the sentence Fury began. “… to bring together a group of remarkable people …” With Hulk and Iron Man meeting Strange and Wong, the technological realm of the Marvel Universe is aligning with its mystical side.
A New Vision
The next voice to speak is The Vision: “… to see if we could become something more…” But this is not the burgundy-skinned, semi-robotic synthezoid we saw born in Avengers: Age of Ultron. This is a more human version, looking much more like actor Paul Bettany in real life, albeit with the glowing Mind Stone in his forehead radiating light as he embraces Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen).
Pensive Thunder God
“… so when they needed us we could fight the battles … “ says Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, gazing into a fiery nebula from the portals of what looks like the Guardians of the Galaxy’s starship.
Black Widow’s Ledger
The end of the sentence is spoken by Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow “… that they never could.” As someone conscripted into the service of an assassin squad as a child, she has spent the rest of her life seeking redemption by helping others who can’t fight for themselves.
Hulk and Hulkbuster
The last time Banner came face-to-face with Iron Man’s Hulkbuster armor, it was pummeling him into submission in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Aware that he was more of a threat than a protector, the Hulk fled our world. But now we see him in Wakanda, admiring one of the weapons meant to keep «Mean Joe Green» in check.
Spider-Sense
The rest of the trailer lays out the stakes being set by directors Joe and Anthony Russo (Marvel veterans of Civil War and The Winter Soldier). Here we see Tom Holland as Peter Parker in the instant his spider-sense begins to tingle.
Thanos Arrives
Outside the window of his school bus, Parker sees the arrival of a strange craft, hovering over New York’s Greenwich Village neighborhood.
The Village, Attacked
Doctor Strange fans know what’s just below this halo-shaped craft — the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Destiny Arrives
First introduced in the post-credits scene of 2012’s Avengers, Thanos (now played by Josh Brolin) is traveling the galaxy in search of the Infinity Stones that will allow him to bend time, space, and reality itself. A big bad tool for a villain who wants to «order» the universe.
Eye of Agamotto
One of those gems is the green Time Stone, encased in the amulet Doctor Strange uses to warp chronology. Thanos is here to collect it. And for the story to continue, there’s a good chance he gets it.
The Iron Spider
This is the gold-laced suit that Tony Stark uses to tantalize Peter Parker at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming. Here we see it put to use as Parker leaves his school bus to climb atop this whirling starship threatening New York.
Thanos Throws Down
With great power comes great agony when a cosmic death-dealer slams your teenage spine into the cement and grinds you down like a cigarette butt.
The Tesseract
Another stone Thanos needs is the Space Stone, a.k.a. the Tesseract, which has bounced from the possession of Captain America to Thor’s father, Odin, and was last seen being eyeballed by Tom Hiddleston’s Loki in Thor: Ragnarok. Here, we see he did steal it. And now he makes an offering of it to his old ally Thanos.
Asgard’s Fallen
Just before Loki gives up the Tesseract, we see him walking amid the dead and dying of Asgard. At the end of Ragnarok, we saw Thor’s refugee ship overtaken by Thanos’ gargantuan Sanctuary II. These appear to be the casualties of that encounter.
Infinity Gauntlet
It’s not much of a spoiler to reveal that Thanos does collect some of the gems he needs for his mystical Infinity Guantlet, which fuses the power of the six singularities. The only question is whether he can get them all.
Space Stone, Part II
Here, we see him placing the core of the Tesseract beside the purple Power Stone, which was the MacGuffin with the Orb from the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. (So he has that one, too. That’s bad news for the Nova Corps, who were the last ones seen guarding it.)
