Avengers: Infinity War may be the most impressive superhero movie ever made. It features nearly every hero throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s decade-plus run, and each hero has their own moment to shine. It also features what may be the MCU’s best villain yet in Thanos, plus an ending that deviates from the usual superhero formula: this time, the villain comes out on top and snaps away half the universe, devastating the Avengers that survived Thanos’ infamous snap.
It’s been confirmed that the Avengers will attempt to use time travel to undo Thanos’ snap in Avengers: Endgame, but did Thanos even have to win in the first place? After watching Infinity War several more times, I came up with a few different times Earth’s mightiest heroes could have taken out the Mad Titan. Let’s see how many opportunities the team missed to win the battle.
The Guardians of the Galaxy meet Thanos on Knowhere, where he’s attempting to take the Reality Stone from The Collector. Peter Quill tries to get the Guardians to follow some semblance of a plan to take on Thanos, but instead they each make an individual attempt to take out one the most powerful beings in the universe. It appears at first that Gamora kills Thanos, but it’s revealed to be an illusion created by the Stone. I’m going to call this three missed opportunities.
Here, we see Starlord completely screw up what was probably the team’s best opportunity to defeat Thanos. Each hero does their part to subdue him, and Starlord hauls off after finding out Thanos threw Gamora off a cliff to get the Soul Stone. My other gripe in this scene is this: earlier in the movie, we see Wong (the other Master of the Mystic Arts besides Dr. Strange) cut Thanos’ underling’s hand off with one of the magic portals used to transport to other places. Why not do this to the hand that has the Infinity Gauntlet on it? Or, better yet, Thanos’ head? Could have saved us all a lot of time. I guess it’s all part of the plan. I’m calling this four missed opportunities.
In a last-ditch attempt to stop Thanos, the Avengers again try to each take Thanos on individually rather than all attacking him at once. I’m calling this nine missed opportunities (one for each Avenger besides Thor and Scarlet Witch that tries to stop him on their own, because they actually put up a fight).
The most excruciating moment of the whole movie. Thor hits Thanos in the chest with his new axe, Stormbreaker. Rather than finishing him off, Thor taunts Thanos and gives him the chance to snap his fingers and finish the job. One missed opportunity here, the biggest one yet.
Total: SEVENTEEN missed opportunities. The Avengers absolutely should have beaten Thanos, and although we pretty much know they’ll win in Endgame, it’s interesting to look at how much easier their job would have been if they took advantage of the opportunities they were presented.
ReJoyce 