On November 29th, Marvel Entertainment released the first official trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, the long-awaited culmination of the Marvel cinematic universe, built up since Thanos’ first reveal all the way back in 2012 in the post-credit scene of the first instalment in the Avengers franchise, Avengers Assemble. A day later and the trailer is number one on YouTube’s trending page having already amassed an astounding 44 million views and boy-o-boy, does it look amazing.
The trailer opens with a shot of a planet suggesting this fight is going to be intergalactic. Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark looks less than his usual ‘billionaire playboy philanthropist’ self in the next shot, as Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) speaks in the background, ‘there was an idea…’, the beginning of his speech from Avengers Assemble. The rest of the Avengers finish his speech, setting a tone of both nostalgia and change against a backdrop showing the paths of the various heroes finally crossing; Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk looks up from a crater in the ground at Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Wong. Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) looks lovingly into the eyes of Vision (Paul Bettany) whose transition from AI voice to omnipotent being has now taken another turn as he appears to be human, look lovingly into each other’s eyes, though the Infinity Stone is still centre stage on his forehead (make note of this!).
A now one-eyed Thor and blonde Black Widow also make an appearance, cueing in an epic and now iconic Marvel score as the scene changes to Queens, New York. Peter Parker aka Spiderman (aka Tom Holland’s) ‘spidey-senses’ start tingling, perhaps due to the huge portal that’s opened up in the sky overhead. Cut to everyone’s favourite anti-hero Loki holds up the Tesseract (it’s only taken him 6 years to get it) and then his old master Thanos (Josh Brolin) appears… Does this mean Loki’s long road to redemption has taken a dark turn?
The latest addition to the Marvel Universe Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) then appears, ordering someone to ‘get this man a shield’, and hence from the shadows appears everyone’s favourite shield-thrower, Captain America himself who, like Tony Stark, looks worse for wear with long hair and a dark beard now altering his light and breezy good looks. The Hulk Buster uniform we last saw in Age of Ultron is cracked out once again; has Hulk run riot once again, or is it being used against a more sinister being this time?
Speaking of sinister beings, Thanos is shown attempting to rip the Infinity Stone out of Vision’s head as he screams in pain. Whether he gets it is yet to be seen, though I believe that the Infinity Stones from the Tesseract (blue) and the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie (purple) are now in his possession as can be seen as he punches Iron Man square in the face!
Cut to what appears to be hundreds of soldiers running from the jungle, Captain America leading the army and the other heroes into the fight and then, the Avengers logo appears on screen! What a trailer, what a movie, what a time to be alive! But wait, there’s more! Thor on a spaceship? ‘Who the Hell are you guys?’ he asks. They’re the Guardians of the Galaxy, as Chris Pratt’s Starlord will no doubt soon point out to him!
The movie, directed by the Russo brothers of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War fame, began shooting in late 2016, with both Infinity War parts 1 and 2 being shot back to back for Part 1’s release in May of next year, following the release of Black Panther in February. Part 2 will come one year later after Ant Man and the Wasp, the sequel to the 2015 hit starring Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly who will also be appearing in Infinity War, and the Captain America movie, who is also supposed to be making an appearance in Infinity War though no signs of her have yet been revealed (the suspense continues…).
All in all, I think it’s a pretty safe bet to say that this is going to be the greatest Marvel movie yet; a culmination of all the heroes we know and love from previous movies who were yet to meet until now, though no doubt having aspects of humour, this film looks to be darker than any before as the heroes face their toughest challenge in Thanos, the maddest and baddest villain to plague them in the comic books. Make sure to prebook your tickets as soon as possible, as Infinity War surely has the makings of a box office hit.
Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War hits cinema’s on 4th May 2018, but stay tuned as more information is released.
Francesca Hadland
