Avengers Infinity War is finally here and is conquering box office worldwide. The movie has opened to a whopping $240 million plus opening weekend and is poised to breach Billion dollar mark in a couple of weeks. It has been a decade in the making as it’s the culmination of everything that has happened in the MCU so far. Till now 18 Marvel movies have come out and they all led to the greatest comic-book event known as Infinity War.
As they say, a superhero movie is only as good as its villain and buoy Thanos has been the best MCU villain ever. He is a cosmic force to reckon with but he is not just a big, unstoppable monster, instead, he has a purpose. The only thing he ever wanted is to wipe out half the humanity so that scarce resources can be more evenly distributed. He thinks only he has the strongest will to take the hardest decisions to restore the balance to the universe. The only ones standing between him and total annihilation are Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Infinity War concluded with one of the biggest twists the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever witnessed. It will forever be remembered as the one movie that completely changed how we viewed the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No longer is the kid-friendly approach the way Marvel likes to handle things. Marvel has taken a cue from the DCEU, making the movie dark and raising the stakes sky high.
Thanos managed to assemble all six Infinity stones and actually snapped his fingers to cause global catastrophe leading to half the population including superheroes start turning into ash. And in all this chaos, the guy that saw it coming has been Doctor Strange who was the only one who saw the outcome of the battle and he has a plan to defeat the Mad Titan. But how will he do it? What is Doctor Strange’s Master-plan to defeat Thanos???
Spoiler Alert: The following paragraphs contain MAJOR spoilers for Infinity War. Proceed with Caution….
Strange deliberately let go of the Time Stone
The Sorcerer Supreme has shown to the audience that he has a knack for mischievous, shrewd plans. He created a time loop and let himself be killed again and again and again just to make sure he could drive off Dormammu, the extra-dimensional Dark Lord who had come to invade Earth. So why didn’t he use the same technique to defeat Thanos? He probably used the Time Stone and saw more than 14 Million outcomes and saw that using a Time Loop was not the way to defeat Thanos.
The only scenario that had a favorable outcome for the Avengers was by Strange letting go off the Time Stone and making Thanos let his guard down. Even in death, Strange has put his plans into motion.
What is his Master Plan?
The Master Plan or ‘End Game’ of Doctor Strange is simple – the remaining Avengers that survived Infinity War will track down the Mad Titan and the Infinity Gauntlet will be snatched away from him. Then the Gauntlet will be used again by the good guys to reset everything back to normal and bringing the Dead Avengers back to life. But wielding just one Infinity Stone takes a heavy physical toll on anybody. Wielding six of them simultaneously will be a Mammoth Task. That is where the post-credits scene comes in.
Captain Marvel will probably be the only hero strong enough to wield the Gauntlet. Thanos just might have to come out of retirement and make sure the heroes don’t undo what he strived so hard to achieve.
To win, the Avengers must lose first
In one issue of the comic book arc The Infinity Gauntlet, Adam Warlock states a fact about Thanos’ personality:
“Look back onto your life, Thanos of Titan, and what do you see? A man always seeking ultimate power and losing it as soon as he attains it. Why? Because deep in his soul he knows he is not worthy.”
Warlock does not yet appear in the MCU and Strange is strongly hinted to fill Warlock’s role. Strange knew Thanos would never let himself be defeated unless he thought he had already won. On a subconscious level, Thanos wants to be defeated. If the movie version of Thanos is anything like his comic book counterpart, Thanos is about to get in big trouble.
He already doubted his actions when he killed Gamora for the Soul Stone and at the very end when he wiped out half the universe, Gamora appeared to him as a child and Thanos was again seen questioning his actions. Doctor Strange knows would not have let Thanos win if he did not know that Thanos’ actions can be undone.
How important is Tony Stark in all this??
The short answer is – VERY!!! Tony Stark was about to be killed by the mad Titan when Strange stopped the fight by offering Thanos the Time Stone in return for him sparing Tony’s life. Doctor Strange had already stated before that he would sacrifice anyone if it meant protecting the Time Stone. So why would he knowingly contradict his own duties??
Tony Stark is an integral part of the MCU and he is one of the founding members of the Avengers. It is no coincidence that the original founding members – Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Iron Man, Hawkeye (there is no way he didn’t make it) and the Hulk survived Thanos’ universal genocide.
Tony’s role may be pivotal to defeating Thanos. He will probably take on a greater leadership role and rally the surviving Avengers to victory against the Mad Titan. Iron Man will be the key to bringing the dead heroes back to life. Well, time will tell what will happen next, but right now Earth is in a hopeless state as Thanos wiped out half the humanity with the snap of his fingers.
The movie is running very successfully in the theaters. It is directed by Russo brothers who are famous for envisioning and executing big comic-book ensemble movies (Captain America: Civil War is the noteworthy example). It is produced by Marvel boss Kevin Feige along with a set of executive producers including God of Marvel comics Stan Lee, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Michael Grillo etc. The screenplay has been written by a talented duo – Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
The cast is overwhelmingly amazing as it features some of the biggest stars under single roof including Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Pratt (Star Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Sebastian Stan (Winter soldier), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon), Vin Diesel (Groot), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange), Benedict Wong (Wong), Tom Holland (Spiderman), Letitia Wright (Shuri), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Jeremy Reiner (Hawkeye), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlett Witch), Karen Gillian (Nebula), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Dave Bautista (Drax), Paul Bettany (Vision), Samuel Jackson (Nick Fury), Cobie Smulders (Mariah Hill).
The official synopsis for the movie is as follows:
“Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk and the rest of the Avengers unite to battle their most powerful enemy yet — the evil Thanos. On a mission to collect all six Infinity Stones, Thanos plans to use the artifacts to inflict his twisted will on reality. The fate of the planet and existence itself has never been more uncertain as everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment”.
“As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment – the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain”.
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