Avengers: Infinity War arrived on the box office on April 27th, 2018/ the movie showcased the crusade of the Mad Titan, Thanos. It entailed the journey of the tyrant of the dark quadrant as he left his throne on the planet of Titan and went on a rampage to acquire all six Infinity Stones. Why did the Titan want these stones? Because he wished to balance the cosmic equation of life and death in the universe. The aspiration of the Mad Titan was simple, to ensure he could correct life and solve the problem of overpopulation in the process. The Mad Titan believes, with every part of his being, that if life is left unchecked throughout the universe then we will one day grow to a point where we cannot sustain our survival.
“This universe is finite. Its resources, finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist. It needs correction.”
-Thanos, Avengers: Infinity War
This ‘noble’ cause of the Mad Titan is what led to the current status quo of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Cinematic Universe saw the end of an era in the Infinity War. The Mad Titan Thanos collected all 6 Infinity Stones and then snapped his fingers with the Infinity Gauntlet and ended half of all life in existence.
All of that on a whim. The sheer scale of this genocide is unfathomable and yet it happened anyway. The deaths themselves were beautifully presented in the movie as the characters who were snapped away were shown (By the powers of the CGI Gods) to turn to dust as they ‘died’.
The CGI effect was powerful, precise, and very impactful. This ensured that the deaths were the most memorable moment of Avengers: Infinity War if not the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Dan Deleeuw (The VFX supervisor for Infinity War) had this to say about the CGI of the death scenes:-
“[It] made sense that all six stones are combined now, [so] what stones would… how would combining the stones make that happen? So does the Soul Stone go in and disintegrate their soul? And does the Power Stone disintegrate the body? And the Space Stone what actually moves the ash? And so early tests were combining all those different pieces and although it was kind of beautiful in a way, it just became too much, right? It became… if there was too much of a Soul Stone effect it looked like they were on fire when they were disintegrating, and the idea was like just back off and keep it simple.”
Although not all characters in Infinity War dies the same death, some are shown disintegrating at a moment’s notice (Like Drax and Quill) while others like Spider-Man took their time to be ‘dusted’. The VFX supervisor explains the reason for this:-
“Some characters would go away quickly and some would last longer, just give them something lyrical, almost a poetic way in which they kind of float away to ash to make it more impactful,”
Infinity War did something rather bold when it decided to introduce the system of semi-permanent deaths to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It will be pertinent to see what Avengers 4 brings to the table. It is rumored that the next Avengers movie will be a time-travel movie and the time-travel may have some direct connection to the Quantum Realm showcased in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
This is an interesting idea because it gives a clear ‘in’ for the character of Ant-Man who was absent in the Infinity War. The fandom is expecting an epic finale come Avengers 4 and the CGI team will surely play a major role in that.
But the question remains, are we going to see the entire cast of Infinity War return to life come Avengers 4 or is the Marvel Cinematic Universe finally ready for lasting stakes in their movie franchise. We do not know the answer to that. In fact, we cannot know the answer to that, all we can do is wait and theorize so that is what we shall do. Avengers 4 hits theatres on May 4, 2019. Up until then keep watching this space for everything Marvel.
