Avengers: Infinity War Much Stronger Film than Avengers: Endgame:
Avengers: Endgame has turned out to be the biggest movie of all time. But before it came in and set the Box Office on fire, there was Infinity War. Just last year, Avengers: Infinity War became the biggest superhero film ever. Endgame took over that record and made you feel like there’s no other movie better than it. Everyone coming out after watching Avengers: Endgame was so satisfied and thought that it is the best movie of all time. But later when you think about it, you may not have the same feeling.
You watch Endgame a second time, you’d still be stunned by what happens in the final hour, and the pay-off will pump you up, inside out. Then hours later you sit thinking about the entirety Endgame, and you can’t get past the feeling that it is great but not the best. Infinity War on the other hand will always make you feel that it really was one of the strongest, if not the strongest entries in the MCU. So, is Infinity War better than Avengers: Endgame? When you consider the overall story, the answer is YES! People will obviously have different opinions. But let’s start discussing why we think Infinity War is a much greater story than Endgame.
THE PLOT
By the time you’ve reached Avengers: Endgame, you’re already so invested in the characters that you could actually sit for hours just watching your favourite characters talk, pull each other’s legs or perhaps even go shopping. If you look at the plot of Avengers: Endgame, you’d notice that something like this actually happens with the movie. After the Avengers swiftly move to The Garden and kill off Thanos, the story just doesn’t move forward for an hour. We get a time jump and then we have to sync in with how the Avengers are changed over the past 5 years.
Then Scott Lang emerges from the Quantum Realm accidentally, and the story starts to build up very slowly once again. But, for at least an hour the plot clearly stands still. On the other hand, in Infinity War there’s a sense of tension right from the beginning! The movie keeps moving forward with a brisk pace as the first scene itself pits Hulk and Thanos against each other. Thanos kicks ass & takes off to get more stones leaving Thor to die.
While that happens, the Hulk returns on Earth and there’s another battle as Ebony Maw & Cull Obsidion emerges. Another fight happens and the heroes leave Earth. This process of Thanos and co constantly attacking the Avengers for the stones keeps repeating throughout the movie. So what I mean here is that the story never stops moving forward. All the characters are established and the main focus remains on the McGuffin chase. Most of us had seen the previous 21 movies so we loved what happened in Avengers: Endgame. But the ones who straight away went into Episode 22 were obviously not as pleased.
Coincidences
This is a rather extension of the first point as the plot of Avengers: Endgame was full of coincidences. The fate of the entire Universe and the finale of the MCU was based on one little coincidence and that was a rat setting Ant-Man free from the Quantum Realm. The plot only moved forward when Ant-Man was set free. The writers argued that this was the coincidence that happened just once 14 million alternate futures and that’s why the Rat deserves the utmost credit. While this sure is a valid argument, but if you think about it, you’d see that it is actually just a little lazy writing.
When you’re developing such massive stories then you could depend upon these co-incidences. But Endgame was dependent upon it quite a lot! For instance, Thanos only came into play again when Nebula went to the same time where Thanos was already present. If Nebula wouldn’t have gone back to warn Clint, then the Avengers would have come home easily and they would have won! It was just a coincidence that Thanos caught Nebula from the future. There weren’t any coincidences like this in Infinity War. Thanos held every situation by the balls and made things work!
Ease for the Avengers
Once you’ve seen Endgame, you may notice that the Avengers actually win their battle quite easily. One could argue that it wasn’t as easy because the heroes had to make ultimate sacrifices. For instance, Black Widow sacrificed herself and so did Tony. Hulk sacrificed his army. But apart from that, looking at the entire story, the time heist that the Avengers go on is rather easier. There were obstacles, but those were mini obstacles as compared to the ones Thanos had to face while he was after the stones.
Hulk explained Ancient One the situation, and got the stone just like that! In fact, he actually gets it by accidentally saying the right words at the right time. Cap gets the mind stone pretty easily from Hydra operatives. Yes, he had to fight himself later, but it was still easy-peasy. Rhodey & Nebula get the power stone without a fuss, and the only obstacle Thor had to face for the Reality Stone was his depression!
Thanos on the other hand really had to work for an entire movie to finally accomplish his mission. He had to run through the Avengers & the Guardians time and time again. He had to sacrifice his own daughter! There’s a sense of urgency that keeps Thanos going throughout Infinity War. He has to get to the stones and accomplish his mission. The Avengers, on the other hand have the luxury of time travel. Moreover, the multiple timelines rule actually takes a bit of sting away from the stakes. But still, Kudos to the writers for bringing in a new version of time travel.
The Final Battle
Even during the final battle, the Avengers again fight an army of nameless bad guys just to give the other heroes some screen time. The battle was very well shot and did have its emotional roller coaster moments, but ultimately it was something we’ve already seen in the previous Avengers movies. Even during that battle, the Avengers face no difficulties in fighting the aliens. None of them were harmed. Infinity War had battle of Wakanda, but it was overshadowed by the battle that took place on Titan.
The Titan battle was rather personal and much better. That’s a fight which actually keeps you tensed throughout. Endgame also had a personal battle between Captain America, Thor, Iron Man & Thanos but it wasn’t as long. These personal fights are much better & emotional than the ones involving mindless, nameless armies.
THANOS the Villain
Infinity War was told from the perspective of Thanos. He was established as the greatest villain in the MCU. But you cannot say that Thanos was equally great in Endgame. Thanos from Endgame actually brings back the villain problem that Marvel was facing for the better part of Phase 1 & 2. Logically, it is the same individual we’re talking about from Infinity War and Endgame. But there is a difference between the 2014 Thanos and 2018 Thanos. Let’s refer to the younger Thanos as ‘Yanos’ from here on.
Endgame gives us a gut punch by actually killing off Thanos right in the beginning of the film, but then later brings Yanos into the story with a coincidence as we discussed above. Yanos was actually tough to beat for the big three just like Thanos was. But the difference between the two is compassion and their ultimate motives. Thanos was such a great villain because he was the hero of his own story. Morover, we saw that he actually had a forgiving nature and was a man of his word. He spared the lives of the people in exchange of the Infinity Stones. Something changed in Thanos in the last 4 years.
His motivation was to save the Universe by providing the balance it needed. But Yanos came in to obliterate the Universe and start a new one. Ultimately it came down to the cliché plot that was a restart through Universal genocide. Now you do understand why Yanos wants to do that, but doing this makes Thanos’ motivations in Infinity War completely pointless. Thanos was trying to achieve perfection in through balance. He wanted the Universe to get better as it is. He could have done what Yanos did in an instant, but he didn’t.
Since Yanos was different, he felt like someone we don’t really know. Take for example the Scarlet Witch V Yanos scene. Wanda says you took everything from me, and Yanos replies with “I don’t even know who you are.” This scene is good for a laugh, but we haven’t spent enough time with Yanos care about him. Then this is followed by a cowardly move as Yanos orders to rain fire on his own troops. Thanos would not have done that.
Conclusion
We’re not saying that Avengers: Endgame is a by any means a bad movie. It totally isn’t. We all left happy and satisfied after watching the flick. It was a true finale. Both Infinity War and Endgame ended with such strong emotional feelings, but Endgame did have its flaws in the overall story. So ultimately, Infinity War was much stronger. That’s because it had the opportunity to set up the finale. The setups are always much better than finales.
