So here we are. There’s still one more Marvel Cinematic Universe movie between us and “Avengers: Infinity War” (the uber-anticipated “Black Panther”) but now that we’ve got a trailer we can watch over and over again — as opposed to the one Disney dropped at D23 and Comic-Con this summer that was only for those in the room — we can practically taste it. This is why we’ve watched all these movies over the past nine years. To see it all come together right here.
So we couldn’t help but pore over this thing to see what insights we could glean about where this thing is going. And we have about 2,000 words worth of thoughts that you can check out below.
But before we get to it, let’s remember what we already knew: “Infinity War” will be the culmination of Thanos’ quest to collect all the Infinity Stones that have been bouncing around the universe over the past decade. Thanos (Josh Brolin) has thus far remained in the shadows, dispatching agents like Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in the first “Avengers” movie and Ronan in “Guardians of the Galaxy” to handle the search for him. But now, tired of failure, Thanos is taking matters into his own hands in a bid to use the stones to achieve true omnipotence.
A few years ago, when Marvel was shuffling its schedule around, bumping “Black Panther” up from being the first movie after “Infinity War” to being the last movie before “Infinity War,” it didn’t feel like that big a deal.
But it’s clear now that the move was hugely meaningful, given how much of this trailer is set in Wakanda — it looks now like “Black Panther” will serve as the stage-setter for this main event, with at least one major battle taking place in T’Challa’s home country.
It’s not quite the whole Avengers crew participating in that fight, but we’ve got Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Man, the Winter Soldier, Hulk, Black Widow, Falcon and what looks like War Machine, not to mention the armed forces of Wakanda, fighting a pitched battle against Thanos’ alien army. Our guess is that the final Infinity Stone, the Soul Stone, is in Wakanda, and that’s what Thanos is after.
2. What happened with Thor, Hulk and Loki after “Ragnarok”
At the very end of “Thor: Ragnarok” during the mid-credits scene we saw the ship carrying Thor, Loki, Hulk, Valkyrie and the remainder of the living Asgardians snatched up by Thanos’ flagship, the Sanctuary II. Based on a few shots from this trailer we can guess how that encounter worked out for at least Thor, Loki and Hulk.
At the start of the trailer, we see Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) looking down on Dr. Banner (Mark Ruffalo) after he seemingly crashed through the building they’re standing in — our guess is he fell to Earth from space after fighting back against Thanos’ forces.
That idea would seemingly be reinforced by the last shot in the trailer, in which Thor meets the Guardians of the Galaxy. In the “Infinity War” trailer we saw in Hall H at Comic-Con, we got an extended version of that scene in which the Guardians found Thor when he literally crashed into their windshield, having apparently just been floating through space after that encounter with Sanctuary II.
It looks like Loki, on the other hand, does not escape, as we see him in the trailer holding up the Tesseract (one of the Infinity Stones Thanos is after) to someone off screen.
He’s likely presenting it to Thanos — as you’ll recall, the events of the first “Avengers” movie were part of Thanos’ plan to use Loki to obtain the Tesseract. We’d bet Loki is going to try to spin a yarn about how he was totally on his way to bring the Tesseract to Thanos, for real this time.
3. Captain America sports a beard
I don’t even really have anything to say about this. Let’s just take a second to enjoy Cap’s new look.
It looks like, fairly early in the movie, Thanos will manage to snag at last two of the stone. The first is the blue Space Stone, which is also known as the Tesseract. That’s the object Loki stole in the first “Avengers” movie that gave him incredible power, and which it was implied he grabbed again from Asgard at the end of “Thor: Ragnarok.” Since the Tesseract is one of the two stones we see that Thanos has in the trailer, we feel pretty confident about our guess that Loki is presenting it to Thanos.
The second stone Thanos has in the trailer is the Power Stone, which first showed up in “Guardians of the Galaxy.” That stone was hidden in the Orb, the object the bad guy Ronan was trying to get during the course of the movie. The Guardians left the Orb in the hands of the good guy space military known as the Nova Corps. That suggests Thanos might have used some of his considerable power to get it away from them.
5. The third Infinity Stone: Vision
The trailer also shows what looks like Thanos’ goons trying to claim another Infinity Stone for him — the Mind Stone. This one was originally located in Loki’s scepter, allowing him to control people’s minds in “The Avengers.” In “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the Mind Stone is what brings Ultron to life.
During the course of “Age of Ultron,” Ultron tries to use the Mind Stone to make an ultimate version of himself. Instead, the stone and Tony Stark’s Jasper artificial intelligence merge to become Vision.
The Mind Stone is part of Vision (Paul Bettany) and is parked inside his forehead right now. Obviously, though, Thanos is making a play for the stone and might even get it out of Vision’s robotic head. If that happens, it’s not clear what will become of Vision. That’s a bummer, because…
6. Clearly something sexy going on between Vision and Scarlet Witch
Wait a second, was that Vision as a human instead of some kind of purple robot person at the beginning of the trailer? Sure seemed that way, although the telltale yellow glow in Paul Bettany’s forehead suggests that he’s still an Infinity Stone robot man despite the more human appearance in the trailer. Regardless, that’s an interesting thing to add to the trailer.
Apart from Vision looking human in the shot, we also see that it’s a shared, romantic-looking moment with Wanda Maximoff, also known as Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). She and Vision has a pretty close relationship despite being at odds in “Captain America: Civil War.”
It looks like they might get closer still. Wanda has the ability to alter people’s perceptions with her powers, which might explain how Vision looks human during this moment — it might be an illusion, or a dream, as part of the two of them getting close.
We aren’t sure what these machines are that Thanos has sent down to wreck New York and other parts of the world — in comic book lore Thanos is usually in possession of a massive armada of space ships of unspecified power, but his real strength typically comes from his personal abilities and the Infinity Guantlet. Safe to say that the movie version of that armada will be able to flex its muscles a bit more than its comics counterpart did.
8. Spider-Man’s got a cool new suit
A new spider suit was teased at the end of “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” but it’s in full effect in “Avengers: Infinity War.” The suit looks distinctly upgraded from Peter Parker’s former Tony Stark-made suit, too — it’s shinier, which suggests more metals involved, and seems to make more mechanical noises as Spidey moves around in it.
Fans speculated when “Homecoming” came out that the suit was one of Spider-Man’s spiffy variants, specifically the Iron Spider armor. In the comics, Tony Stark makes an Iron Man-like suit for Spider-Man, which Peter Parker wears during part of the comic version of the “Civil War” story. That version has Iron Man’s colors, though, as well as four sharp spider leg-like appendages coming out of the suit’s back.
Clearly, if this new suit is the Iron Spider armor, it’s quite a bit different from what was seen in the comics. But it does look tougher and more special than Peter’s last spider suit. And given that the trailer shows Spider-Man and Iron Man getting pretty soundly pummeled by Thanos, putting Peter in a tougher, better-armored suit would at least help him survive the battle.
9. Is War Machine back?
James “Rhody” Rhodes (Don Cheadle), Tony Stark’s pal who pilots the Iron Man-like War Machine suit (also known as Iron Patriot), suffered a serious injury during “Captain America: Civil War.” A stray blast during the superhero battle knocked Rhody out of the sky and crashing into the ground, damaging his spinal cord. Rhody isn’t paralyzed, but at the end of “Civil War,” we see him doing physical therapy as he struggles to regain the ability to walk.
A big hero shot (the one directly above this section) toward the end of the “Infinity War” trailer clearly shows the War Machine suit flying into action, though (upper left corner). That suggests Rhody could be back on the team, in enough of a capacity to help in the fight. Then again, we’ve seen other people wear Iron Man suits, including Pepper Potts. Could someone new be in the suit this time?
In addition to shots of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) getting walloped by Thanos, the “Infinity War” trailer also has quite a few shots of a sad, brooding-looking Tony Stark outside of his armor. Things don’t seem to go well in the shots that include that weird orange background. Tony seems like he has it hard and might be suffering some major losses, which is fitting since Tony has a lot to answer for.
Up to now, the real villain of much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been Tony. It’s his irresponsibility that helped kick off the need for the Avengers in the first place dating way back to the first “Iron Man.” Since then, he’s been unable to follow orders on numerous occasions. His refusal to work with the team and trust other people led to the creation of Ultron and the destruction in Sokovia in “Age of Ultron.”
Feeling bad about what he did, Tony then led the charge to force the Avengers to agree to the Sokovia Accords, even though the only one really responsible was Tony, thanks to his arrogance. And his refusal to see Captain America’s side of things or to put aside his ego long enough to consider that he might be wrong, led to the events of “Captain America: Civil War.” Then he almost got Peter Parker killed on numerous occasions, first by recruiting him at an extremely young age, and then by neglecting him throughout “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
Tony has a lot to answer for, part of which makes him one of the more interesting Marvel Cinematic Universe characters. It looks like that might all be finally catching up to him in “Infinity War.”
11. Not all the major players showed up for the trailer
Though we see almost every major character we’re expecting to see, two current members of the Avengers are conspicuously absent: Hawkeye and Ant-Man. They’re probably together somewhere having their own adventure — they are, after all, the two most “normal” members of the team since they have kinda normal domestic existences with families and stuff outside of work.
There are two other missing non-Avengers notables: Nebula and Valkyrie. We last saw Nebula strike out on her own at the end of “Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2” on a quest to kill Thanos, so it would be extremely surprising if she doesn’t turn up (we do get a glimpse at a character who looks very similar to Nebula, but the color scheme of her skin is different). And since Valkyrie was with Loki, Thor and Banner at the end of “Thor: Ragnarok” you gotta figure she’s gonna have something to do here.
And, of course, we fully expect Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel to maker her debut in “Infinity War,” but of course there’s no way they’re going to spoil that in a trailer so it’s no surprise that we don’t see her anywhere.
All 58 Theatrically Released Marvel Movies Ranked
As "The New Mutants" heads into theaters -- at least the ones that have managed to reopen due to the pandemic -- we look back at every movie based on Marvel Comics that has opened theatrically.
58. "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer"
Just a nightmare. A total nightmare. There have been a number of bad superhero movies, but from the talking gas cloud the filmmakers cast as Galactus to Jessica Alba's dye job, this one transcends bad.
57. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"
A totally chaotic stir fry of nonsense that tells the story of how Wolverine got his claws. Features an early version of Deadpool (also played by Ryan Reynolds) whose mouth is stapled shut, which should tell you all you need to know about it.
56. "Elektra"
That five minutes when they tried to turn Jennifer Garner into an action star went about as well as it should have.
55. "X-Men: The Last Stand"
Just a total mess, incoherent from the word "go." After losing director of the first two X-Men films Brian Singer to the first Superman reboot attempt, replacement Matthew Vaughn gave way to eventual director Brett Ratner, who might have killed off the superhero genre entirely were "Spider-Man" not blowing up the box office.
54. "Fantastic Four" (2015)
There could maybe have been a good movie in here somewhere -- the cast (Michael B Jordan, Miles Teller, Kate Mara) certainly warranted one. But this Frankenstein of a film is a behind-the-scenes horror story, and you can see it in the totally disjointed final product.
53. "Daredevil"
This was basically "Early-2000s: The Movie," with Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell and Michael Clark Duncan as the main players. The cherry on top of this turd sundae was that damn Evanescence song.
52. "Fantastic Four" (2005)
Tim Story's first "Fantastic Four" is just sort of there, challenging you to remember it exists. With Chris Evans, who played the Human Torch here, going on to embody Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that gets tougher every year.
51. "The Punisher" (2004)
This is the Punisher as a straight revenge thriller, and it's not bad. Thomas Jane performs admirably, but the whole thing is missing that extra something that would have elevated it beyond standard genre fare. Setting it in Tampa didn't help.
50. "Spider-Man 3"
Maybe the bad outweighs the good here, but Emo Peter Parker's dance number remains one of the greatest single moments in any comic book movie, sorry, haters.
49. "Howard the Duck"
A notorious flop at the box office and, yeah, it's not exactly "good." But now, 30 years removed from its premiere, "Howard the Duck" is pretty fun as a relic of the '80s.
48. "The Punisher" (1989)
Dolph Lundgren and Louis Gossett Jr. star in a low-rent '80s grunge C-level classic. This one's all novelty value.
47. "Ghost Rider"
For a movie starring Nic Cage about a dude who rides a Harley and turns into a flaming skeleton, this is a surprisingly mundane movie.
46. "The Amazing Spider-Man"
We may never figure out what went wrong with Marc Webb's Spider-Man duology, but his choice of Andrew Garfield to play Peter Parker is still brilliant. It just sucks that this movie doesn't really make any sense.
45. "X-Men"
The beginning of the current wave of theatrical superhero movies, "X-Men" was kind of a cheapie and it showed. Novel at the time, now it just comes off as unremarkable mid-budget action fare as Fox was merely sticking its toe in the superhero waters. Timid.
44. "The Incredible Hulk"
It's sometimes hard to remember that this one counts as part of the MCU, since it placed Ed Norton in the Dr. Banner role since inhabited by Mark Ruffalo in the "Avengers" films. It's also hard to remember because it's generally not memorable.
43. "Thor"
The fantasy Marvel movie is directed by Kenneth Branagh, who covers the whole movie in canted angle shots and theatrical stylings. It's pretty boring, also, but at least it looks cool.
42. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2"
More of the same impossible-to-follow hack-n'-slash plotting from the previous movie, offset by Andrew Garfield continuing to be awesome and Jamie Foxx going way over the top as the big bad.
41. "Thor: The Dark World"
"The Dark World," in contrast to the first "Thor" movie, is certainly not boring. If anything, it suffers the opposite problem, going so hard and fast that it loses substance.
40. "Blade: Trinity"
Starring a pre-Deadpool Ryan Reynolds basically playing a vampire-slaying Deadpool, throwing out one-liners like his mama's life depended on it, this may not a "good" movie, but it sure is fun.
39. "X2: X-Men United"
A big step up from the first "X-Men" both in production values and quality, it still lacks much in the way of energy. Which is inexcusable when you've got Alan Cumming as the teleporting mutant Nightcrawler all over your movie.
38. "Spider-Man"
Sam Raimi truly assembled the prototypical superhero movie with this first entry in the "Spider-Man" franchise, in 2002. Like "X-Men" before it, "Spider-Man" is a bit underwhelming today, but unlike "X-Men" it was proud of its nerd roots.
37. "X-Men: Apocalypse"
Could have been a bizarre ironic summer classic if it were structured like a real movie and had any character development whatsoever. Instead it's just a shot of visual adrenaline that I'll probably want to revisit at some point -- but not when I'm sober
36. "Avengers: Age of Ultron"
"Ultron" is frustrating for what it lacks -- chiefly the feeling that it's advancing the overall story arc of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But as with the first "Avengers" movie its weaknesses are overcome by great character work.
35. "The Avengers"
The story is a total mess, relying heavily on moviegoers' memories of previous MCU films (if you didn't remember or know coming in what the Tesseract was, hoo boy). But the novelty of the Marvel's first big superhero team-up was irresistible, and director Joss Whedon balanced his ensemble expertly, giving everyone plenty to do so none of them ever fades into the background.
34. "Blade"
Pure B-movie trash, which is fine because that's precisely what it aims for: bloody, crass, awesome. Blade, by the way, remains the only black comic book character besides Shaquille O'Neal's "Steel" to get his/her own movie, though Marvel's "Black Panther" is slated for a 2018 release.
33. "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance"
For the sequel, they tapped the "Crank" director duo known as Neveldine/Taylor. It was an inspired choice, because "Spirit of Vengeance" was exactly as nutty as you'd hope a PG-13 comic book movie would be. Shame that it was apparently stressful enough to break up the tandem of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.
32. "Captain America: The First Avenger"
A lot of folks like to complain that all superhero movies are the same. But this was actually a pretty good World War II movie, too.
31. "Guardians of the Galaxy"
Plot-wise, it never really adds up to anything, but the strength of the cast and the bizarre world they explore more than make up for it.
30. "Blade 2"
Beloved nerd Guillermo del Toro took over for this one and ramped everything up to 11. More vampires, more blood, more people getting sliced up -- and of course baddies whose jaws can split open and swallow a person's head whole.
29. "Big Hero 6"
Disney Animation Studios made a Marvel movie, and it's really sweet. Sure, it's the kiddie version of Marvel, but that doesn't prevent it from being a wholly satisfying experience.
28. "Captain Marvel"
It’s fine, but “Captain Marvel” feels like a movie from before Marvel Studios really hit its stride in Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Right now it’s a movie that seems very much out of place.
27. "Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2"
An improvement on the first film, and an absolute delight from moment to moment -- but it never quite coalesces into a coherent whole because so many subplots distract from the core story and rob it of its emotional impact. Would be a top 5 comic book movie if it had just reigned in the plot.
26. "Iron Man"
It was Robert Downey Jr.'s reemergence on the big screen, and he's flawless in this origin story that takes Tony Stark from billionaire playboy weapons manufacturer to billionaire playboy other-things manufacturer.
25. "Avengers: Endgame"
This movie is, frustratingly, far from perfect. In fact, it’s kind of a huge mess. But it’s also awesome and thrilling and hilarious and contains some individual moments that are perfect. I wish it was better, but with everything required of a movie that exists to wrap up 21 movies’ worth of story arcs, I’m glad it’s as good as it is.
24. "Hulk"
In 2003 the modern wave of superhero movies was still in its infancy, and Ang Lee -- still the best filmmaker to do a comic book movie -- got experimental with "Hulk." And what he made was an incredible melodrama with visual stylings meant to ape comic book panels. It didn't sit well with audiences, but "Hulk" remains one of the most compelling and interesting Marvel movies to date.
23. "The Wolverine"
This was, like, just a legitimately enjoyable melodramatic action movie. Sure, it turns into a video game boss battle by the end, but for most of its running time it's just an actual movie.
22. "Punisher: War Zone"
Whereas the previous "Punisher" movie was melodramatic and contemplative, this one is just murderous. And it's awesome.
21. "Venom"
How can anybody resist the pull of Tom Hardy doing comedy? This movie knows exactly what it's trying to be, and what it's trying to be is dumb and fun and nothing else. And it is extremely fun.
20. "X-Men: Days of Future Past"
Its time travel logic is a bit iffy, but "Days of Future Past" is still tremendously entertaining because, while epic, it's not overly serious. As "Back to the Future" taught us long ago, you can get away with a lot of logical leaps if you strike the right tone.
19. "Iron Man 2"
Swaps Terrence Howard for Don Cheadle, while Mickey Rourke breaks cars with laser whips. Who knows what was going on in this movie, but it was almost OK anyway.
18. "Deadpool"
In the angsty and angry times we live in, "Deadpool" is perfect. Aggressively violent and flippantly meanspirited, it's the exact emotional release we needed.
17. "X-Men: Dark Phoenix"
The main series "X-Men" movies have never achieved any sort of greatness, but at least "Dark Phoenix" ends the whole thing with one of the best efforts of the bunch. And that sequence on the train in the third act is easily the best action sequence of these movies.
16. "Spider-Man: Far From Home"
It’s frustrating that it doesn’t really deal with the immense fallout from “Avengers: Endgame,” but it’s still as visually creative as any movie in the MCU, and Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio is an all-timer of a villain. Dude goes all the way out in this.
15. "X-Men: First Class"
The first "X-Men" movie that could be described as "fun." It's basically two movies crammed into one, story-wise, but director Matthew Vaughn's touch is so breezy and enjoyable that it totally works anyway, thanks in large part to a brilliant cast that includes Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and James McAvoy.
14. "Spider-Man: Homecoming"
Not quite the best "Spider-Man" movie, but still an absolute delight, with a cast full of scene stealers. Michael Keaton as the Vulture makes for one of the best Marvel villains ever.
13. "Deadpool 2"
While you may get whiplash from the "Deadpool" sequel's occasional very serious and emo scenes, the rest of the movie is thoroughly delightful, somehow managing to be even funnier -- and more hilariously violent -- than the original.
12. "Ant-Man"
"Ant-Man" represented a first for the MCU by being a straight-up comedy. And it's a very good one, with a cast that's perfectly suited for it. Aside from Paul Rudd who plays Ant-Man himself, Michael Pena is the true standout as Scott Lang's best friend and former cellmate.
11. "Ant-Man and the Wasp"
It's ever so slightly frustrating that this one doesn't fully integrate into the "Infinity War" situation, but even so it's thoroughly a delight. Evangeline Lilly is so good at the Wasp that I'm retroactively irritated that she didn't don the suit in the previous "Ant-Man" movie.
10. "Doctor Strange"
If it weren't hamstrung with all the requisite elements of an origin story, "Doctor Strange" might have been the best Marvel movie ever. That's the power of the astonishing visual imagination on display here. People love to talk about the nebulous concept of capturing some long lost childlike sense of wonder though the magic of cinema -- "Doctor Strange" is one of the only movies I've watched as an adult that really accomplishes that.
9. "Spider-Man 2"
This is a movie that fully understands its main character and taps into what made him such a captivating figure for so long. Yeah, Peter Parker's a superhero, but he's also a college kid working a minimum wage job to make rent while also taking university physics classes. Peter buckles under the pressure, something we can all relate to.
8. "Iron Man 3"
As far as I'm concerned this is the "Iron Man" movie. Somehow, Shane Black was able to infiltrate the MCU and make a legitimate Shane Black movie with all the wit and raw humanity you'd expect from him. It carries exactly the sort of authorial identity we should want all these movies to have.
7. "Thor: Ragnarok"
A thorough delight. This might be the most fun we had at the movies in all of 2017, and so we can't help but love it.
6. "Captain America: Civil War"
Multiply the two previous best Marvel movies by one another and you get "Civil War." It packs the sort of emotional payoff all the disconnected Marvel movies can't really provide. And as an action film it's easily the best of the superhero genre.
5. "Avengers: Infinity War"
You could certainly make the argument that "Infinity War" does not really hold up on as a complete movie on its own, because it kinda begins with the second act. But I don't care. The culmination of this ten-year shared universe experiment should stand on the shoulders of the movies that came before it. The fact that it packs such a profound emotional punch, however, is what really makes it work.
4. "Black Panther"
It's held back a little by being saddled with standard "origin movie" issues -- introducing audiences to the world of Wakanda isn't a quick and easy task, and it could use an extra 15-20 minutes to flesh out the supporting characters -- but still manages to be the most substantial superhero movie ever. It's kind of amazing that Disney let writer/director Ryan Coogler make this overt a political statement -- it's the most openly political mega-budget movie I've ever seen . Also, while I'm listing superlatives: Michael B Jordan delivers the best performance ever in a superhero movie. Good lord.
3. "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse"
The best superhero movies, and movies in general, are the ones that are truly most human. And "Spider-Verse," despite being animated, despite the wacky cast of Spider-People, despite the outlandish premise, is as real as movies get.
2. "Logan"
James Mangold's small-scale western is a game changer for the entire superhero genre, daring to defy pretty much standard by which you expect these movies to operate. It's just a great movie by any normal standard. Where "Civil War" elevated the genre, "Logan" opts instead to be something else entirely and we're all the better for it.
1. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"
The Russo brothers, who made their entrance to the MCU directing "Winter Soldier" before taking the reigns on "Civil War" and, eventually, 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War," really impressed with "Winter Soldier." It's a classic spy thriller with a superhero twist. And Robert Redford as the bad guy is a really nice touch.
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Decades of big-screen Marvel adaptations demand a long, ranked list. This is that list
As "The New Mutants" heads into theaters -- at least the ones that have managed to reopen due to the pandemic -- we look back at every movie based on Marvel Comics that has opened theatrically.
