Everything You Should Know Before You See Some of 2018's Blockbuster Movies - Chapter 1 - Avengers: Infinity War

This year has already given us the cinematic breakthrough that is Black Panther, but that was just the appetizer. This summer and fall will be throwing blockbuster after blockbuster at us, and if they are as good as Black Panther, buckle up for something really fun!!!

I intend to write a series of posts about all the stuff you should know before you see some of those movies. This is my first post in the series. The movie coming out soonest is...

Avengers: Infinity War

Believe it or not, it has been 9 11/12 years since Iron Man came out. Its spinoffs led the way to the model of a modern blockbusting franchise. The Marvel Cinematic Universe now consists of 18 movies released in those almost 10 years. It’s been years since Tony Stark was trapped in a cave in Afghanistan and built the Iron Man armor to escape.

From 2008-2011, movies were released showing:

1. Bruce Banner was exposed to gamma radiation and now, when enraged, transforms into the green monster known as the Hulk, 
2.  Tony’s best friend Rhodey stole an early model of the Iron Man suit and became a military-sponsored hero known as War Machine, 
3. Thor, the alien who was worshipped as the God of Thunder by the Vikings, fell to Earth and returned to do battle with his mischievous adopted brother Loki, and 
4. An experimental serum transformed Steve Rogers into the super soldier known as Captain America during World War II only for Cap to be frozen in ice and re-awakened in the year 2011. 

In 2012, Marvel’s The Avengers teamed some of these heroes up with two super spies, Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff and Clint “Hawkeye” Barton, to once again do battle with Loki. This basically set the stage for new blockbuster expanded universes.

From 2013 to 2014, some new heroes were introduced including:

1. Sam Wilson / Falcon, a war veteran who teamed up with Steve Rogers to stop a conspiracy, 
2. Cap’s wartime friend Bucky Barnes who was also brought to the present day by being frozen in ice and brainwashed as an operative for the evil rogue Nazi organization Hydra only to be awakened by something he used to tell his best friend Cap, 
3. The Guardians of the Galaxy, a team of space criminals who teamed up to save the galaxy including: 
1.  Peter “Star-lord” Quill, a half human, half celestial who is kidnapped from Earth as a child in the late 1980’s, 
2. Gamora, the adopted daughter of intergalactic super villain Thanos, 
3. Drax the Destroyer, a man who lost his family to Ronan, one of Thanos’ minions, 
4. Rocket, a creature resembling an Earth raccoon who is experimented on and given human-like speech, posture, and intelligence, 
5. Groot, a talking tree who sacrificed himself by using his wooden body to save the rest of the Guardians from an exploding spaceship, and
6. Baby Groot, a cutting from the original Groot who grew into the most adorable superhero ever (oh, but he’s a teenager now) 

Guardians of the Galaxy also introduced the Infinity Stones, objects of immense power that are MacGuffins (objects often sought by both sides of a conflict that serve only the purpose of moving the story forward) in 2011 in Captain America: The First Avenger, in 2012 in Marvel’s The Avengers, in 2013 in Thor: The Dark World, in 2014, in Guardians of the Galaxy, in 2015 in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and in 2016 in Doctor Strange.

In 2015, Avengers: Age of Ultron reunited the founding members of The Avengers and brought them together with some new heroes including:

1. Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch, a woman experimented on by Hydra and given telekinetic powers, 
2. Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver, Wanda’s twin brother, and fellow experiment who can run super fast. Unfortunately, he was killed off without exploring the potential of his character. 
3. Vision, a robot who is powered by an Infinity Stone. 

Thor and Hulk also left Earth at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Falcon and War Machine became official Avengers. Also in 2015, Ant-Man introduced Scott Lang / Ant-Man who is only going to have a very small part in Infinity War so you only really need to know his name. In a few months, he will have another full-length movie.

Then in 2016, Captain America: Civil War divided The Avengers. Long story short, Iron Man and Vision are now the only active Avengers as War Machine was permanently paralyzed and all of the other Avengers (plus Ant-Man) are now on the run for not agreeing to submit to government oversight. Additionally, two new heroes were introduced in this movie. First is T’Challa / Black Panther, the then Prince and now King of Wakanda, a technologically advanced but secretive African nation disguised as a third-world country. Additionally, we meet a new, younger version of Peter Parker / Spider Man, with whom you are already probably familiar.

2016 also brought us Doctor Strange which introduces Dr. Stephen Strange, a former surgeon who was injured in a car accident and became a sorceror.

In 2017, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 joined Mantis, an emotion-reading alien to the team and sent Gamora’s adopted sister Nebula on a quest to destroy Thanos, a quest that has yet to unfold. Also in 2017, Thor: Ragnarok made Thor King of his own people, the Asgardians, and brought Thor, Hulk, a re-formed Loki, and the Asgardian warrior known only as 142 on a course to Earth.

Finally, 2018’s Black Panther made T’Challa King of his own country, Wakanda, and introduced his tech-savvy sister Shuri, and Okoye, the leader of the Dora Milage, the all-female bodyguard forces of Wakanda.

 In four days, at the time of this writing, the Universe’s heroes will unite once more to try to stop Thanos from collecting all of the Infinity Stones. So far, we know of:

1. The Space Stone / Tesseract, last seen on Asgard before it exploded, but hinted to be in the possession of Loki,
2. The Mind Stone, which gives Vision his scentient thought, and thus in Vision’s possession
3. The Reality Stone / Aether, currently in the possession of Taneleer Tivan, the collector, among his countless artifacts throughout the galaxy, one of which is… Howard the Duck (no, I am not kidding),
4. The Power Stone / Orb, in the possession of the Nova Corps, the police force of the galaxy in which the Guardians live,
5. The Time Stone / Eye of Agamotto, currently possessed by the Masters of the Mystic Arts including Doctor Strange, and
6. The Soul Stone, current whereabouts unknown.

In conclusion, hype mode fully engaged!
 
 
via GIPHY