By Abigail Frisoli
Staff Reporter
After 18 films over the course of 10 years, “Avengers: Infinity War” is set to release in U.S. theaters on Friday, April 27.
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, “Avengers: Infinity War” is going to be a culmination of what has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) since 2008’s “Iron Man.” The film follows the story of the Avengers and their allies as they attempt to defeat Thanos, who plans on ending the universe.
There are multiple film plotlines that are currently running in the Marvel franchise, and “Avengers: Infinity War” could cover any of them.
“I am very excited,” said Associate Professor of Philosophy, Dr. Jesse Bailey, who is a big Marvel enthusiast. “Simply put, nothing like this has ever been done before. Eighteen films have been building different pieces of an exciting universe, and to some degree it has all been leading up to this one film event.”
The film features an ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, and Chris Pratt.
As the release date for the movie approaches, here is a brief timeline of the plotlines of everything that has happened before “The Avengers,” in chronological order of the the plotlines.
Taking place a thousand years before the events of “Iron Man” is “Thor,” where character Odin captures the Casket of Ancient Winters in Norway. 933 years later, Norway is invaded again and Johann Schmidt, in “Captain America: The First Avenger” steals what is called the Tesseract, a sort of Infinity Stone which Odin has left on Earth sometime between these two events.
Three years later, in this same “Captain America” film, Captain America overthrows Schmidt and crashes a suborbital bomber into the Atlantic Ocean. 31 years subsequent to this, Stark Industries discloses the first ever Arc Reactor, which was how the “Iron Man” suits got their power.
Within the next 28 years, Bruce Banner gets assaulted with gamma radiation, transforming him into The Incredible Hulk, during the movie of the same name. Five years later, viewers are introduced to the events of “Iron Man,” witnessing Iron Man himself battle the Iron Monger and hearing Tony Stark’s pivotal words, “I am Iron Man.”
Prior to this moment, much happens, including the events of “Iron Man 2,” and the wrap-up of the films “Thor” and “The Incredible Hulk.” Also, directly before “The Avengers,” Captain America is uncovered in the middle of the Arctic.
There is a lot of excitement building up to this movie among fans and viewers.
“I’m very excited for the upcoming Avengers movie. I’ll probably go watch it but I haven’t decided when yet,” said sophomore Nicholas Kriticos. “I have pretty high expectations for it because Avengers is a great film series.”
Overall, most moviegoers seem interested in the movie, whether if it be because of a personal interest in “The Avengers,” or because of a friend’s.
“I don’t know much about the upcoming movie, but the trailers seemed interesting and my boyfriend is very excited to see it when it comes out,” said sophomore Cassidy Baldauf.
There is, however, to take into consideration what is known by fans as Marvel’s “Villain Problem.” Although many of Marvel’s superheroes are memorable and engaging, Marvel does nothing to really establish their villains and this makes them characters that are easy to forget.
“I am obviously worried that they haven’t really built up Thanos enough, and with the Marvel ‘Villain Problem,’ I am worried this could mean that the film will be a let-down, given the enormously high expectations we all have,” said Bailey. “However, I have learned not to doubt Marvel studios, as they have taken incredible risks and pulled it off beautifully—virtually every time. This is truly an event not to be missed.”
