Quick Hits: Unpacking “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame”

Or, how I spent the better part of last weekend binging the back half of Phase Three of the MCU.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

I remember watching this in theaters with a friend when it was released in 2018; my initial impression was much more favorable than after a second viewing. I believe Marvel movies are best experienced with an audience; when watched alone, the jokes fall flat, and you focus more on questioning characters' decisions than following the plot. My biggest takeaway from my 2018 experience was realizing there are levels to the Avengers fandom. The woman behind me broke down in scream-sobs at the end, and she wasn’t the only one crying.

On my second watch, I noticed that the main cast's characterizations often depends heavily on what the plot demands at that moment in time. Near the close of the movie, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) tells Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) that if Thanos (Josh Brolin) tries to take the Time Stone on Titan, he would prioritize keeping it safe over Stark and Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) lives. Yet, when Stark is about to be killed by Thanos, Doctor Strange willingly gives up the stone, contradicting his earlier assertion. This is weak writing. The subtext is that Doctor Strange values Stark as a friend, but this rapport is not developed onscreen and must be taken for granted.

During the film's penultimate confrontation between Thanos and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Drax (Dave Bautista), and Nebula (Karen Gillan), Quill attacks Thanos, breaking him out of his stupor and preventing his team from obtaining the Infinity Gauntlet after discovering that Thanos killed Gamora (Zoe Saldana) for the Soul Stone. For someone whose entire arc is about preventing Thanos from collecting the Infinity Stones and committing a massive genocide, this feels like a remarkably short-sighted decision.

The Avengers spend much of Infinity War’s two-and-a-half-hour runtime iterating and reiterating that they must not let the Stones fall into Thanos’ hands; however, when it matters most, they quite literally fumble the bag.

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Endgame fares no better than Infinity War in terms of character and plot development. While Thor’s arc from God to semi-functioning alcoholic is easily one of the most interesting character arcs in the movie, it feels more like a punchline to a lazy joke than a genuine exploration of the Avengers' descent into rock bottom, leading to countless jokes about “fat Thor” after the film’s release.

Avengers: Endgame caters to short attention spans, making it an ideal viewing experience for people whose dopamine receptors have been fried by thirty-second TikTok videos. Action set pieces explode every ten to fifteen minutes, leaving little room for the audience to connect with the characters or plot. The writers seemed to fear the film wouldn’t stand on its own merits, so they kept throwing in bigger spectacles to maintain engagement.

I’m not here to shit on the Avengers; mindless action movies are my guilty pleasure (I’m especially a fan of Face Off (1997) and The Beekeeper (2024)). However, for a big-budget film released by a major studio, the writing is lazy and disjointed (as if written by four separate people on too much Adderall), the CGI has aged like cottage cheese, and the cinematography has a high-end car commercial feel to it.

With all of that said, I’ll be front row when Avengers: Doomsday drops in 2026. As stated previously, Marvel movies are best enjoyed with an audience, and despite their flaws, I know I’ll have a blast.

I’m excited to introduce my new paid subscription tier! Throughout September, I’ll be diving into every MCU movie and sharing weekly reviews of my journey. While some of these reviews will be accessible for everyone, others will be exclusively for subscribers for $5/month.

50% of all proceeds will be donated to the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC), an organization that holds a special place in my heart for the invaluable pro-bono legal support they provided me when I was seventeen and facing a difficult situation. To ensure full transparency, I’ll be posting monthly donation receipts on my Instagram (@kaitwaydrug).

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