Avengers: Infinity War featured by far the boldest ending in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. Due to the conventions of the superhero genre, we just take it for granted that our heroes will best the villain each and every time. Here, though, Thanos comes out on top when he succeeds in halving the population of the entire universe with his Infinity Gauntlet, taking many of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with them.
Obviously, we know that something will change in Avengers 4, as the likes of Black Panther, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange will have to be resurrected to star in their own films. Even so, though, putting the audience through the ringer like this and leaving us to mourn our favorite characters for a whole year is a risky thing to do. Marvel fans across the world could have angrily rebelled at the dark climax, much like Star Wars fans turned their backs at The Last Jedi.
It turns out this was a genuine fear that Kevin Feige had prior to Infinity War‘s release, too. Speaking at the Produced By 2018 conference, the studio’s head honcho revealed that he “felt confident” about the movie’s shock ending until the release date neared, at which point he began to worry that they’d possibly gone too far, and that “the audience might rebel” against the many deaths.
It’s a fair worry, though – luckily for Feige – it turned out to be unfounded. Sure, fans were left heartbroken, crying their way through the credits, but most have accepted that this was an ingenious way to raise the stakes for Avengers 4 and by far the most emotional sequence in the franchise to date. In fact, many focused their anger on other parts of the film, instead – like poor Star-Lord.
As Chris Hemsworth has said that Avengers 4 will be even more shocking than Avengers: Infinity War, though, it’ll be interesting to see how everyone reacts to whatever conclusion Joe and Anthony Russo have cooked up for the much-anticipated sequel.