Looking Back at the Snap in Avengers: Infinity War

This post has SPOILERS for AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR and STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI but like come on, you’ve seen both of those movies.

Anyone who follows me on Twitter (@PopCulturedWP) has probably already seen my tweet about this, but with Captain Marvel on the way later this week, I decided it was high time to re-watch Avengers: Infinity War. I think that it still holds up, but that discussion obviously won’t be worth having until after Avengers: Endgame comes out. That’s when we’ll be able to understand just how much Infinity War‘s big dramatic moment has been undercut.

But for now, Infinity War‘s big and dramatic moment looms tall. What other movie franchise has the gall to kill off half of its cast, particularly the younger half who will carry that franchise into the 2020’s? For right now, it is a bold attempt to shock the audience, and an amazing use of the biggest ensemble cast probably ever.

In fact, in regards to this post, the big, shocking moment is the one I want to write about. It has to do with all the characters’ last words.

T’Challa ironically tells Okoye that they have to get out of the jungle because “this is no place to die” before suddenly dying. Groot tragically says “I Am Groot” which translates to “Dad” but also translates to: “Ow, my heart.”  Doctor Strange assures Tony that out of all the possible futures he saw, “There was no other way.” Most famous however, are Spiderman’s last words to Tony:

“Mr. Stark? I don’t feel so good. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t wanna go sir, please I don’t wanna go. I’m sorry.”

Ouch. That’s upsetting.

But one thing that becomes notable is the “I don’t feel so good” – Peter is the only person who mentions feeling any kind of physical discomfort before it happens. The closest you get is Mantis, who says “Something’s happening.” The reason Peter is the only one who feels the Snap about to happen is because of his spidey-sense which makes me feel more sad for some reason. But I just like that use of spidey-sense because of the way it both organically comes from something that is well-known about the character while also providing an emotional gut punch to the audience.

On the other hand, I’m not 100% sure why Mantis can feel that something is happening, since her powers are an empathetic and activated by touch. There’s the possibility that Mantis feels the Snap because it’s such a huge cosmic event. Or, alternately, there’s the possibility that she says “Something’s happening” just because she thinks something might be happening. Who knows?

Also, on a more lighthearted note, let’s compare two scenes from two Disney-affiliated movies that involve people vanishing into nothing and their robotic limbs. Coming out only about five months apart, both Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Infinity War had two such deaths. At the end of Last Jedi, Luke dies and becomes a force ghost, a process which just kind of causes him to suddenly evaporate. His robes fall to the ground, but its been a joke among fans if his mechanical right hand (which was cut off and replaced in The Empire Strikes Back) evaporates with him or maybe it falls to the ground with his robes.

Fast forward to Infinity War, in which we see the Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes – who has a mechanical arm – turn into dust after the Snap, and his arm very clearly crumbles just like the rest of his body.

This is made a little more coincidental by the fact that the internet constantly points out how the actors who play these characters – Mark Hamill and Sebastian Stan respectively – look like father and son. This is pure coincidence and doesn’t mean anything, but I think it’s amusing.

At least, I’ll tell myself it’s amusing while I worry about whether or not these characters are coming back.

 

• Do you think any of the deaths in Avengers: Infinity War will stick? If they don’t, does that diminish the movie’s quality?