“When The Dust Settles”
This poem was produced due to a writing prompt provided by Eric Soakai on a Facebook community page that I’ve invited to be apart of.
Interesting phrase once spoken by the Mad Titan himself to a defeated Iron-Man who was the last stand in a war that was infinite in its proportions. Now it won’t be all doom and gloom when we open the curtains to a brighter day. When given the all clear to leave our premises, I will return to driving to my vocation. I will go back to my regular 3:30am starts. I will, wait the world will be a different place, if my mind space has not changed between now and then, I will truly have returned back to the future with no life lessons.
Stressing about how I procrastinated my time slot with meaningless hours of television consumption which then again means a lot to me, so I’ll reprieve that comment. But if I was stuck in the same stage then when the boss battle comes, I’ll succumb to the pressures. The challenge of stepping outside my four walls will rattle my cages. Leaving me dazed as I try to calculate my way out of this mathematic equation like, being creativity plus rest plus productivity equals the hitchhikers guide for surviving, no thriving through the lockdown.
Marvel Studios didn’t hold back for their biggest film to date. Firing on all cylinders and bringing to life one of most memorable cinematic experiences for the franchise. This film was captivating right from the get go, leaving me speechless when the dust had finally settled. There was so much going on within this film, whether it was the quest to retrieve the Infinity Stones that tied all the properties together. Or the interactions of characters who met for the very first time and chemistry they had onscreen. One thing is for sure this was Marvels most serious movie where the stakes felt real but I loved how it was balanced perfectly with the brilliant use of humour and heart. Allowing for it to be more than just fight sequences, the story become more compelling when it dealt with themes that humanised the villain whose idea of bringing balance to the universe was destruction and death.
We have been waiting years for Thanos to get off his floating chair and when he finally did, proved why he is the biggest and baddest. We knew that this film would have casualties and it didn’t take long till blood was split. In fact the very first scene saw Loki and Hemidall bite the bullet which set the tone for the remainder of the film. Even the Marvel opening credits had a somber feel to it, leading into a distress call from the ship containing the people of Asgard. This definitely wasn’t your traditional playful Marvel outing, in fact it felt scary when you have visuals of a beaten up Thor, being tortured by the Mad Titan and Hulk getting owned to the point where he was unconscious. It was disturbing in a sense watching our heroes being hurt both physically and emotionally in a way that we had never seen before.
This goes down to brilliant script writers who honoured both the source material but took time to pen this film thoughtfully. I think it’s easy to overlook past all the purple but Josh Borlin’s performance was incredible and it felt like this was his film. As much as it was about bringing together all of the protagonists we’ve come to know, his portal and presence every time he was on screen was menacing. This is a guy you do not want to go toe to toe with, he swatted away heroes like they were flies. In fact it took six heroes to try to get the gauntlet off his hand but due to emotions running high (looking at you Star-Lord), they came close but failed.
Thanos’ backstory from the comics is slightly altered for his film incarnation which is reasonable. This involves the destruction of Titan which in comics is a result of Thanos killing his own people. Whereas in the film, he wanted to help head count of his home planet but wasn’t allowed to because his idea was considered mad. In terms of how he got the idea of bringing balance to the universe by slaughtering half the population. This in the comics is from Thanos’ crush Mistress Death, she brings him back from the dead as there are more people alive than there are dead and she needs someone to do her dirty work. Thanos’ motivation in the comics is to please Mistress Death but she is never impressed and even betrays Thanos after seeing that he loses his mind due to all the power.
I had predications as to who wasn’t going to make it and that only included a handful of people but with a fully assembled Infinity Gauntlet and an already existing body count. Thanos snapped his finger and a whole lot of faces disappeared before our eyes and these weren’t just your sidekicks. Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Peter Quill, Teenage Groot, Bucky Barnes, Falcon, Drax and Scarlet Witch were all turned to dust. This moment was a hat tip to the comics but source material aside this was baffling, I mean it reduced the number of supers for sure but added to the level of intensity of the film. I think it was a smart decision, we wouldn’t have cared as much if a number of people died who we had no emotional connection to but when you’re favourite heroes die, it’s something else.
Now I know what you’re thinking surely certain people can’t die, due to upcoming sequels. I definitely do feel like characters will come back for sure but I don’t think that this is a Batman v Superman situation where Superman was killed off for no particular reason. The difference here is that it added to the story, I like how there was no resolution, no happy ending. It ended in a non-Marvel way and set up what will be a highly speculated Avengers 4. It means that the remaining heroes have to band together and somehow fix the current reality while still being emotionally scarred themselves.
Doom and gloom aside for the moment because this movie, as much as it was an emotional rollercoaster, it had its lighter moments too. This was enforced through the coming together of all the key players from the existing properties. For years Marvel Studios have been saying that it’s all connected and this film was the fulfilment of that. It felt like watching the comics depicted in a live action format and I couldn’t get enough. Everything from the clashing of personalities to the combinations in fight sequences and this film had a lot of that. It was amazing seeing how each hero got to know about each other’s existence whether it was the Guardians getting to know the Avengers or Doctor Strange meeting Spider-Man, it was nostalgic in a sense.
We all knew that these interactions would be humorous and some of the best moments came through the comedy element. It didn’t take away from the situation at hand but meant that it didn’t turn into a DC film in the process. There was so many moments in this film and if anything they outweigh the negatives which are minimal. I think this came with the decision to split up the characters, rather than having all of them fighting for screen time. This was smart because it meant that each person had a significant part to play and the interactions worked better with few faces on screen at a time.
I was surprised as to how quick the film was over. Two and half hours went by in a flash and I think we as fanatics wouldn’t have minded more but it was fitting to have the runtime as it was to justify for the way it ended. The transitions were outstanding and upped the anti as we went from one locale to another, at the same time progressing the story. Now don’t get me wrong there was breathing room which came through character development scenes specifically involving Thanos and Gamora.
I love how the story humanised Thanos and this was done through his relationship with Gamora. You actually felt for him especially with one of the most emotional moments where he was forced to sacrifice her to retrieve the Soul Stone. The flashback that revealed the killing of her people was graphic but also showed how she came to be his adopted daughter. These scenes also gave us a revelation of the rationale behind his conquest, which again added to his agenda.
I also enjoyed how we got to explore new locations within the span of the time that we had with the characters. These locations also had an important part to play in terms of story and were mostly based in the stars. Every Avengers film has grown in its threat level whether it was the city of New York, the world and now the universe is in danger. Each location also meant that we got to meet characters whether it be Red Skull who made a return after being transported into space during the first Captain America film. He played the role of guarding the Soul Stone which could only be obtained by those willing to kill their loved ones as the price. We also got to meet Eitri played by Peter Dinklage, who represents a dying race of dwarves responsible for making weapons for Asgardian kings as well as the gauntlet for Thanos.
Amongst the faceless armies that Thanos possessed, we met his elite squad in this latest outing. They like Gamora and Nebula were taken from different planets that the Mad Titan has conquered and used as weapons. The group comprised of Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian (who in the comics is referred to as Black Dwarf but the film changed his name for appropriate reasons). I liked their presence in the film because they challenged the Avengers whether it was through the use of magic or through the use of spears and other weapons. We all know that Gamora is Thanos’ favourite, while these other supposed children were more like pawns in a sense. They did his dirty work and failure wasn’t really an option but upon getting killed, weren’t mourned for by the Mad Titan. I wasn’t emotionally attached to the characters as much but it was cool seeing Thanos’ evil space version of the Avengers who challenged them through torture or the stabbing of chests (R.I.P Vision).
As mentioned before the Infinity Stones played a vital role in the film and this was the first time we saw them used to their true potential. Sure we’ve seen the Tesseract or Space Stone used a few times for teleportation and Doctor Strange bargain with Dormammu but that was child’s play. Thanos was not only on a hunt for them but he was not afraid to spill blood in the process. We also saw that he understood how they worked at the same time. He used the Power Stone from Guardians of the Galaxy to blow up the Asgardian spaceship. He used the Reality Stone last seen with the Collector (who is also dead) to create an illusion to fool the Guardians and to pull apart Drax, Mantis and also Nebula (his own daughter). The Time Stone which Doctor Strange gave up at the end, Thanos uses to turn back time on Mind Stone’s destruction, only to rip it out of Vision’s vibranium head. He also goes toe to toe with Doctor Strange and destroys a moon, only to throw it at Iron-Man. With that being said these are all trumped by the snapping of his purple fingers with Gauntlet in hand and all Infinity Stones inserted.
Now we didn’t really see Thanos use the Mind Stone in film but this is speculation, in the process of snapping his fingers Thanos is transported to a watery place with a similar structure from Gamora’s home planet and standing in it is her young self seen earlier from the flashback. She asks of him if he did it, to which he replies yes. She asks another question about what it cost and he replies back with something along the lines of “everything”. What does this scene mean, is it more evidence for his rationale or an indication of his love for his daughter? Does it depict the toll that it took to do what he did? The only reason why I bring this is up, it could be a result of the Mind Stone, showing us Thanos’ worse nightmare or him replaying his pain. We know how powerful the Mind Stone was in human hands, creating Vision, Ultron, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and affecting the Avengers in a big way. Are we going to see an emotionally wounded Thanos in Avengers 4 as a result of his possession of the Stone, I mean clearly the Soul Stone is already a constant reminder of his loss.
There is so much we can talk about from this film, so to continue I thought I would list them or this could be a novel:
Finally the post credit scene of which there is one, it shows Nick Fury and Maria Hill in present day. While driving they are stopped by a car crashing into them and after finding out that there is no passenger, start to see destruction take place around them before they too start disappearing. We know due to the conclusion of the film that this was due to Thanos’ doing. In saying that before Nick Fury dies, he gets out a device and contacts someone. The device falls on the ground and loads, only to reveal a colourful logo which belongs to Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel who is played by Bree Larson. The female Green Lantern of the Marvel Universe has a stand-alone film next year.
While further dwelling on the death of the characters in the film, it is important to note that most of Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t survive this outing with Rocket the only left standing on Earth. In terms of the earth based heroes and I don’t enough if this was on purpose but all the characters turned to dust were apart of the new roster which include the likes of Black Panther, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange. As well as Bucky who is now the White Wolf, Falcon, Scarlet Witch and Vision.
This film is so good on so many levels and is my favourite comic-book/superhero films of all time. And with that being said I would rate it a 9 out of 10.
raviprasadwrites 