by Peter Niverth ’18

 Marvel’s “Infinity War” is the latest of the 19 films that make up the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). And without a doubt, it is the most anticipated of all. The MCU consists of every Marvel movie made since the first “Iron Man” about a decade ago in 2008, and all those films – in ways large and small – have been building the background and events for “Infinity War” in 2018. So going into its release on April 27, there was a lot of apprehension with hope that the movie would live up to all of the effort put into its creation.

 And boy, did Marvel deliver. Every character seen in every movie, from Doctor Strange to Spider-Man and the newest hero, Black Panther, made an appearance. One of the biggest worries for fans was how the huge cast of all-star characters would be woven together in such a way as to fight the main villain, Thanos (Josh Brolin), as one team rather than as individuals.

 But these fears were put to rest as directors Anthony and Joe Russo set it up so there were two fronts of the battle, one in space on the planet Titan and one on Earth in Wakanda. Doing so made it easier to keep track of who was where and who was fighting who while different storylines took place.

 The battle on Titan was spearheaded by Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Drax (Dave Bautista) and Peter Quill/ Star-Lord (Chris Pratt). Their battle aimed to take the fight to Thanos before he could collect all six infinity stones which would allow him to destroy half the universe with the snap of his finger.

 The over-inflated butting heads of Doctor Strange, Quill, and Iron Man set up a funny dynamic of “which plan are they following?” The battle enabled all heroes involved to show off their abilities against the overpowering Thanos and created some incredible action scenes.

 The front at Wakanda was no less spectacular than the one on Titan, as the heroes, Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), among others, fought off Thanos’ invading army seeking to take Wakanda.

 Though this fight did not carry on the exact same excitement as one on a whole new planet, the strength and CGI with which these heroes fought with was nothing to dismiss.

 The climax that was present within both of these fronts was the important moment that all 19 of the movies had been leading up to at this point and cannot be described without the presence of major spoilers. In order to be able to understand the greatness of the film, one needs to see it and experience it for oneself.

Grade: A+