Does the Ending of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Spoil Itself?

I was sooo suprised that spiserman left at the end and also they did not die they went to a different universe

I actually did not know about the ending, remaining remarkably spoiler-free until today, when I saw the movie. Honestly, it reminded me of the many comic book sagas of the early 80s, with heroes dying and somehow coming back or just being re-booted by the publisher in another form. I hated the movie, and, unlike Black Panther, which I loved and immediately saw again, I won't be seeing Infinity War again or buying the DVD.

A disturbing reversal of the entire Infinity War comic book series. Thanos is suddenly a benign being, wanting salvation for the Universe? Is this the same person that killed his mother? And then became "good"? Not likely. The movie simply fulfills the wishes of the fans of Pow! Smash! Bam! KRAKOOOOM! Those of us who actually read the series back in the 90s cannot watch this without wondering how Marvel changed the powers of the heroes, and made it so that, instead of Thanos pulverizing Iron Man with a mere touch of his pinkie finger, actually has to spend 5 minutes fighting him -- WEARING THE INFINITY GAUNTLET? It's like expecting the Sun to hit the Earth and it takes the earth half an hour to be blown to smithereens? Nothing makes sense. The actors are reasonable, but as even a remote truth to the comic book series, it's from an alternate Universe. Which is likely where Marvel's scriptwriters' heads astral bodies inhabited when they wrote this. A mess that will make a billion billion dollars. But for those of us who KNOW the series? A billion billion disappointments.

To expect real death to occur in the Marvel universe is to expect these movies to transcend their genre roots. For example, even if Spider-Man is really dead there are the Ben Reilly and Kane clones of our dead hero who can be plugged in to reboot the franchise yet again. How many times has Superman been killed, only to be resurrected? Comics fans accept all this with the same equanimity that they accept wonky science (radiation gives you super-powers?) and characters that never age.

For me is good movie i enjoy it very much all effects with too much emotion and good actors

60 years ago you would have been writing similar reviews about movies like “To have and Have Not.” And like the best of Howard Hawks, these Marvel films will only grow in the affectionate estimation of generations.

Considering there are two more Blank Panther movies slated, two more Spiderman movies, another Guardians movie, another Dr. Strange movie, it is obvious that things will change next movie or else none of those movies would be happening as we have no Spiderman currently, no Black Panther, one Guardian, and no Dr. Strange. It is kind of hard to continue the story lines of those movies without the key characters. So, the head of marvel studios is obviously lying through his teeth to try and help keep people hooked until part 2.

This is a common, almost risible comic book trope nowadays. Since the mid-1980s there would be these massive crossover-reality-changing-reboots of comic book company lines. Mostly at anniversary points, or when there was an upheaval in said company's editorial quadrant. Sometimes they work, often they flushed. IW does get props for translating this to the live action screen, but one shouldn't fret or overthink the details, imo.

completely mixed feelings you can not stay this way this incredible movie just wait what comes

So if you read Infinity Gaunlet you'd know that what the dead will be brought back to life at the end of the second movie w Thanos defeated. That's not a spoiler. that's a trope.

Of course these characters are not dead. This can not be left like this! It was one of the best feelings I've had, mixed feelings ... But anyway! I look forward to the next part of this great movie.

I have no doubt that everyone who became ashes will come back (as mentioned in several comments, the comic book source material presents the same situation with the revival at the end), but the true question is whether the casualties before that moment will be permanent which would still be pretty shocking.

I managed to avoid spoilers long enough to see the movie, and even though I knew it was likely to end with Thanos ascendant as the cliffhanger of a two-parter, I was still surprised and shocked by the ending. But the very scope of the defeat does make it seem very likely that part two will involve at least a partial reversal. You can't kill off most of the characters you've spent a decade developing, and this is the superhero genre, where nobody stays dead forever, if they have a good enough story. Some people dismiss the genre as trite, but I'm reminded of a mythology professor I had in college, who defended the "Hercules" television series by pointing out how every culture and generation produces its own versions of classic stories and themes. Today's superheroes are simply modern versions of the hero genre from mythology and folklore: Jason, Achilles, Heracles, Gilgamesh, Marduk, King Arthur, Siegfried, Robin Hood. They're fun; sometimes the stories are well-written and told, and sometimes they're forgettable (and quickly forgotten). I don't buy the story that nobody's coming back. The producers can hardly say, "oh, of course they are!" even if they are; George Lucas wasn't going to say, "of course Luke and his friends will defeat Darth Vader and the Empire in the next film!" But even if they stay dead for now, there will always be new stories about them down the road; reboots, television series, and who knows what else. I look forward to seeing what happens next!

When Time/Warner declared the absolute, and, unconditional demise of Elmer Fudd, I was skeptical. No cloud, wings, and harp: this was to be the utter extermination of Elmer Fudd (by dynamite, at the hands of--who else?--Bugs Bunny). It never was carried through, and I honesty don't know Fudd's current status, but come on! This is fiction, infinitely mutable.

The "Snap" is in the source material. To complain, or overthink this, is like thinking that maybe if one was doing a multi part story of Jesus, he should've just been left for dead on Good Friday. Now, maybe we should think that as God knows everything, his death on the cross is meaningless because it isn't permanent. That God would know the outcome, that for Jesus, death was not the frightening unknown that it is for most people. But then that would be to intentionally miss the message of the story, wouldn't it.

Absolutely loved the intro to the article: "The following piece discusses details from the ending of 'Avengers: Infinity War.'

How do you know if they died if they have a part 2? It's coming out next year! Everybody forgot about that part. Literally at the last minute of the movie captions came up and said " Thanos will be back "

Obviously these characters are not really dead!! "Black Panther" just made a billion dollars! You really think they haven't already signed Chadwick Boseman to at least 2 more movies?!

Does anyone think these Marvel movies (like 007, or Star Trek) get people in the door because there's a chance of the mega-villain winning? We go because of the fun in seeing these characters play off each other. Marvel is superb with this. (DC...well, that's another story, but WW may yet save that studio.) Now we will wonder who will die and (temporarily) stay dead in the conclusion. I hope Disney does pick up the pace with the Fox acquisition - we don't need all the X-Men, but I think there's a huge demand to see Hugh Jackman's Wolverine in this mix for the next film. A big part of the conclusion is foretold given what we know about the time-changing stone and Dr. Strange having revealed there's only 1 path in 14mm that lead to victory (which is why he changes his mind about protecting the stone above all else; IronMan's part of the path to success.) But, what matters is the journey, and this movie gave us a great villain with a lot of time spent on his backstory. (GEEK TIME OUT: For my money, Thanos' motivation derives most directly from the original Star Trek TV series' episode "The Conscience of the King." A dictator had decided who lived/died because supplies were dwindling; Spoiler Alert: Kirk wins. Both A:IW and ST take off from Thomas Malthus' theory.) The most chilling part of the ending is Thanos (nicely recovered from some major Thor axe wounding) grabbing a cup of joe and enjoying the sunrise, content in what he's done.

To borrow from another SciFi franchise, that was the best fracking Avenger's movie ever! And I variously enjoyed and was thoroughly entertained by the others. They did a great job with such an expansive universe of characters and story lines.

When 3 of these money-grab vehicles lose money in a row, then and only then. will it be the walking corpse that turns to dust and blows away.

All the new players died. All the original Avengers didn't. The ones who didn't either have had their three movies (Iron Man, Cap, Thor) or weren't solo movie material (Hawkeye, BlackWidow, Hulk). All the new hotness (GotG, BP, Spidey, Dr. Strange) that still have 1-2 more movies each, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars each, are gone. It's patently obvious that it can't be left like this. It's much more likely to lead up to an OG Avengers reunion, which will more or less be their swan song. Personally though, I hate them bringing full time travel or reality bending in as a 'fix', because that cheapens and undermines any future plot. Sure they could destroy the stones in the end, but once you've let that genie out of the bottle that chance is always hanging around giving everything in the MCU less permanence.

Ah, so sad. Theaters awash with super-heros in simpleton plotlines. Gosh. Some get killed off, but a yet determined deus ex-machina device will bring them back for battling the next super-villian. So fans of this genre need not be concerned. Your super-hero will be there for the next episode. Me? Trotting to the library to browse the fiction shelves and find some really good, clever works. Find a good one to recommend to the book club.

Ugh, such a grim, dour two-and-half hours, and for what? We know Spiderman 2 is being made; we know Black Panther 2 is being made; we know the Guardians are coming back. The end is meaningless, an obviously bogus cliff-hanger. And what a shame. Guardians 2 was the best Marvel movie so far, with fun, and character, and uplifting music! Thor 3 took it a notch further, blending the usual Marvel action with G2's wit and excitement to make a modern day Flash Gordon. And wow, Spiderman almost managed to be a classic coming-of-age story, with a genuinely youthful vigor. Awesome! Those movies feel like comic books; Avengers 3 feels like a slow-motion funeral dirge with people wearing silly costumes. I blame myself. Avengers 1 was tired; part 2 was a down-right drag. I had hoped part 3 would have turned the corner with GotG, Thor and Spider, but nope: it's just more Captain America frowning, more Black Widow brow-furroring. In these bleak times, it's the last thing I need. It's boring.

You're thinking of this all wrong. It's only a movie, and 99.999% of the people that see it could care not one whit about continuity. Roseanne can be resurrected as a modern sitcom, the plot (including people who have died) utterly changed, and the people who watch it care not one whit. Maybe stop treating children's movies as if they were actually intellectual?

Yes, I am surprised that the NYTIMES would devote this much space to discussing the "death" of superheroes in a fictional movie. But since they have I will comment. How many times have people died only to come back. Superman? Bobby Ewing. Dan on Roseanne? If you really think key Marvel heroes are dead there is a Bridge I will sell you and it doesn't go to Asgard.

It was a powerful ending. I will miss some of the charcters (though not like one girl who was sobbing at Bucky) but I have faith that some will come back. Honestly the only character that I really "grieved about" was Black Panther, and it wasn't for me. There were two 8-12 year old young black men in the row in front of me on Thursday night, and they were totally devastated by the ending. I saw their faces and wanted to give them a hug but that wasn't appropriate.

I am sure we will see all of these characters again, which to me negated any emotional impact of seeing their demise. And I'm not talking about seeing them in future reboots; I suspect their return is already written into the story line. To me, the ending of Infinity War stands in stark contrast to the much more realistic and somber finality of 2017's Logan, which (for that reason) was a far better film. And yes, I realize that in their infinite quest for money, the studio will someday reboot Wolverine, but they'll have to do it without Hugh Jackman. Which to most fans, means that Logan will always be the "last" film in that long line. The problem with the immortality and resurrection of superheroes is that when death can be reversed, then death holds no emotional impact.

It was great for what it was. It would be nice to have some weight behind the story, but we do have Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter (and American Gods).

I've always found time-travel to be the lamest of plot devices - though I'll admit it played well as humor in "Back to the Future" (and don't even get me started on "Inception"...)

One thing I learned about comic book stories at an early age (a long time ago) is that no one ever really dies.

I was brought up being taught "Western" Christian philosophy, in which the Good and Evil powers are distinct, and where Good has (in the past) and will (in the future) triumph over Evil with decisive and (coming) eternal finality. "Infinity War" seems to take it cues from a different philosophy, in which an balanced struggle between equally matched good and evil foes will continue for an "infinite" length, without ultimate victory for any one side. The Taoist philosophy of Yin and Yang is a good example of this type of philosophy. I can see why a balanced and eternal struggle makes a lot more sense financially, for the studio.

The movie was effective on its own terms, don't care about prequels and sequels, alternate universes, etc. Tired of the talk of the movie biz, like forever, as if it's somehow vaguely important to the US economy compared to international weapons sales.

Doesn't one of the two "chief film critics" of America's paper of record have better things to do than write "think pieces" about silly action movies based on comic strips? A previously unreleased chef d'oeuvre from no less a director than Rainer Fassbinder opened here several months back without a word written by Mr. Scott (or, for that matter, Manohla Dargis)- not before, during or since. I suppose that at this point box-office and buzz are as important to film critics as they are to fan-boys (even assuming they're not the same thing). Still, having reviewed "The Avengers" just three or four days ago, can't Mr. Scott now trouble himself to become reacquainted with the art form he was hired to comment upon? BTW: "Black Panther" was more of the same nonsense, proving only that junk comes in all colors. Where is Christopher Nolan when you really need him?

"Death is what gives life meaning ... to know that your time is short; to know that your days are numbered" -- or at least that's what the Ancient One tells Doctor Strange in his inaugural film. I'll tell you the death of one of the Avengers in particular was more thought provoking and impactful to my 12 year old son than anything in literature or life (he's already had a number of close relatives pass) that he has yet encountered. I have no idea how Infinity War is going to end and I suspect this may be Marvel's high water mark -- but if it is, it's a good one.

My son offered, for me, a plausible interpretation of the endin: We saw only Thanos' "reality." The actual progression ended when an Avenger grabbed the stone-encrusted glove from Thanos' hand, permitting them to gain access to the reality stone and, thus, change reality.

So what? I spent seven bucks to go to a movie and was entertained. I know what happens in the comic books. It doesn’t match the movie story line. That’s not relevant. You might as well complain about Cinderella having the same old ending. If you want to go deep just assume that Hollywood is deeply tapped into the Jungian model of the psyche and let America work through its archetypes.

Anyone think the heroes that are alive at the end of the movie are actually the ones dead & vice versa?

I don’t care and I’m not interested, regardless of Marvel’s and Disney’s trouble and expense.

My guess on how they'll, or at least Black Panther and Bucky may be brought back- They died on, or near, Wakanda soil which grows the plant from where BP derives his powers. Recall from BP that he was able to visit the "Ancestral Plane" which he did two times- once when he officially became the BP and later on in the film when he was near death. Why is that significant? Because you can return from the ancestral plane. If those characters who turned to ashes are not dead, but instead in the ancestral plane, they can return. You're welcome, Marvel. I know it's already been filmed but, if you read this and decide to incorporate my idea, I'll let you know where to send my consultant's fee.