“…to wipe out half the universe. If he gets all the Infinity Stones, he can do it with the snap of his fingers.”
It was a finale long foretold. Having acquired all six gems – namely Power, Mind, Space, Reality, Time and the elusive Soul – Thanos executed his horrifying master plan that ultimately resulted in half of the population being reduced to dust.
That is, in essence, the third act of Avengers: Infinity War, which ramped up the stakes to dizzying new heights just as the credits rolled. Much to the horror of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Thanos had won. But victory comes at a price, and sure enough, the Mad Titan was forced to sacrifice Gamora so that he could obtain the Soul Stone on Vormir. It’s that scene that reflects the tragic end to Thanos’ Hero’s Journey, according to Joe Russo, who told MTV’s Happy Sad Confused podcast (h/t Collider) the following:
It is [in the soul stone], it’s an orange world that they’re in. Because he’s in the Hero’s Journey in the movie, we did point that out that there’s a correlating journey in the film between Thor and Thanos. Certain characters make very human choices in the movie that are very tragic that shift the direction of the storytelling. Quill makes that choice on Titan when he punches Thanos in the face.
Star-Lord wasn’t the only character guilty of taking his eye off the prize; just prior to Thanos’ snap of doom, the God of Thunder himself, Thor Odinson, buried Stormbreaker into the Mad Titan’s chest, only to realize all too late that he’s still able to unleash the full power of that souped-up Infinity Gauntlet.
Joe Russo continued:
Thor makes that choice when he plunges the axe into Thanos’ chest because he wants to tell him that he got him, that this is payback. If he had not made that decision, had he gone for the kill, they wouldn’t be in this situation. For Thanos at the end of the movie, this is part of his Hero’s Journey, we once again put him face to face with the only thing that he cared about, where he has to own up to the emotional cost of what he’s done in the movie.
This comes as part of a detailed rundown of Infinity War‘s biggest scenes – its trailer misdirects and curious omissions – and we’ll be bringing you all the latest intel as the MCU blockbuster continues its reign at the global box office.
