The apocalyptic ending of Avengers: Infinity War hit me like a truck. One by one my favorite cinematic heroes collapsed into dust: Black Panther, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange and – no, they wouldn’t – they did! Oh, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, you were too beautiful for this world.
That sense of shock was tempered a moment later when I realized that Marvel and Sony had already indicated that they’d be releasing films starring these apparently dead heroes, leaving me pretty unsurprised when Holland announced the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home, which producer Amy Pascal has said will take place “minutes after” Avengers 4.
As Screen Rant points out, it leaves Marvel Studios playing the cinematic equivalent of wrestling’s kayfabe, in which the audience knows that something simultaneously is and isn’t real. So, while we have Infinity War co-writer Christopher Markus saying that these heroes are really, honestly dead, we also have James Gunn ramping up production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Kevin Feige explaining that Peter Parker will be our guide to Phase 4 of the MCU.
This means it’s all but a certainty that the surviving heroes in Avengers 4 will manage to reverse Thanos’ Snap of Doom and bring back all those who collapsed into dust. The big question is, of course, whether knowing that going in will affect our enjoyment of watching the film.
Given how much the Snap took me by surprise, it seems as if it’s going to drain a certain amount of tension from next May’s sequel. Let’s face it, we all know that the heroes are going to succeed regardless – this is a summer superhero blockbuster, after all – but knowing precisely what they’ll succeed in doing lowers the stakes a bit.
Then, of course, you’ve got the wild card option of this whole Spider-Man: Far From Home and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 announcement thing being an enormous bluff. How crazy would it be if, after spending the entire film waiting for Spidey and co. to return, Avengers 4 explains that they actually died and there’s no way back from that.
Sure, it’s unlikely they’d go to such efforts to make the MCU such a downer universe, but can you imagine how crazy the reaction would be?
