“There can’t be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man if there’s no neighborhood…”
In what is perhaps Avengers: Infinity War‘s most emotional scene – second only to the one that takes place on Vormir – Robert Downey Jr.’s visibly wounded Iron Man cradles Peter Parker just as Thanos’ scorched Earth (scorched universe?) ploy begins to take into effect.
It’s arguably one of Tom Holland’s finest scenes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – so far, at least – as he looks up to a tearful Tony and begs that he be spared from the Mad Titan’s cruel and devastating masterplan, one which involves eviscerating half of the universe in order to restore some semblance of balance to the cosmos.
To their credit, screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely justified many of Infinity War‘s deaths through the creation of a nuanced, well-rounded antagonist, but during his visit to the University of Iowa (h/t Reddit), co-director Joe Russo revealed that Tom Holland actually improvised that aforementioned scene on Titan.
Holland’s Web-Head was by no means the only one affected by Thanos’ finger-snap – Doctor Strange, Mantis and every member of the Guardians of the Galaxy (save for Rocket) were turned to ash just as Avengers: Infinity War reached its haunting, Earth-shattering finale, too.
It’s one that will undoubtedly have massive ramifications for the MCU moving forward, with Ant-Man and the Wasp expected to pick up the pieces this summer. Granted, Peyton Reed’s pint-sized sequel is said to be a prequel to Avengers 3, leading us to believe that it’ll reach its conclusion just as half of its core cast are dusted – not unlike the Infinity War post-credits scene involving Nick Fury and Maria Hill.
