Sure, I can buy that Thanos became powerful enough to snap his fingers and erase half the sentient beings in the universe from existence, but why on Earth did everyone’s clothes disappear at the same time in Avengers: Infinity War? Shouldn’t there have been a slightly dusty Spider-Man suit lying in Tony Stark’s arms? And why did the vibranium-infused Black Panther armor vanish? Those are (possibly) the questions on everyone’s lips and now, we have the answer!
The Russo brothers, in a recent interview with The Huffington Post, were asked specifically why the heroes’ clothes vanished. Their answer? “Whatever was elemental to somebody’s presence went with them.” It’s an interesting reply, and raises the question of just how the elemental forces that Thanos unleashed knew how to distinguish between things like this. One of the big test cases is the wood Groot donated to Thor’s new weapon Stormbreaker, which notably didn’t melt away during the snap, leading fans to claim they can now grow another new Groot from it.
Anyways, we can assume that stuff not directly connected to the characters when the Mad Titan finally snapped his fingers is safe. For example, Spider-Man’s spare suits, the remaining Black Panther costumes (let’s see Shuri in one of them!) or any of Doctor Strange’s equipment at the Sanctum Santorum. It also explains why Bucky’s arm, even though it was a relatively new prosthetic for him, vanished as well.
Joe Russo continued by saying:
“It was always a plan to show beyond that because when we made the decision to have the snaps themselves, that’s a plot trick to cut to black after an incident like that happens, and it doesn’t give you any emotional resonance or catharsis.
What he said thinking about it realistically; the true heartbreak doesn’t lie in the fact that he snapped his fingers, it lies in the fact that people have to watch loved ones, and we have to watch characters that we care about die. And that’s where the real heartbreak lies for the characters who live in the Universe and for those of us watching the movie.”
He then went on to underline that it was always the intention to make Infinity War Thanos’ movie, with many noticing that in terms of narrative structure, he’s the protagonist:
“We wanted the story, Thanos, even though he’s the villain, to follow the traditional arc of hero beats. In that you have to follow through with what he did and carry him to the ending, self-satisfied, sitting on his porch, feeling the weight of what he’s done in order for him to have the completion. That’s how it wraps up for us and that’s why we say it’s a self-contained story and that there is an ending, it’s just not the ending that you’re used to. And Thanos, if you track all his major beats, they tell a complete story.”
I suspect Thanos isn’t going to be sitting pretty on his scenic space retreat for too long, though. Despite half of them being turned to ash, there’s still a hell of a lot of superheroes out there (including all the original Avengers and Captain Marvel), and most of them are pretty ticked off that he’s killed half their buddies. As such, there’s a good chance we’ll see the Mad Titan return in next May’s sequel, possibly even feeling some residual guilt about his universe-changing actions in Infinity War.