How Marvel Made Avengers: Infinity War The PERFECT Comic Book Movie

Despite Avengers: Infinity War having been out for nearly three months now, the film still has audiences shaken at its outcome and clamoring to know where the characters will go next. The surprisingly bleak finale left audiences stumbling out of theaters in shock, some even in tears. The "Snap" was a moment of brutal reckoning for both The Avengers and Marvel fans the world over; we had never seen our mighty heroes lose in so grand a way.

For all its bleakness, Avengers: Infinity War streamlines a colossal narrative in as concise a way as one can with material of this scope. That Joe and Anthony Russo could juggle as many characters and locations as they do feels miraculous.

More than that, however, Infinity War feels more dangerous, more deeply consequential, than any Marvel Cinematic Universe entry before it. More than simply flirting with challenging The Avengers, Infinity War creates an insurmountable threat with Thanos, an all-powerful, yet surprisingly complex, titan on the verge of spelling doom for the universe.

So how exactly did Marvel make Infinity War their best yet? Let's dive in...

"Today we don't fight for any life... we fight for all of them."

Joe and Anthony Russo had their work cut out for them when tackling material as grand as this. In 2012, audiences deemed it miraculous that Joss Whedon could successfully juggle the storylines of seven different heroes and avoid making a convoluted, overstuffed mess.

Though his second outing, Avengers: Age of Ultron, wasn't as successful, the dynamic between the heroes remained one of the highlights. Infinity War, however, is on an entirely different scale. Juggling characters from all three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the risk of stumbling over the narrative has never been higher.

The Russo's wisely streamline the narrative by dividing The Avengers into different groups, with the emotional undercurrent of each group being shouldered by the characters with the closest relationship to Thanos.

The film explores the massive losses Thor had just endured at the hands of Thanos and his Black Order, the trauma being raised by the Mad Titan has had on Gamora and Nebula, and the inevitable threat Thanos' quest for the Stones portends for Vision. This deep emotion ripples to the rest of The Avengers, furthering their desperation to stop Thanos.

For every emotional arc and different connection to Thanos, their motivation throughout is simple: keep Thanos away from the Stones. There are few to no distractions from that base motivation across the entire film; each separate journey that takes place is solely dedicated to the hopefully eventual defeat of Thanos.