10 Major Thoughts Coming Out Of Avengers: Infinity War
8. There Is Genuine Emotion
A frequent, and very valid, criticism of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that there are never any real dramatic stakes in any of the movies. In ten years, not a single major character has been permanently killed off, and a result the studio's output never really features any genuine tension for audiences to really invest in.
Infinity War goes a hell of a long way to remedying that problem. Before even seeing the movie, the audience's emotional response was already heightened because the marketing had conditioned us to expect a number of major deaths, and nobody goes into the theater wanting their favorite character to die.
Killing fan favorite Loki in the very first scene was a clear statement of intent from the filmmakers that nobody was safe, and by the end credits a number of big-name characters were seemingly wiped from existence, with the apparent demise of Spider-Man reportedly reducing many people to tears.
We knew that not everybody was making it out of Infinity War alive and as a result the narrative was able to manipulate our emotions any time an A-list Avenger found themselves in life-threatening danger, creating a lurching sense of dread not found in any other Marvel Studios project to date.