3. Deus Ex Machina Multiplied By Infinity
If the characters are bland and uninteresting, Hickman attempts to make them interesting by making them super-powerful. The bad guys in space, imaginatively named the Builders, literally created everything and have the power of life and death over countless worlds. There's a new Avengers character called Captain Universe who is the embodiment of the universe (why have the rank of Captain though if you're the universe? Captain America has a shield and wears a flag, Captain Universe is EVERYTHING). Thanos too is super-powerful though we already knew this. As if to underline the point though, there are scenes like Hulk launching himself at Thanos who deals with him with a single punch. Thanos takes on Thor and Captain Marvel at the same time and knocks the crap out of them. Thor hits Thanos so hard his armour breaks but Thanos is still standing at the end. Thanos' son, Thane, has power over life and death in his hands. Lockjaw defeats one of the Cull Obsidian by teleporting her into a star and blowing it up. Maybe the worst all-powerful character though is Star Brand, who may as well be called Deus Ex Machina given that he shows up at terribly convenient times to wipe away any leftover plot that's in the way. The Builders' command ship? Send in Star Brand to blow it up in one panel then shuffle him off stage until we need him again. Thanos' fleet surrounding Earth? Bring back Star Brand to blow them all up in one panel. Done? Alright, get lost Star Brand. The story isn't more interesting if you include god-like characters who can do anything, in fact characters like this are among the most dull, and it also marginalises a lot of other characters. Seriously, what did Cap do in the entire Event that meant anything? He inspired people, maybe? Though I'm sure the billions of aliens he never met before didn't give a damn who he was; he's just a guy with a metal shield wearing a flag they don't recognise. No, all the Avengers needed to do was send Star Brand to sort out the Builders and the crisis would've been over! Want overkill? Send in Captain Universe! Then just wait while Thane defeats his old dad and, voila! Part of the problem is its format. Marvel Events have always featured a ton of Marvel characters and Infinity is no different. Yet despite the massive cast of characters, everything that mattered came down to the actions of a handful of people. A handful of ridiculously powerful characters.