Avengers: Infinity War - 10 Best Moments

10. Thanos Massacres The Asgardians

The movie opens with a strong statement of intent as the usual musical fanfare that plays over the Marvel Studios title card is replaced with a chilling distress call from the Statesman, the Grandmaster's (Jeff Goldblum) ship which was hijacked by Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and the other surviving Asgardians at the end of Thor: Ragnarok.

When the scene opens, Thanos (Josh Brolin) and the Black Order have already attacked the ship, leaving bodies strewn all over the place and the whereabouts of Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and Miek distressingly unknown.

After a brief battle between The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and the Mad Titan, the Black Order murders Heimdall (Idris Elba), but not before he can use his powers to send The Hulk to Earth. Thanos then takes Thor hostage, and Loki agrees to hand over the Tesseract to spare his brother's life.

Loki, ever the trickster, subsequently attempts to murder Thanos, but Thanos responds by promptly throttling the life out of him. Assuming Loki's death actually sticks - something Thor seems to imply later on - it's an incredibly ballsy move to start the film by offing one of the MCU's most beloved characters.