Avengers: Infinity War - 9 Reasons It's The Most Important Marvel Movie Yet

9. It Resolves Countless Story-Arcs

Avengers Infinity War Loki Tesseract
Marvel Studios

When it comes to franchises, none have gone to as great a lengths as the MCU to develop their characters. It's a feat made even greater by the sheer quantity of projects that have released this past decade, and in resolving this development, Infinity War finds real importance.

First to complete his journey is Tom Hiddleston's Loki, who finally realises his redemption in the film's opening act. He's a fan-favourite character in the truest sense, and with his fluctuating loyalties having long been a point of contention for the character, going all the way back to that first Thor film, to see him finally embrace his heroic tendencies and stand up to Thanos was incredibly powerful. This was always where his journey was leading to, but it's also where it was meant to end, with the character's brutal death establishing the film's sense of peril for the proceeding two-and-a-half hours of its runtime.

Vision too - as well as Gamora - meet their end and complete their own respective journeys, but so too do plenty of the film's surviving characters. The full horror and impact of Tony Stark's experiences during the Battle of New York are laid bare as he takes to the skies above, content with the knowledge that it could - as he imparts to Peter Parker - "be a one-way ticket". His final showdown with Thanos is also illustrative of Tony's unflinching commitment to protect life, and although he may not depart in the film, it sets him up wonderfully for a departure in the following one.

Red Skull's surprise appearance also closes the book on The First Avenger, setting the stage for the Skull to appear once more and begin a whole new voyage in the near future. It's a remarkable piece of architecture, and in beginning this new stage of the MCU, Infinity War is absolutely incredible.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.