Avengers: Infinity War

Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel to The Avengers (2012) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), and the 19th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely,

the film features an ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldaña, Josh Brolin, and Chris Pratt.

In the film, the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy attempt to stop Thanos from collecting the six powerful Infinity Stones as part of his quest to kill half of all life in the universe.

The film was announced in October 2014 as Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1. The Russo brothers came on board to direct in April 2015, and a month later Markus and McFeely signed on to write the script for the film, which draws inspiration from Jim Starlin’s 1991 comic book The Infinity Gauntlet and Jonathan Hickman’s 2013 comic book Infinity.

In 2016, Marvel shortened the title to Avengers: Infinity War. Filming began in January 2017 at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, with a large cast consisting mostly of actors reprising their roles from previous MCU films, including Brolin as Thanos. The production lasted until July 2017, shooting back-to-back with a direct sequel, Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Additional filming took place in Scotland, the Downtown Atlanta area, and New York City. With an estimated budget of $325–400 million, the film is one of the most expensive films ever made.

Avengers: Infinity War premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on April 23, 2018, and was released in the United States on April 27, as part of Phase Three of the MCU. The film received praise for Brolin’s performance and Russo brothers’s direction, as well as the visual effects, action sequences, dark tone, emotional weight and musical score.

It was a major box-office success, being the fourth film and the first superhero film to gross over $2 billion worldwide, breaking numerous box office records, and becoming the highest-grossing film of 2018 and the fourth-highest-grossing film at the time of its release both worldwide and in the United States and Canada. It received a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 91st Academy Awards, among numerous other accolades. The sequel, Avengers: Endgame, was released in April 2019.

After subduing Thor, Thanos extracts the Space Stone from the Tesseract, overpowers the Hulk, and kills Loki. Thanos also kills Heimdall after he sends Hulk to Earth using the Bifröst. Thanos and his lieutenants leave, destroying the ship.

Hulk crash-lands in the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York City, reverting to the form of Bruce Banner. He warns Stephen Strange and Wong about Thanos’s plan to destroy half of all life in the universe, and they recruit Tony Stark. Maw and Obsidian arrive to retrieve the Time Stone from Strange, drawing Peter Parker’s attention.

Maw, unable to take the Time Stone due to Strange’s enchantment, captures him. Stark and Parker sneak aboard Maw’s spaceship while Wong stays behind to guard the Sanctum.

The Guardians of the Galaxy respond to the Asgardian ship’s distress call and rescue Thor. Thor surmises that Thanos is after the Reality Stone, which Taneleer Tivan possesses on Knowhere. He travels with Rocket and Groot to Nidavellir to enlist the dwarf king Eitri’s aid in creating the battle-axe Stormbreaker. Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis travel to Knowhere,

Finding Thanos already has the Reality Stone. Thanos kidnaps Gamora, who discloses the Soul Stone’s location to save Nebula from torture. On Vormir, the Stone’s keeper, Red Skull, tells Thanos that he can only acquire it by sacrificing someone he loves. Thanos sacrifices Gamora, earning the Stone.

In Edinburgh, Midnight and Glaive ambush Wanda Maximoff and Vision to retrieve the Mind Stone in Vision’s forehead. Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Sam Wilson rescue them and they take shelter with James Rhodes and Banner at the Avengers Compound.

Vision asks Wanda to destroy him and the Mind Stone to keep it from Thanos, but Wanda refuses. Rogers suggests they travel to Wakanda, which he believes has the resources to remove the Stone without killing Vision.

Nebula escapes captivity and asks the remaining Guardians to meet her on Thanos’s destroyed homeworld, Titan. Stark and Parker kill Maw and rescue Strange. The trio crash-lands on Titan, where they meet Quill, Drax, and Mantis. Using the Time Stone, Strange views millions of possible futures, seeing only one in which the Avengers win.

The group formulates a plan to subdue Thanos and remove the Infinity Gauntlet, with which he safely houses and wields the Stones. Thanos appears, justifying his plans as necessary to guarantee the survival of an overpopulated universe. Nebula arrives soon after and helps the others subdue Thanos,

But then deduces that Thanos has killed Gamora. Enraged, Quill attacks Thanos, inadvertently allowing him to break the group’s hold and overpower them. Thanos grievously wounds Stark, but Strange offers the Time Stone in exchange for sparing Stark’s life.

In Wakanda, Rogers reunites with Bucky Barnes before Thanos’ army invades. The Avengers, along with T’Challa and the Wakandan forces, mount a defense while Shuri works to extract the Mind Stone from Vision. Unable to summon the Hulk after losing to Thanos, Banner fights in Stark’s Hulkbuster armor.

Thor, Rocket, and Groot arrive to reinforce the Avengers. Together they kill Midnight, Obsidian, and Glaive, and rout Thanos’s army. Shuri cannot complete the extraction before Thanos himself arrives on the field, slowed only briefly by Banner, Rogers, T’Challa, Wilson, Rhodes, Barnes, Okoye, Romanoff, and Groot. Vision convinces a reluctant Wanda to destroy him and the Mind Stone,

But Thanos uses the Time Stone to reverse her actions, rip the stone from Vision’s forehead, and complete the Gauntlet. Although Thor severely wounds Thanos with Stormbreaker, Thanos activates the completed Gauntlet by snapping his fingers before teleporting away.

Half of all life across the universe disintegrates, including Barnes, T’Challa, Groot, Wanda, Wilson, Mantis, Drax, Quill, Strange, Parker, Maria Hill, and Nick Fury, the last of whom sends an emergency signal on a modified pager before disintegrating. Stark and Nebula remain stranded on Titan while Banner, M’Baku, Okoye, Rhodes, Rocket, Rogers, Romanoff, and Thor are left on the Wakandan battlefield. Meanwhile, Thanos watches a sunrise on a remote planet.