EDITORIAL: Is Marvel's AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR The Best Comic Book Movie To Date?

EDITORIAL: Is Marvel's AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR The Best Comic Book Movie To Date?

Avengers: Infinity War had numerous amounts of hype leading up to its release, and now that it's finally here, it sure has made its presence known. Did it live up to the hype, though? Click on for more.

Editorial Opinion
By KWilly - May 02, 2018 06:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Marvel Studios
Let's not beat around the bush. Avengers: Infinity War was absolutely spectacular in every way possible. Reviews by fans and critics have been mostly positive worldwide. Add the fact that the box office for Infinity War has been a non-stop rampage, it seems Marvel has reached an omnipotent reputation at this point. However, there have been plenty of other amazing comic book movies out there before this one.

One might remember the huge impact Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight had on the world. It's impeccable acting and writing for sure made people thought it was the best comic book movie out there. Then, Captain America: Civil War came out, which stole the hearts of many fans. Even way before those two respective movies, a lot of people thought Spider-Man 2 (2004) was the highest peak a supehero film could reach. So, fast forward to now, we have something like Infinity War. How does it stack up against the Mount Rushmore of comic book films? Here's my take. 

Avengers: Infinity War balances so many characters well, it's not even funny. You have Captain America and his underground crew helping Scarlet Witch & Vision. They travel to Wakanda to meet up with Black Panther and his people. Although, even before they were introduced, we met Iron Man and Doctor Strange, paired with everyone's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Not to mention up in space, the Guardians of the Galaxy find Thor by accident. 

All in all, there's just so many players in this game. However, each one is properly used for the amount of time they're working with. No one feels casted out. Even with the Hulk, as he's barely in the film, is substituted by Bruce Banner. And it was nice to see Banner part of the action, instead of sitting on the bench like usual. The scale of Infinity War was colossal, but it never felt overwhelming. Which is a sign of great writing in general.

Now let's get to the elephant in the room; Thanos. They don't call him the Mad Titan for nothing. He was scary, powerful, and extremely entertaining. When he was on screen, you knew it was important to pay attention. However, he wasn't just a one dimensional villain. Thanos had actual depth to his character. Basically, he thought he could "fix" the universe by killing half of the population. That way, no one would go to bed hungry or live in poverty. It was a rough but necessary task for him. Thanos was obviously a sinister person, but you saw where he was coming from. His intentions at the very least, were somewhat decent. 



So, when a comic book film has great heroes and a great villain, that's a recipe for success.

I could go on and on about how great this film was, but I'm just going to skip to the ending. That's right... the most polarizing part of the whole movie. Seeing our favorite heroes just disintegrating like that was simply depressing. However, it was also very unique, because the villain won the battle. That's not something you see very often at all. 

Of course, this isn't the complete end of our Avengers. The untitled Avengers 4 will be coming out May 3rd, 2019. So we'll see what the remaining Avengers can do to reverse this apocalyptic time. 

Overall however, Infinity War was a roller coaster of emotions from beginning to end. In my honest opinion, it has solidified itself as the best comic book movie of all time. Until something else comes out that could even be better, this film has taken the trophy for the time being.

What are your thoughts on Avengers: Infinity War? Is it your favorite comic book movie yet? 
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DCRISEN0609
DCRISEN0609 - 5/2/2018, 7:48 AM
I did really enjoy IW but The Dark knight still the best stand alone movie today!
GeneralZod
GeneralZod - 5/2/2018, 7:56 AM
I have long said the 40-year-old Superman The Movie is the best CBM of all time, with Spider-Man 2 closely behind. Maybe I am still in hype mode after what I saw a few days ago, but IMHO Avengers Infinity War is the best CBM of all time. It was an absolute visual and story-telling feast.
MeAreLegend
MeAreLegend - 5/2/2018, 8:01 AM
I need to watch this movie a 3rd time but for me its currently my favorite Comicbook movie. There just arent any subplots or characters that are boring to me; everything is just super intriguing to me and there arent any scenes where I just want to skip over.
HulkSmash3455
HulkSmash3455 - 5/2/2018, 8:09 AM
Definitely number 1 in my book. Agree with the comment above that Two-Face brings The Dark Night down just a notch. No doubt Joker is great, but I still think I like Thanos better. This was an emotional, action-packed and visually stunning adventure that brought together 10 years worth of movies. That is impressive
Kumkani
Kumkani - 5/2/2018, 8:13 AM
In my opinion, I think The Dark Knight is slowly getting surpassed. Now, maybe not by a single movie, but by the collective effort of the MCU as a whole. This is my line of thinking.

Whether you want to consider the entire trilogy, or just The Dark Knight specifically, it represents what audiences USED TO WANT in comic book movies, what executives USED TO THINK worked with comic book movies (some still think this, like WB and Sony), and what other live action comic book adaptations USED TO TRY TO EMULATE. The dark, gritty and realistic tone of The Dark Knight and the trilogy is the very reason we have and had properties like Arrow, Daredevil, The Amazing Spiderman movies, Jonah Hex, and many more. Even the MCU itself took some inspiration from the The Dark Knight. Even with its different tone, the MCU tried to ground itself still and stayed away from abstract concepts for a while, attempting to ground Thor in science, and shying away from magic and mysticism. Even movies like IM2 and TWS in some ways have inspirations in The Dark Knight. However we know once Guardians of the Galaxy was a hit, the MCU started to be a lot braver and crazier.

But the MCU has been responsible at large for a shift we're experiencing in Hollywood and comic book movies. The Avengers proved a cinematic crossover universe could work. Guardians of the Galaxy (along with Doctor Strange and Ragnarok) proved audiences could like and handle wacky, crazy and unapologetically unrealistic comic book movies. Black Panther was A LOT more politically charged than TDK, already has a huge presence in modern pop culture and yet, it didn't try to be gritty and realistic (even if the basis of the central conflict was grounded in real life politics). Infinity War now, has done what the first Avengers did a hundredfold, but is also extremely out there in the things it touches on. It's through and through a sci-fi epic.

The point I'm trying to make is, The Dark Knight rises will be remembered as not just a classic CBM, but a classic movie all the same. However, in the grand scheme of things especially regarding CBMs it no longer feels as relevant as it used to. The MCU is the current property other franchises and studios are trying to emulate (most of them failing), and yet it is also made up of movies that can compete with The Dark Knight from a technical/critical, cultural, and commercial standpoint (Avengers, The Winter Soldier, Civil War, Black Panther, Infinity War).

One might mention Logan as a film that can compete with TDK or is 'part' of the legacy TDK has left in the CBM, but I disagree. Logan's success is partly due to the success of Deadpool (another movie that is erasing TDK's legacy), and I don't see the film being talked about on a cultural standpoint the same way Avengers, Civil War, Black Panther, Infinity War, and The Dark Knight are. I don't see it being talked about much (except on here really) period. Hugh Jackman's Wolverine is iconic and yet somehow I don't think Logan capitalised on that. Logan also wasn't a major commercial success and lost its Oscar nomination. I think part of this is due to the fact that FOX's X-Men are starting to feel irrelevant today.

In my personal opinion, I prefer Black Panther and The Winter Soldier to The Dark Knight, but it's definitely one of my favourite CBMs still. I do think, it has been replaced.
Fares
Fares - 5/2/2018, 8:27 AM
The reason it doesn't get to that level for me is because it's a bit too jumpy between all the different characters (I can't fault it much for that but it gets a bit overwhelming) and because it can't even remotely stand on it's own.
Films like The Dark Knight, Avengers, Logan and even Deadpool are bit superior in my Opinion.
GarthRanzz
GarthRanzz - 5/2/2018, 8:27 AM
I can't stress enough that I really did enjoy Infinity War. However, I enjoyed Black Panther more, Winter Soldier more, all three Nolan movies more, Logan more, Wonder Woman more and probably Man of Steel more. I also think these movies were better done. I would have trouble naming others though.
Forthas
Forthas - 5/2/2018, 8:38 AM
@GarthRanzz - I felt the same way, with the exception of Wonder Woman which I don't think is better than Infinity War.
GarthRanzz
GarthRanzz - 5/2/2018, 8:53 AM
@Forthas - I just felt Wonder Woman had a stronger narrative story, a couple stronger memorable moments and your brain doesn't jump to they will bring Steve Trevor back. It has a better twist with Ares being the general who was helping Diana was who she was sworn to destroy, and her emotions when she thought she killed Ares but war still continued was very powerful. The emotional on Infinity War was two people dying who I expect to be back. The twist in Infinity War played off of what we already knew to be a complicated relationship in Thanos and Gamorra.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 5/2/2018, 8:44 AM
Yes. Yes it is.
Forthas
Forthas - 5/2/2018, 9:00 AM
Not only is Infinity War not the best CBM...it is not even the best Marvel CBM. There are several problems with the film including:

1) Actually being three mini-movies that have barely any connection to each other without the establishment of the relationships that occurred BEFORE Infinity War;

2) The mischaracterization of the Hulk;

3) Thanos motives are self antithetical...he wants to eliminate half the population of the universe to save the universe and obtains near omnipotence which effectively eliminates the need to eliminate half the universe;

4) Its dependency on previous films to tell the story completely; and

5) The film itself seems to have devolved the MCU into "Transformers" levels of big never ending destruction.

I think ALL of The Dark Knight films, and Man of Steel are better films and on the Fox Marvel side First Class and Days of Futures Past. Within the Marvel Universe I would rank Infinity War seventh!

1) Winter Soldier
2) Civil War
3) Black Panther
4) Avengers
5) Iron Man
6) Guardians of the Galaxy
7) Infinity War
8) Incredible Hulk
9) Guardians of the Galaxy 2
10) Spiderman Homecoming
11) Avengers Age of Ultron
12) Thor Ragnorak
13) Dr. Strange
14) Ant Man
15) Captain America First Avenger
16) Thor
17) Iron Man 3
18) Thor Dark World
19) Iron Man 2
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