Avengers: Infinity War is a film that unites the cast from Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange and the Avengers against Thanos, a powerful alien from the planet Titan. Thanos is determined to keep the universe in balance by killing off half the population of the planets that he invades. His goal is to retrieve all five stones so that he can do this bloodlessly, turning half the population into dust with half his fingers.
The film starts off darkly with Asgard having fallen to Thanos and all of Thor’s family dead. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) tries to hide the stone, telling him to kill his brother. But he could not bear anguished cries of Thor, as Thanos tortures him, so he gives up the stone, bringing Thanos one step closer to his goal of extermination. He then tries to kill Thanos but is stopped, strangled and tossed aside effortlessly by the titan. This introduces Thanos as a ruthless, cold man that is not swayed by emotion from his goal, unlike the superhero.
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He is willing to sacrifice all and any who stand between him and the stone, even his own daughter. I found him to be a far more frightening, credible villain than Loki. Loki was more cliche in that he wanted world domination and was cunning and dishonest in his efforts to achieve it. He was also definitely the butt of more jokes than Thanos, easily beaten to a pulp by the Hulk. However, Thanos is no joking matter. While Loki wanted to rule over the world, Thanos wants to vanquish half of it, whether in blood or simply destroying the population with the magic of the stones.
Thanos also truly believes he is doing what is best for humanity. The rest of the world may think there is too much of a population for the scarce resources around, but few would be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to decrease the population. Thanos, however, is willing to pay the price for everything, even that which he loves, in order to keep the universe in balance. That is what is more frightening about him, in a similar vein to the Joker. He cannot be bribed or distracted from this mission. Like the Joker, he simply wants to see half the world destroyed and believes death is a mercy that he gives to people who would otherwise be struggling to survive in a universe with little resources. Watching the film, I realized that there are heavy prices all the characters had to pay, with their willingness to pay being based on what they valued most. No one left the film unscathed. The difference between the villain and the hero was that the heroes were willing to sacrifice the stones for the lives of their friends, even if it meant that the villain gained more power to destroy the world, while Thanos saw everyone as disposable, even his own daughter, thus devaluing life in his pursuit of equilibrium.
Avengers: Infinity War was a more realistic, bleak film than most of the Marvel films with little hope to be seen for the characters. It could get confusing if you are not well versed in the Marvel universe or had not seen the other films in the franchise that give a background for the roles in this film. The excellent characterization of the villain and the grittiness of the film as the heroes fight in vain to stop his killing of half the population makes it a memorable film that I recommend seeing.