OMG THERE’S SO MANY SPOILERS AHEAD

HERE WE GO

In the days since it’s initial release, Avengers: Infinity War has generated a seemingly endless amount of discussion stemming from its highly bleak ending consisting of numerous high-profile Avengers, including Groot, Doctor Strange and Spider-Man, biting the dust as a result of Thanos using the Infinity Gauntlet once it has all six Infinity Stones. Criticism has been leveled at the scene for not having enough dramatic tension due to it killing off characters we know have movies in development (Spidey, for one, already has another adventure scheduled for July 2019), but for me, the scene was powerful enough on its own merits (especially in Tom Holland’s acting in depicting a terrified dying Peter Parker) to work like gangbusters, especially since it ends without even a hint of how exactly the surviving heroes could resurrect their pals.

For me, this is another one of those examples of how execution is everything and the execution of this ending left me shaken, though it’s easy to see how it might come off as impossible to get emotionally invested in for others. Interestingly, these final scenes involve a pair of quiet moments dedicated to Thanos and his perspective on things. They’re both the sort of introspective sequences villains don’t usually get in these Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and they’re well-done here, especially in regards to the visual style of the oddly trippy looking realm of existence Thanos talks to a young version of Gamora in and the fact that the film chooses to close on the other one of these scenes showing Thanos resting after he’s slaughtered half the galactic population. It’s a quiet moment of reflection accompanied by a great piece of Alan Silvestri music that reinforces how much of Avengers: Infinity War really is laser-focused on its big purple baddie.

Where will Avengers 4 (which will undoubtedly be titled Avengers: Money Never Sleeps) go? Hell if I know. I saw someone mention the idea on social media today that maybe the dead souls of these superheroes went into the Quantum Realm and the surviving Avengers have to go enlist Ant-Man and The Wasp to help get their friends back, that could happen. Or something totally unexpected, like the ending of Infinity War, will probably come to pass. Hopefully whatever Avengers 4 entails it will involve revealing what on Earth happened to Korg and Valkyrie. Thor explicitly says Thanos killed only half the Asgardians, surely Korg and Valkyrie helped protect the other half of the population? Whatever helps me get more boozy Asgardian warrior Tessa Thompson!

UPDATE: Literally as I’m typing this, I read the news that apparently Infinity War director Joe Russo publically confirmed that Valkyrie is alive and well! He’s remaining tight-lipped on the status of Korg though….