Warning! Spoilers. Not detailed, but still heavily present.

Avengers: Infinity War isn’t a movie for a casual Marvel fan, nor someone who isn’t fully caught up in all the going-on’s in the Marvel Universe. As a casual Marvel fan myself, the only-hinted at backstory was frustrating, as was the juggle of plots, but the action and characters helped make up for some of the confusion.  

The movie itself had an abrupt start, sliding straight in from trailers, but quickly jumped from casual life and discussions into what most Marvel fans are there for – the action. This immediate plot was a good thing; although it felt a bit rushed, it quickly got watchers invested. There was never a moment during Infinity War where I felt the urge to check my phone, nor did I see anyone else in the theater on theirs. Granted, a good part of that is due to my desire to fully understand what was happening, but as most Americans get bored with most movies quickly, it was a surprise that it managed to captivate both me and the rest of the audience the entire movie through.

When the movie started there was a handy minute and a half explanation of the Infinity Stones by side-character Wang (thank you) but other than that, little to no necessary-to-understand background information was provided. Thorough viewing and knowledge of all past Avengers movies was required.

But it wasn’t only prior knowledge of the Avengers movies that was required. Quite a bit of the first half of the movie was structured heavily on the knowledge of Marvel’s other group of heroes – the Guardians of the Galaxy. As someone who had never been particularly interested in the Guardians, and was there for the Avengers aspect of it, this came as a partial shock. Trailers had shown that they would be included, but none came anywhere near to suggesting how important they ending up being to the plot.

Infinity War can be considered an Avengers movie due to most of the Avengers cast being included, but the Avengers themselves never fully came back together, nor was the movie directly focused on them. Rather, it was a battle of Marvel’s superheroes.

The Avengers themselves were never reunited. They were all fighting variations of the same battle, but the separate groups of Avengers characters were never fully aware of the other half of their team, or what they were doing. It doesn’t feel quite like a proper Avengers movie until the Avengers all have been in the same room – or at least, the same planet, and there was no provision for that in Infinity War.

The plot was tricky and difficult to follow, as was the constant change of location. The separation of the Avengers gave a notable advantage to the main villain – not that he needed one, as Thanos was by far, the best crafted Marvel villain so far, – but it also added an element of confusion. There was a lot of unnecessary travel and summing up of side plots, and the difference of location between all the different Avengers caused constant plot jumps to occur.  

The twisting and changing plot led to one good thing, however, there was never a lull in the movie. Many movies sludge through introductions before tossing the characters headfirst into plot, but Avengers: Infinity War managed to build on what the Marvel movies preceding it had, and completely chopped out the standard, character building drag.

If you disregarded the first spoiler warning and don’t want to know how Avengers: Infinity War ends – here is your last chance to turn back! 

The ending itself is what made the movie the household name that it is. Most superhero movies and comics operate on the basic fact that you can’t simply kill off the superhero. While there are many variables and turns that movie makers will take, such as the death and resurrection of beloved characters, all superhero movies preceding Infinity War have followed this basic concept: Hero and villain fight, it looks bad for the hero, hero comes back and defeats villain.

Infinity War shattered this mold in killing off at least 12 of its heroes, and, past that, allowed the villain to actually, properly win. There was no tie, there was no back-down and away; Thanos accomplished what no other Marvel villain had – he completed his hunt and managed to put his plan of mass sacrifice into effect.

This solidly explained ending was like a glass of cold water to the head, a complete and total terror of a shock. It was clearly explained, and Infinity War tied up its ends cleanly, but it left fans a sputtering mess at its conclusion. The ending felt almost like a mistake, like the first half of the movie had been seen but not the conclusion, where the heroes, those supposed to win, actually won.

This slaughter of characters that left so few behind has created a spiral of questions, but most of all has promoted Infinity War into a well-deserved, game-changing, success. I enjoyed the movie and how it broke free from the standard superhero mold, even as confusing as it was, and I definitely want to see the next. And maybe in the meantime, I’ll brush up on my knowledge of Guardians of the Galaxy.