By Brandon T. McClure (@btmcclure @fakenerdpodcast)
The MCU, specifically the Infinity Saga (2008-2019) has meant a great deal to me, as I am sure it has for many people. What first started as a book pitch is now a series of essays of mine that will be (hopefully) published every week. The goal is to pick a specific moment within The Infinity Saga and share with you why I believe it’s a defining moment. To revisit previous posts, visit our site HERE.
Enjoy the ride as we count down from 50 of the most defining moments and share your thoughts in the comments.
• Snap to Dust •
MOMENT# 31
MOVIE: Avengers: Infinity War
DIRECTORS: Joe & Anthony Russo
WRITERS: Christopher Marus & Steven McFeely
Bucky (Sebastian Stan) after “The Snap” in Avengers: Infinity War.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been around for more than a decade now and in that time, audiences have seen heroes rise and defeat incredible villains. No matter how steep the odds, the heroes won. So going into the culmination of the Infinity Saga, audiences expected more of the same. Thanos was coming to Earth and the heroes would come together and defeat the big purple alien. They were in for a surprise.
When Thor plunged his axe into the chest of the Mad Titan, audiences breathed a sigh of relief, it was over. Until Thanos snapped his fingers and the screen went white. Think back to the theater experience at this point, murmuring through the screening began as people weren’t sure what just happened. Did the Avengers just lose? That’s impossible, they don’t lose. Something probably stopped the stones from working right? Even Thanos looks confused as he uses the Space Stone to make his exit. Thor and Steve look around, disaster averted right? Then Bucky turned to dust and audiences were left with the horrible image of watching many of their favorite heroes disappear from existence. Spider-Man, the Guardians, T’Challa, and on and on as the remaining heroes could do nothing but watch their friends disappear right before their eyes.
Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) after “The Snap” in Avengers: Infinity War.
To put it frankly, it’s a traumatizing scene.
In comic book movies, the heroes win and go home at the end of the day ready to fight the next battle. The creatives behind the scenes of Avengers: Infinity War knew that audiences would go in expecting this and deliberately played with those expectations. It was almost like Marvel had spent a decade lulling their audience into a false sense of security and then pulled the rug out from under them. It hadn’t been that long ago that some of these heroes were introduced, and all of a sudden fans had to say goodbye. Although it was clearly not meant to be a permanent goodbye. It’s not unfair to say that audiences felt safe with Marvel movies. Almost like a warm blanket that you could wrap around you. These were comforting characters for many and part of the reason was that fans knew that nothing disastrous could happen to them. Stakes were always high, but death and loss were rarely, if ever, on the table.
As internet culture grew, many fans began to learn certain contractual details. For example, many early contracts that these actors had to sign consisted of three “solo” movies and three “Avengers” movies. While most of these details are harder to find now, it was unlikely that Marvel was going to wipe out half of its universe. Still, though, the very act of doing it at all was bold. Because Marvel was mostly aware of its own safe approach to its films, they were willing to take a larger swing. Obviously, the audience would return for Avengers: Endgame so why shouldn’t Marvel kill more than half of their heroes? Doing so created a special communal experience for anyone who came out of the theater. A special type of trauma that would fuel discourse and discussion for the next year while everyone waited for Avengers: Endgame.
Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maxmoff (Elizabeth Olsen) after “The Snap” in Avengers: Infinity War.
The event that fans would go on to call “The Snap” became one of the most impactful moments in the MCU. The time between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame was a major moment for the franchise that had fans bonding in their shared trauma. No one had a clue what Avengers: Endgame could have in store for them but seeing the Avengers fail in such a traumatic way created a special longing to see these heroes bounce back. To this day, “The Snap” is still discussed with conversations about who was blipped that weren’t shown and what could the economic fallout of it have been. “The Snap” is a unique moment in the MCU that didn’t just traumatize the heroes, but also their fans.