End Credits: Avengers -
Infinity War

It’s been 10 years in the making and the time has finally come – Avengers: Infinity War is upon us. What’s that, you ask? It’s the big crossover movie from the MCU. OK, but what is the MCU? Well, that would be the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It includes all movies the Disney-owned Marvel Studios has released like Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc. It doesn’t include other Marvel comic adaptations X-Men (that’s Fox’s, which Disney is meant to be buying) or the Spider-Man franchise (that’s Sony’s). Spidey is a little more complicated seen as he is now part of the MCU but let’s not go there, yet.

Anyway if you’re still lost at this point and haven’t seen any of the previous 18 movies, from 2008’s Iron Man all the way to this 2018’s Black Panther, Infinity War is probably not the best place to start. Good news though – it should only take you about 38 hours, 20 min to catch up if you watch them solidly back to back, so there is time.

As trailers, previews,  hints and Easter eggs from previous movies have been telling us, a big bad something is coming. Enter Thanos. On his quest to control the universe, Thanos must collect the infinity stones – powerful gems that have occasionally featured in the previous films, possibly as other objects or even characters. But it’s all going to end in a big fight that features the majority of the cast from previous films, and will span two of its own movies.

Directors the Russo brothers, and the cast are being incredibly tight-lipped to avoid spoilers, even putting out a letter on Twitter, under the hashtag #ThanosDemandsYourSilence, stating that screenings before the official release would only have limited footage, and asking for people not to spoil it once they have seen it. We can probably assume someone is going to die and there are plenty of fan theories about who might be a goner.

Here are my wild predictions*. First, since Sony and Marvel buried the hatchet to get Spider-Man back we see some more of the characters from that, like Venom. Next, just like they did with Sony, Marvel makes a deal with Fox allowing the X-Men and Fantastic Four, who appeared in the original crossover comics, to get involved. Wolverine cameo? Deadpool?

Lastly, as Disney now put out the Star Wars movies, and Marvel Comics produces Star Wars comics, they cross over their universes – Guardians of the Galaxy Far Far Away? OK, maybe not. Whatever happens, it will be interesting to see if the movie lives up to the hype or, with a cast so huge, will it become Marvel’s convoluted universe?

* Disclaimer. I have not seen the film or previews at point of writing. If I go missing I probably got something right and I apologise for the spoilers.