Opening Image

Attack on the Asgardian craft. The death and destruction marks the beginning of Thanos’ mission.

Theme

Thanos talks about the inevitable nature of fate, about how regardless of how one may try to alter or prevent it, what is to happen will always come to pass. He believes himself to be the embodiment of destiny, whose actions will shake the universe to its core. The theme refers to the actions of the Avengers and how they try to prevent what cannot be avoided.

• Set Up 1: Loki hands the Tesseract over to Thanos in exchange for Thor’s life, him being unable to stand by as his brother is slowly killed is an action that will be elaborated upon later. Tony expresses his interest in starting a family despite knowing it’ll have to wait as he’s had a premonition of an inevitable war.
• Catalyst 1: Bruce Banner crashes through the roof of the Sanctum Sanctorum. Tony Stark is brought in.
• Debate: Tony versus Strange. Tony says the time stone must be destroyed by Strange argues that it is the greatest weapon they possess. Similar to Loki being unable to let Thor die, Strange is unable to give up the time stone.
• Break into two: Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian arrive on Earth and a fight ensues but Banner is unable to transform into the Hulk after his humiliating defeat, implying that the he is unable to make the hard choice of facing his fears and choosing to fight in the war (this decision ties back to those of Loki and Strange)

• Set Up 2: The Guardians of the Galaxy investigate the distress signal
• Catalyst: There they find Thor among the ruins. They wake him up.
• Debate: The team have trouble forming a plan of action as Thor chooses to forge a weapon to kill Thanos rather than facing him right now, knowing well that he won’t survive if he does. His choice to not be a hero and instead allow thousands currently in Thanos’ path to die while he focuses on the greater good tells us that he can remain objective and impartial, this forms a parallel between him and Thanos (more on this later)
• Break into two: Thor along with Rocket and Groot go to forge a new weapon to use against Thanos. The Guardians go to Knowhere to confront Thanos

• Set Up 3: Wanda and Vision in Scotland
• Catalyst: Wanda sees the news report of the alien attack
• Debate: While deciding what to do, Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive attack them. Despite Vision’s insistence, she’s unable to leave him and chooses to protect him, again telling us that it’s the sense of morality that the heroes possess that will lead to them losing this war. Steve Rogers, Black Widow and Sam Wilson arrive to help.
• Break Into 2: The team heads back to Avengers HQ

B Story

We see Thanos and Gamora in a flashback and learn that she’s the only person he cares about, thus becoming his only weakness. We see a shot of them in between those who get to live and those who are to die, telling us that his emotional attachment to his daughter is what stands between him and victory, the Avengers also find themselves in a similar position.

Fun and Games

• At Knowhere, Gamora kills Thanos but it turns out to be a trick, but her being able to kill the man who protected and raised her in order for the greater good tells us why she’s Thanos’ favorite daughter. Similarly, when she pleads with Quill to shoot her, he does so despite how he feels about her, which is why Thanos says he likes him. This establishes the first plot point in the story, the fact that Thanos never loses sight of his objective despite what he may lose versus the heroes who are constantly hindered by their morality throughout the movie.
• Captain America and the team head to Wakanda to extract the Mind Stone from Vision because they can’t in good conscience kill him (first plot point)
• Iron Man and the team beat Ebony Maw and head to Titan. Strange warns him that he cannot anyone or anything to stand in his way to protecting the soul stone, telling us that he may the only one apart from Thor who can make the hard choice.
• Thanos tells Gamora that he’s the only one in the universe that does not allow his morality or emotional attachments to stand between him and the greater good. Gamora is unable to watch Nebula being tortured and so reveals the location of the soul stone.
• Thor and the team arrive at Nidavellir where the parallel between him and Thanos is stressed upon, Thor believes that only reason he’s alive is because fate wants him to be, similar to how Thanos is a strong believer in destiny. Furthermore, while Thanos is willing to sacrifice all that he has for his mission, Thor has no one left to lose. They both also go to the same place to forge an all powerful weapon. In response to what Thor tells him, Rocket says that he personally, has a lot to lose which applies to all the other heroes as well, which is why they lose this fight.

Midpoint

Strange sees the team losing countless times in multiple futures, Thanos is destined to succeed. The main plot crosses with B Story when Thanos sacrifices Gamora to acquire the soul stone. Furthermore, by killing that only person he has ever loved, he’s essentially giving up his own soul in exchange for the stone.

Bad Guys Close In:

• The team in Wakanda prepare for the fight while Shuri begins to extract the Mind Stone
• Thor forges the Stormbreaker while Thanos arrives at Titan and tells Strange that he’s win in the end because he has the will to make the hard choices.

All is Lost

The team manages to subdue Thanos, but Star Lord beats him in a fit of rage, once again going back to the first plot point and the aspect of emotional attachment.

Iron Man is nearly killed but Strange is willing to give Thanos the time stone in exchange for Tony’s life. While this action essentially cements the defeat of the Avengers, it’s revealed in the next movie that Stark had to be alive in the future for them to win, so what Strange actually does he, he makes the hard call to allow the heroes to lose today so they can win tomorrow

Dark Night of the Soul

Thanos arrives in Wakanda and the team makes one last attempt to stop him from getting to Vision. One by one, they’re all knocked down. Wanda is forced to give up the one she loves, but it’s too late.

Break into Three

With the recently acquired Time Stone, Thanos turns back time and secures the Mind Stone.

Finale

Due to the parallel, Thor becomes the only one to come closest to killing Thanos, but as stated earlier, it’s too late now, Thanos snaps his fingers and erases half of all life forms.

In a vision, Gamora asks him what it cost, he says “everything”. We see Thor go into a state of depression in the next movie, because he felt so desperately that he was right and would win, only to lose all the same.

The Avengers are crushed in defeat but now having lost everything, just like Thanos, they would be willing to do anything to win. Whatever it takes.

Final Image

Thanos finally rests, satisfied with what he has achieved. His mission has ended with peace and tranquility.