an ending that's loaded with consequences for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Yippee ki-yay movie lovers, it's Jan here and in this video I'm breaking down the shocking

ending to Avengers: Infinity War as well as explaining some easter eggs and theories and

what they mean for Avengers 4.

Don't forget my Avengers Funko Pop giveaway is running, so make sure you're a subscriber

and leave me a comment about the movie for a chance to win.

Obviously, spoilers ahead if you haven't seen the movie.

Let's start with the Snap.

Yes, this was when the horrifying moment teased by Gamora towards the start of the film came

true.

After Thanos snapped his fingers in the gauntlet, around half of our heroes disintegrated one-by-one

into ash, like a slow-motion nightmare.

Comic book fans will recognise this as the iconic snap moment from the Infinity Gauntlet

comics where the Mad Titan snapped his fingers and half the universe, including half the

Marvel superheroes, disappeared.

It's a shocking moment because, as an audience when we watch a typical superhero or action

movie, we often expect the hero to come in at the final moment and save the day with

a glorious act of heroism.

It was incredibly powerful to watch each hero make a final stand against the Mad Titan.

And then to see Thanos just swat each one aside like they were nothing, even Captain

America who was the last hero standing between Thanos getting to Wanda and Vision.

It was gut-wrenching to then see Wanda end Vision before Thanos brought him back and

killed him again but this time with appalling brutality as he ripped out the Mind Stone.

And despite Thor having warned Thanos at the start that he'd die for what he'd done to

the Asgardians, even Thor's magnificent entrance and blow to Thanos's chest with Stormbreaker

wasn't enough.

The ending we expect as an audience is pretty much overturned as basically the Avengers

lose to the very big bad.

And if you look back at previous MCU movies, for example, Age of Ultron, you can see how

this moment was foreshadowed.

"We're the Avengers."

"We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that up there, that's...

That's the endgame."

"How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together."

"We'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together, too."

So, although Cap and Tony are still separated geographically at the end of Infinity War,

in a way, they did both fight Thanos together; one in Wakanda and the other on Titan.

But to truly defeat Thanos in Avengers 4 Tony and Cap are going to have to bring some balance

back to their own relationship.

And before the credits roll, the movie ends with a scene of Thanos looking out over a

beautiful, green and fertile land.

On the surface it looks like he's won, he's achieved balance in the universe and he's

finally stopping to rest and, as he said, 'watch the sun rise on a grateful universe'.

In fact, the way Thanos talks about wanting time-out after he's finished his plan in the

movie has shades of how he goes on to live a quiet life as 'Farmer Thanos' in the comics.

And the film's closing scene also mirrors this image at the end of the Infinity Gauntlet

comics.

But even though Thanos smiles to himself in the movie, I think there's a lot more to this

ending that's hidden beneath the surface.

For a start, let's remember that the original Avengers are still alive and I think that

what Tony Stark said to Loki in the first Avengers movie is going to be important for

what happens next.

"There is no version of this where you come out on top."

"Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you."

"Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it."

I suspect that means in Avengers 4, the heroes that have survived will become literal Avengers.

They'll be angry and driven to figure out how to find and take revenge on Thanos for

everyone he's taken away from them.

And, as Thor said in this movie, 'rage, revenge, anger, loss, and regret [are] all tremendous

motivators.'

And I wonder if a possible title for the next team-up movie could therefore be Avengers

Reassembled.

From Marvel Studios' point of view, it also means the actors whose contracts are expiring,

like Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans, can go out with a really big bang, perhaps even

sacrificing themselves to bring back those who disappeared.

"You hope for the best and make do with what you get.

I got a great team."

"Nothing lasts forever."

And because the snap means a lot of characters have vanished, it leaves room for characters

like Hawkeye, Ant-Man and Wasp who didn't get a part in Infinity War to come in for

a significant role in Avengers 4.

On top of this, there are some very important moments in Infinity War where clues were dropped

on how the Avengers will be able to climb out of this desperate situation.

First of all, think back to that moment when Doctor Strange went forward in time and checked

more than 14 million possibilities for an outcome in which the Avengers won.

Strange told Tony that there was just one scenario in which that happened.

Later, when the fight against Thanos went south and the Mad Titan was about to kill

Iron Man, Doctor Strange made a bargain with Thanos to trade the Time Stone for Tony's

life.

But remember, earlier on the Q-ship, Strange had been adamant that, if it came to saving

them or the Time Stone, he would not hesitate to let Tony or Peter Parker die.

So, it's clear that Strange's action of trading Tony's life for the Time Stone was a very

deliberate decision by the Sorcerer Supreme.

Notice how Strange also said "we're in the endgame now" after he handed the stone over,

which is an echo of Tony's words in Age of Ultron about his vision.

Which means that Strange knew that giving the Time Stone to Thanos was the only scenario

in which Thanos could be defeated.

This was emphasised when, just before fading away, Strange told Tony there was no other

way, a big hint and hopefully a clue that Tony Stark will pick up on that giving up

the Time Stone to Thanos will, in time, lead to the Mad Titan's defeat.

That future timeline that Doctor Strange foresaw needed Thanos to get all six Infinity Stones

and for Tony Stark to remain alive.

By the way, apparently, Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Doctor Strange, was one of the few

cast who got to read the full Infinity War script and he's said it was because his character

had to understand the context of all the events, and that Doctor Strange's responsibility is

to protect the Multiverse and hold it together.

I think that in Avengers 4, the Avengers will need to figure out Thanos's true weakness

which we had hints of in Infinity War.

For example, there was the small cut that Iron Man landed on Thanos's face during the

fight on Titan, as well as Thanos's taunt to Thor that he should have gone for his head

with Stormbreaker.

And intriguingly, after the snap, when Thanos reappeared, the Infinity Gauntlet seemed to

have burned up or been damaged in some way suggesting another possible weakness there.

One vital theme which runs throughout Infinity War and is necessary to really understand

the story is that the film is all about the cost of being a hero.

"The theme of the movie is about what is the cost to be a hero in a complicated world."

"And does the cost ... you know ... is the value of doing what's right outweigh the he

cost?"

This is a thread woven through a number of MCU movies, for example, Captain America:

Civil War where the collateral damage from the Avengers' activities became a global issue

that led to the Sokovia Accords as a way to attempt to regulate the superhero team's activities.

But, by the end of Infinity War, we can see that the cost for each of our favourite heroes

has become truly personal.

Peter Parker dying in Tony Starks's arms was an extremely emotional moment for both the

audience and, of course, Tony who mentored the budding superhero.

Remember what Tony said to Spidey after what happened with the ferry in Homecoming?

"What if somebody had died tonight?

Different story, right?

"Cause that's on you.

And if you died, I feel like that's on me.

I don't need that on my conscience."

Tony did try to stop Peter joining this mission as he knew the journey to Titan was too dangerous

for the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

In fact, Tony's words that, 'this isn't a school trip, it's a one-way ticket', turned

out to be a heart-breaking bit of foreshadowing.

And when everyone on Titan starts disintegrating in front of Iron Man, I couldn't help but

think of Tony's vision and his interpretation of that vision in Age of Ultron.

"I wasn't tricked, I was shown.

It wasn't a nightmare, it was my legacy.

The end of the path I started us on."

"I watched my friends die.

You'd think that'd be as bad as it gets, right?"

"Nope.

Wasn't the worst part."

"The worst part is that you didn't."

For Steve Rogers, our Captain America, watching his life-long friend Bucky, who he fought

so hard to bring back from being brainwashed by HYDRA, just evaporate into dust must have

been devastating.

After all, they always had each other's backs.

"I'm with you till the end of the line pal."

"I'm not gonna fight you."

"You're my friend."

"Cos I'm with you till the end of the line."

Earlier in the film, Scarlet Witch told Vision that taking his life to destroy the Mind Stone

was too high a price, but he told her that she was the only one who had the power to

pay it.

And at the end, not only did she have to sacrifice her lover by blasting the Mind Stone out of

his forehead to obliterate it, but she then had to witness Thanos reverse her actions

before murdering Vision in a most horrible way.

And ultimately, she was snapped away herself.

By the way, when we see the colour drain from Vision as Thanos takes the Mind Stone from

him, it echoes his look in the comics during his time with the West Coast Avengers.

Like Vision, Gamora too was willing to sacrifice her own life in an effort to stop Thanos.

And, similar to Scarlet Witch, Star-Lord made the awful decision to take the life of Gamora,

the woman he loved, as he'd promised her he would; though Thanos, of course, used the

Reality Stone to turn Quill's blaster into bubbles.

On top of that, Gamora also had to make the terrible choice between ending her sister

Nebula's torture at the hands of Thanos and giving the Mad Titan exactly what he wanted:

the location of the Soul Stone.

Loki faced the same decision and, after saving his brother, later paid the ultimate price

for trying to do the right thing rather than allying himself with the Mad Titan.

The God of Mischief has had heroic moments in previous films such as saving his brother

and Jane Foster from the Dark Elves in Thor: The Dark World, but ultimately he used that

moment for his own gain to take the throne.

But that was certainly not the case this time.

Groot gave up one of his arms both to save Thor and in service of creating what the Asgardian

god called his Thanos-killing weapon, Stormbreaker.

And Thor, who's lost his brother, parents, friends, and home over the years, was also

willing to risk his own life as he attempted to start the forges on Nidavellir.

For Black Panther, the cost of opening up Wakanda to the world turned out to be considerable

as his country and his people were at the very centre of Earth's battle against Thanos

and so many Wakandans, including himself, lost their lives.

Ultimately, each of our heroes did pay the price, and it was certainly a hard and heavy

one.

In a way, you could say this personal cost that each character paid is what defines them

as a true hero.

But even when they did what was necessary for the greater good, often at huge personal

cost, at this point, it was seemingly all for nothing; they gave everything yet in the

end were still defeated.

But as Steve Rogers said to Tony Stark in Civil War, 'if someone dies on our watch,

we don't give up.'

And to quote Nick Fury in the first Avengers movie:

"Until such time as the world ends, we will continue as if it spins on."

As for the film's villain, Thanos, who saw himself as the hero of the story and the only

one willing to do what was vital for the universe, even he had to pay a price by sacrificing

the daughter he loved.

Now, there's another interesting moment where Thanos visits a mystery orangey-red world.

My current theory is that this is connected with the Infinity Stones and I'll talk more

about that in a separate video about how the Soul Stone works.

I'll link it here as soon as it's ready.

We've talked a lot about how Infinity War is not your typical Marvel movie and that

even carried over into how the credits played out.