'Avengers: Infinity War' infinite hero combos have me pumped
Thor hanging with Groot? Iron Man jesting with Star-Lord? The mix-and-match of the next Avengers film could offer a fresh take on the superhero teamup movie.
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Josh Brolin as Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet in the teaser for "Avengers: Infinity War"
Warning: This story contains minor spoilers for the upcoming "Avengers: Infinity War" from unreleased footage.
Thor hanging out with the Guardians of the Galaxy? Yes, please.
That's exactly how the clip for "Avengers: Infinity War" kicks off: A battered Thor literally runs into the front viewport of the Guardians' Milano spacecraft like a bug on a windshield.
From there, the clip dives into a whirlwind of scenes showing Iron Man, Star-Lord and Spider-Man in the enhanced suit teased at the end of "Spider-Man: Homecoming." A bearded Captain America (without the uniform) and a blonde Black Widow join in the fray.
The clip first screened earlier this month at Disney's D23 Expo, but got a second run Saturday at Comic-Con's famed Hall H,
It capped off a day of presentations that included looks at "Justice League," "Ready Player One," "Stranger Things 2" and Marvel films "Black Panther" and "Thor: Ragnarok."
The short Avengers clip was just a taste of the epic action we can expect to see when "Infinity War" comes out on in May. But the footage was enough to hint at one of the most intriguing aspects of the film: the different combinations of heroes that can be assembled in either action or dramatic scenes.
Think Thor and Gamora tag-teaming against a horde of aliens, or Iron Man trading barbs with Star-Lord. So while the original "Avengers" had the novelty of the entire team joining forces into a single, cohesive unit, "Infinity War" could take a mix-and-match approach with different characters in various scenes to keep things fresh.
We're going to see even more wild team-ups than in "Captain America: Civil War."
In an age when every studio is building up interlocking franchises like Warner Bros.'s DC Extended Universe or Universal's Dark Universe, Marvel has the luxury of utilizing so many different beloved characters because it's been building them up for nearly a decade. Since the first "Iron Man" surprised us in 2008, the company has been methodically adding new pieces to its puzzle.
That's not to say DC's "Justice League" won't be epic in its own right. But that movie feels more like the original "Avengers" in that these heroes are just coming together to fight a greater threat.
With "Infinity War," you're likely going to see random pairings or groupings of heroes. You saw a bit of that with "Captain America: Civil War," but this is on another level. "Civil War" had about a dozen characters, while "Infinity War" could boast 60. It'd be boring if they all shared the same screen at the same time.
To be fair, perhaps all of the heroes will have to join forces all at once. I'm saying that because the first glimpse of Thanos is terrifying, from his casual knocking away of Iron Man to his gripping Thor's head like a volleyball.
The teaser ends with him using the Infinity Gauntlet (which imbues the wearer with epic, reality-changing powers) to pull a moon down to a planet's surface. Yes, it sounds ridiculous, but it kind of works.
May can't come soon enough.
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