SPOILER ALERT! If you have not seen Marvel Avengers Infinity War yet, please DO NOT read this article.

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Marvel fans know that “Infinity War” is a big deal. Starting off with Iron Man in 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), has come a long way. Throughout the eighteen movies and ten years leading up to Infinity War, fans began to create bonds with the characters on the screens, but is it time to say goodbye to them? With over thirty actors and actresses contributing to this movie, including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans, it goes without saying that this movie will have some heartache. Thanos, the villain of the movie, is trying to wipe out half the population of the universe to solve the issue of limited resources. To do this, he needs to collect all six of the infinity stones, six powers that control the universe. The Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy team up to put an end to his plan. At this point in the MCU, we have only seen five of the infinity stones. Fans are still wondering when and where the last stone will show up.

Throughout the movie, Thanos shows that he is not messing around and will do anything to get all six of the infinity stones. The movie picks up where “Thor Ragnarok” left off, Thanos’ ship is attacking the Asgardian ship.  Within the first scene there are already two deaths: Loki, the God of Mischief, and Heimdall. Jennifer O’Brien, a teacher at Ledyard High School, said “I had no expectations for this movie. I didn’t read any articles, I wanted to go in with a blank slate. I did not, however, expect there to be so much death of main role characters in the start. It really set the tone for the whole movie that no one is safe.” Sophomore Noah Cayangyang, who has already seen the movie two times and is planning on a third, said “I heard beforehand that as soon as the movie starts, you will see how Thanos is the baddest villain in the entire MCU, and the directors delivered that very well. If I were to predict any deaths, it was going to be those two, so it wasn’t exactly heartbreaking to me, but it was still brutal to watch them go. Especially Loki, who has ‘died’ countless times, however this time seems like it’s for good.” This is one of many scenes where Thanos proves that nothing will stand in his way.

The Marvel fan base is among the biggest, and with ten years of waiting fans have been able to make many theories about the upcoming movies. One of which includes the theory that Heimdall had the soul stone. The six infinity stones spell out Thanos’ name if fans assume that Heimdall has the soul stone. The space gem, or tesseract, represents the T. The reality gem, or the aether, represents the A. The time gem, held in a necklace, represents the N. The power gem was held in an orb, representing the O. And the mind gem was housed in Loki’s scepter, representing the S. With the five stones fans know about, they spell out T-A-N-O-S, leading fans to assume that the final letter H, has something to do with the whereabouts of the soul stone, and Heimdall is the safest bet. Some fans believe this theory, but others have their doubts, Cayangyang thinks “the T-H-A-N-O-S theory is kind of a stretch. It fits in some places such as T: Tesseract or A: Aether, but others seem like fans are trying hard to get the theory to work. N: Necklace and H: Heimdall doesn’t fit for me.” It seems as though the directors wanted to put an end to this theory by kill off Heimdall within the first scene. O’Brien said, “I don’t like theories. I think those types of theories are a stretch. I’d love to think that there is deeper meaning behind some thoughts but I think this one is an over analysis”

Later in the movie, we find out that Gamora knows something about the soul stone that no one else does. She tells Peter Quill to kill her if Thanos is to capture her, so that she doesn’t give anything away. When this doesn’t work, Thanos forces her to lead him to the stone and when they get there, Thanos is told that he has to sacrifice that which he loves to gain access to the stone. Thanos treated Gamora as a daughter and grew to love her, however, that did not stop him from throwing her off the cliff. This scene was a big moment in the film for many fans but others saw it coming. O’Brien said “It continued the opening scene where it expresses that this movie is going to see a lot of loss. It also provides some humanity to Thanos showing that he is someone who is able to care for someone and have feelings.” The directors took this approach to continue to show to audiences that he is the real deal and is determined to reach his goal.

What next? The movie ends with Thanos winning, half of the main characters blown away, and so many questions. Among the dead are Loki, Heimdall, Gamora, Vision, Black Panther, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch, Star Lord, Groot, Drax, and Mantis. Many fans were heartbroken to see their favorite characters turn into ash and blow with the wind. Cayangyang thinks that “out of the deaths, the most memorable was Spider-Man’s. It lasted the longest out of all he deaths in the end and the way Tom Holland portrayed Peter Parker freaking out and panicking was just heartbreaking and really well filmed.” While O’Brien thought “the end scene was the most memorable because it was so overwhelming, not knowing who’s going to die or who’s next. It all happened so fast and left me feeling empty.” While many characters died, is it really goodbye? Many of the upcoming movies are already confirmed, including the sequel to “Spider-Man: Homecoming”, so fans may be able to see their beloved Peter Parker again.

“Infinity War” has only been in theatres for a few weeks, it has given fans plenty of time to come up with many theories. One of which has to do with Doctor Strange and the reality stone. Before the battle on Titan, Doctor Strange tells Tony that if it comes down him or the stone, he would save the stone. However when Thanos stabs Tony and is about to kill him, Strange pipes in and gives Thanos the stone in exchange for Tony’s life. This of course paves the way for Thanos to go to Wakanda and get the final stone from Vision. There are a few theories with this scene alone. One of the theories is that Doctor Strange saw that this was the only way for them to win in the end. Earlier in the movie, he looked at all possible outcomes of the conflict, and out of fourteen million, there was only one where the heroes ended up on top. Many fans believe that in order for the heroes to win, they had to lose first. To add on to that, when Doctor Strange is being blown away, he says to Tony “It was the only way.” Another theory with this scene is that Doctor Strange actually managed to steal the reality stone from Thanos. There is a moment during the fight scene on Titan, where Strange says to his cloak “Don’t let him close his fist.” The cloak then wraps itself around the gauntlet for a significant amount of time. Many fans think that during this time, the cloak was able to get the reality stone off of the gauntlet and back to Doctor Strange. If this is the case, then everything we see after that scene, where Thanos wins, is all a made up reality, and it only looks like Thanos won.  “I like this theory, but I would be disappointed if the directors went this way. There was a certain feeling of awe watching the Avengers lose and I feel as if the whole entire ending was an altered reality, it take away the jaw-dropping emotion from seeing Thanos win and experiencing the shock of the half the universe being wiped from existence,” said Cayangyang.

While there are many theories, there is no way to know what to expect in Avengers 4. When the directors release the name of the next movie, there will be a lot more theories and ideas, but fans will have to wait until summer 2019 to see it on the big screen.

Erin Tolles, Staff Writer

Sophomore Erin Tolles is a staff writer for the 2017-2018 Colonel. Erin, a.k.a. “CRAZY CAT LADY” enjoys singing and playing her ukulele. She would much rather be in summer camp being a super cool counselor than in school. Erin is obsessed with popcorn and Harry Potter, like most normal people, and flees America and travels to Austria annually.