Guardians of the Galaxy and Thanos Were the Heart of Avengers: Infinity War

Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America all got an entry when talking about the two and a half hour Avengers: Infinity War in past blogs. Now I'm gonna zone in on the two areas that, for me, formed what is wrong and right about the movie: Guardians of the Galaxy and Thanos.

    The Guardians are introduced as is their fashion, with a seventies rock song. From there they smack into a god and learn Thanos is wrecking shit looking for the Infinity Stones. Rocket and Groot go off with Thor (see my coverage of Thor for that) while the rest go off to make sure the other stones are okay. The other stones are not okay, Knowhere is destroyed and Thanos takes Gamora.

    Nebula reaches out and they head to Titan, fighting Iron Man, Spiderman, and Doctor Strange before fighting the man himself. He kicks their asses. They get some bad news (more on that in a minute) and Thanos gets away after dropping a moon on them on the most badass part of the movie and Strange gives up the Time Stone.

    If you want to really delve into Guardians, you gotta mention "family." This group is right up there with the Fast and the Furious when it comes to togetherness. Except they're apart a lot, I guess. So that all really falls apart, especially when the mom or big sister of the group turns up dead. Their pain, though, is super real and that pain really does set up that anyone can and will die before all this is over. Just because something is the heart doesn't mean it can't break.

    Oh shit, I just dropped that. Guess what, dude named Thanos kills people. He kills Gamora, and that's just the thing that breaks him. Let me explain.

    Thanos runs through the entire story and most people think he's the one with the real arc, the protagonist striving for something and needing another, changing by the end. Kinda right. We meet him at the beginning, kicking the shit out of Thor and the Hulk. Then he's on Knowhere kicking more shit out of more people. He takes Gamora to the Soul Stone and learns he has to kill her to get it. Kills the shit out of her with tears in his eyes, so sayeth the Red Skull.

    Still mourning, Thanos goes to Titan and gets in a fight (see above). With all but one of the stones now, he heads to Earth. He provides a big ole smackdown to just about everybody, turns back time for Vision before ripping out the stone, and gets a big ax in his chest. So sad, too bad, though, cause he's still got fingers to snap. We close out with him chilling in a log cabin watching the sunset.

    Look, if this movie was called "Titan's Charm Bracelet" and followed Thanos fighting a bunch of assholes, yeah, he'd be the hero. He kills a bunch of people, sure, but watch a few of those Marvel movies. Iron Man and Captain America killed a bunch of people. Terrorists and Nazis, sure, but still, people. So yeah, he has a point of view, goals, villains, everything a good protagonist needs. He even has something he wants (half of the universe to die) and something we know he needs (family with Gamora). By the end, the only thing that makes him a villain is he gets what he wants and doesn't learn what he needs. Or does he?

    This could have been a cut and dry villain killing the universe story. Celestials know that Marvel can do a one note villain. The fact that they made him relatable (ever been stuck in traffic or in line for the grocery store and had to be somewhere?) shows Marvel at least cared about this villain. That they linked him to the least recognizable heroes in their stable shows they cared about the audience and the universe as a whole.

Does that make Nebula the crazy aunt? I bet it does.