Before Avengers Endgame: A recap of Infinity War and links to other Marvel films

Just before Avengers Endgame hits the screens on April 26, here is a recap of Infinity War, and how the previous films all paved the way to the grand finale.


Marvel fans, April 26 is less than 48 hours away. Avengers Endgame, the last in the superhero franchise from the Marvel Cinematic Universe will hit the screens and answer all the questions that devastated fans were left with at the end of the previous film, Infinity War.

For the most part, Infinity War was a gift to the fans. Our favourite superheroes teamed up to save the world again from the Mad Titan Thanos. We had already seen terrifying glimpses of Thanos in a few films before. We were vaguely aware that an epic showdown was due. We just were not sure exactly what would happen.


So when Infinity War hit the screens, we realised that the stakes were the highest they had ever been. Infinity War made us laugh with its impeccable comic timing, and it made us shed innumerable tears after its cliffhanger ending.

Infinity War ends with the Avengers losing, and with most of them withering away into dust. Painful as it was to watch Spider-Man, Black Panther, Bucky Barnes, Scarlet Witch and others fade away into dust, we had a little hope after Nick Fury paged Captain Marvel, just before he became ashes too.

The heartbreaking part about the Avengers series is that this reunion will most likely never happen again, and not in this way. It's the end of an era for those who were eagerly waiting for the films to bring alive their beloved comic superheroes. The big stars have hung up their capes and taken a bow and we will only be left with memories of how good the verbal jousting was between Iron Man and Starlord, or Iron Man's banter with Dr Strange.

Spider-Man's death in Infinity War

Most of the superheroes like Iron Man, Captain America and Thor have had their own independent standalone films, and are all inextricably linked. So in short, it's obviously not enough to have just watched the Avengers films and ignored the rest of the MCU films (even the forgettable ones), and head for Endgame. Sadly, as this article can only be so long, here is what went down in Infinity War and a brief idea of how the other films were connected to this Marvel mammoth.


At the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thanos is irritated that none of his pawns have been able to retrieve the Infinity Stones. In Infinity War, he is on a mission to gain all six, and the heroes team up and valiantly to try and defeat him. If Thanos lays his hands on all six, he can decimate half of the world's population with just a snap of his fingers.

As we already know, the Avengers have separated, and are scattered all over the world. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) and Captain America (Chris Evans) aren't on the best of terms, and the once-blooming romance between Bruce Banner or Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) has been struck down. So, the superheroes are segregated into various teams, ranging from intergalactic battles, to Wakanda. Sadly, they cannot stop Thanos from getting his hands on the stones.

The Infinity Stones

Power Stone aka The Orb: The stone was introduced in Guardians of The Galaxy, when the Guardians defeat Ronan, who attempts to use the stone to destroy the planer Xander. The Guardians leave the stone in the protection by the Nova Corps. However, when Thor meets the Guardians in Infinity War, he tells them that Thanos destroyed Xander and now possesses the Power stone.

The Space Stone, aka the Tesseract: The Tesseract was on Thor's planet Asgard, initially. In Thor: Ragnarok, Loki evades the destruction of Asguard as takes the Tesseract with him, and boards the Asguardian ship. However, Thor Ragnarok ends with Thanos's ship appearing. Infinity war begins with the destruction of the Asgardian ship by Thanos. Loki gives Thanos the Tesseract to save Thor's life and dies at his hands.

Loki with the Tesseract

The Reality Stone, aka the Aether: The stone is first mentioned in Thor: The Dark World. It was initially a weapon devised by the Dark Elf, Malkeith. It is taken by the Asgardians, who give it to the Collector On Knowhere, as they already possess the Tesseract and think it is unwise to keep Infinity Stones together. In Infinity War, the Guardians travel to Knowhere and try to get the stone before Thanos. However, Thanos already has hands on the stone and has killed the Collector.

The Soul Stone: In Infinity War, A conversation between Thanos and Gamora reveals that he had given her the task to track down this stone, before the events of Guardians of The Galaxy. Gamora finds and burns the map that reveals the stone's location, knowing that Thanos should never be allowed to collect all the six stones. Unfortunately, Thanos learns of her betrayal and keeps her sister Nebula as prisoner.

They reach Vormir and encounter Red Skull, who guards the Soul Stone. Red Skull warns Thanos that he would have to sacrifice a loved one to get it. Gamora mocks Thanos saying that he doesn't love anyone. In a heartbreaking scene, fans realise that Thanos actually loved Gamora. He throws her over the cliff and obtains the soul stone.

Thanos cries after throwing Gamora over the cliff

The Time Stone, AKA the Eye of Agamotto: This stone was mentioned first in Doctor Strange. When the Doctor realises that Thanos is after the stone in Infinity War, he is determined to keep the stone safe and is seemingly indifferent to the lives of others. Just after the plan to take the gauntlet from Thanos is thwarted, and he is about to kill Iron Man, Dr Strange surrenders the stone. Before Dr Strange withers away into ashes, he says that "it was the only way."

The Mind stone: Watching Thanos claim this stone, was the most gut-wrenching of all. The Mind stone was a part of Loki's Scepter in Avengers. It wasn't revealed to be an Infinity Stone till Avengers: Age of Ultron. The Mind stone is in Vision's forehead, and a deadly battle issues between Wakanda and Thanos's army to protect Vision from Thanos. Even though Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) destroys the Mind stone, Thanos uses the Time Stone to turn back time and rips it out of Vision's head and kills him.

Thanos takes the stone from Vision.


Those who went to watch Infinity War, would never have imagined such an ending. It's a rare sight to see your heroes lose and be reduced into ashes. Most fans still hold Starlord responsible for the snap, because had it not been for him, they might have been able to obtain the gauntlet from Thanos and stop the world from being decimated. When Starlord learns that Thanos sacrificed Gamora, he loses self-control, he punches Thanos, who had just about been subdued by the Mantis.

Starlord realises Thanos has killed Gamora.

Another chance is when Thor strikes Thanos, and fans breathed a small of relief. Not for long, because Thanos tells him, "You should've gone for the head." He snaps his fingers and vanishes.

When Thanos goes inside the soul stone, he meets a younger version of Gamora, who asks him, "Did you do it?" He answers, "Yes."

"What did it cost?" She asks.
He answers, "Everything."

Thanos sees a child-version of Gamora in the soul realm.

This is another heart-wrenching scene and we realise that Thanos is a different villain, from the ones that we have encountered. He isn't the unidimensional villain that we usually see, but has several layers to him, and believe it or not, there's a heart somewhere there.

Believe or not.

So in Endgame, the heroes reunite and promise to do whatever it takes to "avenge the fallen", and that involves the quantum realm, as we saw from Ant Man and The Wasp. Can they do it? Who will be sacrificed to get the heroes back?

Only Endgame will tell us.

Watch the Avengers Endgame trailer here:

ALSO SEE | Is Iron Man dead? Tony Stark's absence in Spider-Man Far From Home trailer worries fans

ALSO WATCH | Avengers Infinity War director: I have a strong connection with Captain America