Thanos the Titan comes looking for the Infinity Stones. It is all part of his plan to bring equilibrium to the universe by killing half of all living things. The Avengers are in possession of two of the Infinity Stones so naturally their paths have to cross. He gets one of the stones from Loki, before he kills him and Heimdall. Thor survives the encounter. Hulk, who is also with them, is sent back to Earth by a spell that Heimdall casts before Thanos can finish him off.
Dr. Strange is the next target. Thanos' minions are unable to retrieve the stone from the Eye of Agamotto so they take Dr. Strange and the Eye. Iron Man and Spider-Man unsuccessfully try to stop Thanos' troops from leaving with Dr. Strange but they do manage to infiltrate the spaceship.
Vision is the next target of Thanos' forces. The two warriors sent to get the stone from Vision prove to be too much for him to handle. He gets help from Scarlet Witch fighting them off but ultimately it is the arrival of Captain America, Falcon, and Black Widow that turns the tide of that fight.
Thor gets picked up by the Guardians of the Galaxy. The thunder god has a plan but they are going to need some weapons. Rocket Raccoon offers to show him where to get the weapons they will need. Thor says yes, leaving the others (minus Groot, who goes with Rocket and Thor) to fend for themselves and head for Nowhere.
Iron Man and Spider-Man help to free Dr. Strange from his captor. He isn't easy to beat but they manage to fool him and use a trick from Alien, the movie, to blow him out of the ship.
The heroes on Earth (Captain America, Black Widow, Vision, Scarlet Witch) turn to War Machine for help. Black Panther and the Winter Soldier make a brief appearance.
Star Lord and company arrive at Nowhere only to discover that Thanos is already there. Gamora tries to kill Thanos. For a brief moment it looks like she was successful but she wasn't. Thanos knows that Gamora knows the location of one of the Infinity Gems. She tries to mislead him but in the end she tells him where.
Thor, Rocket, and Groot arrive on the world with the weapons only to discover that almost everyone is dead. They were killed by Thanos. The only one left is a giant who has the knowledge but whose hands were taken by Thanos. Thor talks the giant into giving it another try and making him a new hammer, Stormbringer. The first things they need is the heart of a dying star.
Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Dr. Strange crash-land on Titan. There they meet Starlord and company. They fight briefly before they realize that they are on the same side. Hilarity ensues. Your mileage may vary.
Thanos and Gamora arrive on the world where the soul stone can be found. There is a keeper who leads them to the right place. He also tells Thanos that in order to obtain the stone he has to kill or destroy that which he loves the most. Thanos throws Gamora off the side of a cliff and gets the stone. I didn't really buy that there was any love in him for her, his adopted daughter. It felt more like an abusive relationship. He tortured her sister to get her to reveal the location of the soul stone. Whatever...
The aliens return to Earth looking for Vision and the stone in his forehead. The Avengers (Captain America, Black Widow, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, Bruce Banner) have turned to Black Panther for help and are now in Wakanda. The aliens arrive with a huge force to attack. Just as it starts to look helpless Thor shows up with Rocket and Groot. He has the hammer, Stormbringer.
Meanwhile, back on Titan, Thanos returns. He's there for the stone that Dr. Strange has. The heroes put up a pretty good fight. For a moment there it looked like they had him. They hit him from multiple directions one after another. They almost got the gauntlet off his hand when Thanos regained control of the fight. He was much more dangerous at that point. In the end Dr. Strange willingly give Thanos the Time Stone. By way of explanation he does it to save Tony's life and because they "are in the end game". Once he has the stone and has added it to the gauntlet he takes it and goes to Earth.
The heroes on Earth fight valiantly but Thanos and his forces are too much for them. Scarlet Witch has to destroy the stone in Vision's forehead. She knew this moment was coming but she is unwilling. Finally she starts working on it and destroys it but then Thanos uses the time stone to turn back time and grab the stone before she destroyed it. Thor comes flying in and puts Stombringer right through Thanos' chest. For a minute there is look like it works but then Thanos does something and vanishes.
A minute later, roughly speaking people start evaporating, disappearing, turning to dust. It happens on Earth and it happens on Titan. Presumably this means that Thanos won and just wiped out half the life in the universe.
Thoughts
I didn't know everything that was going to happen but I knew quite a bit about this movie going in. I've read some of the Marvel cosmic stories, but not all of them. I knew that this movie was just the first installment in what I assume will be at least a two-part story. I knew that it was going to end with a lot of people dying. I knew that there was going to be a lot of epic battles. I think I was ready for all of it. Even if I had seen this movie on opening day I think that I would have been frustrated with it.
I didn't like the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, didn't bother with the second one, and really didn't think much of those characters in this one. I thought that in general there was just a little too much in this movie. There were emotional beats that just didn't work for me. I don't get Thanos passion with killing so many people. Calling it a passion is probably overstating the case. There was nothing passionate about him. He seems determined but I think I would leave it at that.
The deaths at the end happened a little too quickly and cleanly. This is based on comic book. This is a Hollywood film. These characters are going to be back. Maybe one or two of them will stay dead or return only to get killed again but most of the ones who died and going to return.
I did like some of the fight scenes but usually it was the one-on-one moments. The faceless monsters that Thanos' troops bought with them may as well have been robots. The huge battle scenes did nothing for me. I kept thinking during the battle in Wakanda that there had to be some people killed by friendly fire. It was just way too chaotic. It also felt like watching a video game.
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