A new trailer—the last one?—for Avengers: Infinity War has been released, and yeah, okay, this one is working for me. I haven’t been 100% sold on the Super Big Important Tone of previous trailers, and I’m starting to get seriously irritated with Tony Stark, but this new trailer addresses both of those concerns. First, with Gamora—a daughter of Thanos, so she knows best—narrating about Thanos’s intention to wipe out half the universe, there finally feels like some real weight to the proceedings. We don’t know Thanos, not really. But we know Gamora, and the last Guardians of the Galaxy devoted significant screen time to the emotional fallout between Gamora and Nebula, from growing up with Thanos. We don’t have a frame of reference for Thanos himself, but we can appreciate Gamora’s dread. So that works.
And then the trailer cuts in some trademark humor. I laughed out loud at Quill sassing Tony Stark, who is ripe for taking down a peg, and the last bit with Peter Parker and Doctor Strange is great. The look on Peter’s face when he says, “Oh, we’re using our made-up names,” is PERFECT. (Really, Tom Holland is a treasure in this role.) I still don’t think these trailers are 100% representing the tone—yes, it’s maybe the end of the world, but this is not going to become Gritty Central. Although I do like how this trailer operates—it actually feels epic—and those little character interactions are exactly what everyone wants out of this movie. I don’t see how it avoids being at least a little messy, with all these characters going every which way, but at this point, I don’t think it will matter. Infinity War will deliver what we’ve waited a decade to see, and a long run time (rumored to be two and a half hours-plus) and a passel of characters spread across the universe won’t detract from the overall excitement of seeing it all come together, at long last. Are you ready for it to be over?
(Lainey: SHURI!!!!!!!)
