Please be aware that this post contains major spoilers for the movie Avengers: Infinity War

In the culmination of 10 years of the MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe, almost all of the characters that have been introduced end up in a war against the titan Thanos and his Infinity Gauntlet. The two sides of this conflict are the Avengers (and friends) that want to stop Thanos from eliminating half the population of the universe, and Thanos and his minions that wish to balance the universe that he sees to be overpopulated compared to the resources available. The Infinity Gauntlet, when completely assembled, has the power to do this, as it can control life, death, and reality itself, thanks to the powers of the Infinity Stones.

But here come a problem that is lost in translation between the comics and the movies.

The premise for, what the comics call the ultimate nihilist, Thanos is that he wishes to save the universe by removing half the population so that there are enough resources to go around. This does not take into account the possibility for the universe to repopulate and face the same problem again, not does it address other solutions that could be implemented when controlling all of reality and the rules of physics and existence. One simple answer would be to just double the resources, or how about halving the needs? If one controls all, are needs even necessary, or could they be eliminated instead of the populace?

All solutions that would satiate the requirement of saving the universe from over-consumption of its resources. But the motivation for Thanos in the comics is different. There, his goal is to pay tribute to the embodiment of Death, a being he is deeply in love with. He wishes for nothing more than for Death to adore him the same way and for them to become equal. He also states that her feelings can not be forced or manipulated through mind-control, as that would be disingenuous. As a gift, a token of his affection, to win Death over he strives to kill half of the universe using the powers of the Infinity Gauntlet.

There aren’t many other solutions to that equation. He can’t force Death to love him through the Mind Stone, nor circumvent the problem by doubling the resources or halving/removing needs. The goal is no longer to save the universe, and there may be multiple solutions to reach that goal. The quest is to eliminate half of the universe’s populace, and using the Infinity Gauntlet is one solutions to that task; most likely, the best one.

Naturally, not everything can be translated to the silver screen, but this motivation and solution seems somewhat broken. This did not remove any of my enjoyment of the movie, I found it fantastic and I’m yearning to see what the finale in Avengers 4 will bring us. Only about eleven-and-a-half months away.

I try to read the stories we’re being sold in the cinema before I go see the movies. Partly because I like to read comics, but also to recognize all the hints, nods, references, characters, original stories and set pieces they portray and write in.

The Infinity Saga is basically about taking escalating doses of shrooms, acid, and DMT

So what I did was gather what is known as The Infinity Sagas, which includes: The Thanos Quest, The Infinity Gauntlet, The Infinity War, The Infinity Crusade, Infinity Abyss, and The End. It was not as daunting and time consuming as reading the entirety of Civil War, but it was still quite rewarding. Both because it’s a good read, but also because it introduced me to a new set of characters that I had not met before.

The big antagonist wielding The Infinity Stones mounted on The Infinity Gauntlet is the titan Thanos. Also known as the universe’s biggest nihilist. He is a enchantingly interesting character that I had not know outside of shallow trivia before, but he is simply grand to dive into.

But the lessons I’ve learned from reading Infinity Sagas and comparing it to what they’ve done with the MCU so far are as follows

1. The movies, Avengers: Infinity War (part 1 & 2) will have very little to do with the source material. But that was also a lesson we learned from Captain America: Civil War.
2. Omnipotence and Omnipresence according to Marvel does not mean what they mean according to, say, Merriam Webster. Or how do you explain lying to/tricking a being that knows all thoughts and intentions; I don’t care how disciplined Thanos is, something is wrong.
3. The Infinity Saga is basically about taking escalating doses of shrooms, acid, and DMT, and then having to endure overwhelming trips of both good and bad nature; sensations of loneliness while being connected with everything in existence, and knowing that one’s victories and failures are both everything and meaningless at the same time. But it also touches on things such as suicidal depression and what happens after you face and conquer it.

The battle between Superman and Batman on the big screen is inspired by the comics The Dark Knight Returns, written and penciled by Frank Miller. Which isn’t at all surprising when you consider that Zack Snyder, the director of the film, also directed the movie-adaptations for Watchmen and 300; two comics that were both written by Miller. But there are synergies between the two that are a bit too powerful to stay within the established boundaries of the main characters.

I think it must have started with Christopher Nolan’s version of The Caped Crusader in his movies Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises. These movies were very dark and took the characters and villains to a place we had not seen in the movies before. Most iconical being the portrayal of the anarchistic Joker, by Heath Ledger. This was a fresh take on the well-established superheroes and foes, as most interpretations before had been very colorful and somewhat campy. And it works for Batman, because he is a dark character and he resides in a dark world. But the executives at Warner Brothers and DC Entertainment, the companies that own the cinematic rights to the DC Universe, must have seen the success of these three movies as a sign that people want dark movies about superheroes. Which isn’t really true, as we’ve seen with Marvel and the MCU, that are very adventurous and mostly true to source. But be it out of spite to differ themselves from Marvel, or just misinterpretation of the audience, DC decided to keep the dark tone as they started their own venture to build a cinematic universe.

A pivotal moment that purposely separated the DCEU from the comics

So Zack Snyder got the job to direct the first movie to kick off what is to be called DCEU, DC Extended Universe, the new version of Superman in Man of Steel. And in his first go, in the mov he takes some of the basics of the character’s origin story and gallery of characters and brings it into the modern world. But in the third act he does something that utterly destroys what the character has previously been built up to represent over the last sixty years.
Superman kills.
More than ever before the collateral damage of Superman’s engagement with his foe is presented and In a pivotal moment that may have been purposely meant to separate the DCEU from everything that the comics had forged into the very core if its being, Kal-El breaks the neck of General Zod to save the future of his adoptive planet. He then proceeds to tell the government that he will operate entirely on his own. A big leap from the Captain America-esque, boy-scout version that we’ve seen previously.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice start with a different view from the third act of Man of Steel, with buildings collapsing and the consequences of a battle of that magnitude and a spaceship crashing being presented again and Bruce Wayne in the middle of the crumbling city. Since the movie only has so many minutes to develop characters and relationships, this is used as motivation that shoulders Batman with many characteristics that have previously been carried by Lex Luthor in the comics; the anxiety that Superman is powerful enough to destroy the entire planet and needs to be stopped. Lex. portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg, on the other hand is transformed from a charming, calculating, power-hungry sociopath to a more clearly villainous psychopath that is a closer approximation of The Joker than Luthor from the comics. But that doesn’t forgive the next sin against the source-material, as Batman not only seem to kill his opponents, he actually does so with guns; a weapon that goes against every fiber of the character as proposed by his origin story.

When the headliners finally collide we get treated to a great homage to what took place in The Dark Knight Returns, which previously pitted the two combatants against each other in a battle of superhuman powers versus human will, ingenuity and martial arts. But where the comics feature the “death” of Bruce Wayne, the movie instead goes on to the two joining forces and the franchise spends one of Superman’s deadliest foes in a spectacle-filled third act that duct tapes the titular heroes together with Wonder Woman, whom could have gotten a better presence in the movie, as they essentially play out the ending of Death of Superman. Doomsday makes an appearance, to give our heroes an enemy of some actual magnitude, and Kal-El goes under while taking the monster down. Bruce and Diana attend their new-found friend’s funeral and in a last second shot we get a glimpse that Superman may not actually be gone forever; also evidenced by his casting in the upcoming Justice League movies. But the scene itself is a reminiscent mix of scenes from The Dark Knight Returns and Death of Superman.

Even if I really enjoyed the movie and the universe that they’re establishing I had to remind myself continuously of one thing. And whether you place the blame on WB, DC, Snyder, or David Goyer, the guy that actually wrote these first installments, you may need to teach yourself the same thing: This is not the DC you grew up with. This is Snyder’s Batman v Superman.

Every Frame A Painting is a show by Tony Zhou that dives into technique, history and trivia about movies and movie-making. The videos are short essays on subjects such as how movies can frame the cast to tell a story and how the same cast in a different framing tells another story. They’re very interesting and educational, and should be entertaining even for those that don’t have an interest in film-making.

https://www.youtube.com/everyframeapainting

Keep in mind that I still believe this may very well be a good movie

Civil War, and the Superhuman Registration Act, was Marvel’s way of facing, handling, and commenting on events that took place in New York on September 11 of 2001 and The Patriot Act that came to be following those events. It affects the whole Marvel Universe and we get to witness how everyone from the big names to the smallest are forced to take a stand on the issue. But the key word for what made the events of Civil War so enormous is “Marvel Universe”. When you have an established roster of hundreds of characters you get to show how these events resonate over a huge population of superheroes.

This is where the movie will differ. Keep in mind that I still believe this may very well be a good movie and a very entertaining chapter in the Captain America movie-franchise. But the roster of the MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe, isn’t that large yet. And while in the comics Cap takes a stand for the safety and rights of all superheroes and their families of the MU, in the MCU, while the point is principally the same, (in the trailer) he comes off as just choosing a friend over the other, and much of the great impact is missing. Let’s take a look at the second cinematic trailer before we move on.

A scene where half of the Avengers in the MCU clash with the other half is an epic event on the screen. But a 5v5 doesn’t really have the same impact as the great battles that took place in the comic books. But the premise is different as well, as the universe isn’t the same when it comes to events leading up to it and the players are different.For instance, Peter Parker has had a long relationship with Tony Stark as his mentor, due to his interest in science, and Spider-Man plays a big part in the events of Civil War. But in the movie-world, since Sony owns the rights to the cinematic version of the character, things aren’t as simple as Marvel Studios postponing the events of Civil War while they produce movies depicting their version of Spider-Man and how he came to befriend Tony Stark. We’ll have to wait and see how large of a role he actually plays in the movie, but we’ve already seen some big differences in the character just in the quick glance we get.

His moral being stops him from even touching it, afraid that he is not worthy

We can start by the costume he’s wearing, which is very reminiscent of the old school Spider-Man; a touch of fan-service perhaps. But that means he’s not sporting the Iron-Spider suit that he’s given by Tony Stark, which removes all those aspects from the story. And Peter Parker is also one of the characters that is depicted in the comics as being greatly affected by the SHRA. But the movie will not have time for the audience to get to know the character and his family, and how heavy he carries the burden of other peoples safety, especially that of his family, and how all those aspects make his unmasking resonated throughout the whole MU, But what is perhaps more important is what he does in the (very short) clip: He swipes the shield of Captain America out of the hands of Steve Rogers and wields it in his superhero landing. In the comics his moral being stops him from even touching it, afraid that he is not worthy and will taint the pure symbolism of it by placing his hand on it.

These are heavy scenes in the comics that grants the gravity of the whole situation a great sense of magnitude. In the clip we’ve seen it’s been condensed into a joke and a character reveal.

It’s understandable that a movie that is supposed to have a run-time of between 90 and 180 minutes to not be able to cover all the issues, storylines, moral battles, deceptions, social impacts, and characters that an epic sprawling over a hundred comics offers. And the world of copyrights, legal issues, ownership, and everything else that makes a cinematic endeavor hard enough to navigate can not contain all the characters that such events would require to stay true to its source. There’s actually no questioning why this movie will have its own take on the events of Civil War. And while it may be a great addition to the MCU, I fear it will do the canonical events of its inspiration unjust by appearing so early.

So imagine, instead, a world where there Marvel Studios owned all the cinematic rights to all their characters. And that Marvel had continued its march with movies and series that introduce more characters and minor events. Eventually it would all culminate in a gigantic series, featuring all of the characters, as they play out a storyline more along the events of Civil War from the comic books. That would perhaps do the whole arc justice.

But with the MCU version we may be spared one of the hardest moments to come out of a comic frame.