History NightmareFuel / AvengersInfinityWar

* At the end of the film, the Avengers are mostly in the forest beyond the Wakandan battlefield after their final fight with the Black Order. Then Vision has a painful lurch caused by the Mind Stone, and he can only whisper to Wanda “he’s here”. The wind starts blowing a little. The Avengers look up in confusion, and Steve orders everyone to rally at his position. Then the Space Stone-induced portal opens. After over twenty movies and a decade of build-up, the moment arrives like the fated meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs - Thanos arrives on Earth.
** The Avengers briefly have a standoff with Thanos, who calmly, but sternly, turns his attention right towards Vision. The Avengers are looking an extinction event in the eyes. And the worst part? They’re just about completely helpless against him. Steve tried once again to rally the team, but none of them do anything more than slow him down. And Thanos simply walks slowly towards his mark, an almost remorseful, placid look on his face, knowing what he’s on the verge of doing. And he barely exerts any effort to defeat the attacking Avengers. The Avengers can do nothing but delay the inevitable extinction.

* Ebony Maw attempts to [[ColdBloodedTorture coerce]] Strange into releasing the spell he has on the Time Stone by drilling a number of crystal needles into his flesh, one at a time, ''slowly.'' The needles start to glow as they pierce his skin, giving the audience a nice, back-lit view of Strange's [[BodyHorror veins and arteries]] as he visibly tries not to scream. It becomes a case of DramaticIrony when you realize that Strange used to be a neurosurgeon and he is now on the opposite end of what he used to excel at while he's still conscious.

'''[[{{Zapped}} (SNAP)]]'''''

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* '''''Thanos wins'''''. Defying any and all expectations, he was able to collect all six Stones, defeat both halves of the Avengers and snap the Gauntlet's fingers, cause the deaths of billions - ''just on Earth alone.'' Anyone who was expecting TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin to apply were absolutely '''''speechless'''''.

* Despite being villains with minor roles, the Black Order are the film's supporting protagonists as Thanos is the MVP. Audience members usually applauded their deaths, essentially cheering when the Avengers murdered the film's "good guys". Infinity War actually got the audience to cheer for the "bad guys".

* From Thanos' perspective, the events of the film are rather foreboding. He knows he's marching into probably his most dangerous mission and initially opted to avoid Earth, likely to avoid Iron Man, whom he feared. While not really afraid of his opposition, his almost loss of the battle on Titan visibly scared him. He also was forced to sacrifice the one thing he loved (aside himself), Gamora, thus confronting a terrifying truth he would be alone and unloved forever. Additionally, in his warped, obsessed mind, the entire universe will become a barren wasteland like Titan unless he succeeds, and his return to his devastated homeworld clearly unnerved the Mad Titan. Nonetheless, Thanos proved brave enough to push past these insecurities, but still ended up alone.

* From Thanos' perspective, the events of the film are rather foreboding. He knows he's marching into probably his most dangerous mission and initially opted to avoid Earth, likely to avoid Iron Man, whom he feared. While not really afraid of his opposition, his almost loss of the battle on Titan visibly scared him. He also was forced to sacrifice the one thing he loved (aside himself), Gamora, thus confronting a terrifying truth he would be alone and unloved forever. Additionally, in his warped, obsessed mind, the entire universe will become a barren wasteland like Titan unless he succeeds. Return to his devastated homeworld clearly unnerved the Mad Titan. Nonetheless, Thanos proved brave enough to push past these insecurities, but still ended up alone.

* When Tony and Bruce are at the Sanctum in New York, commotion stirs outside, people panicking over something large, an aircraft, hovering over the city causing destruction. People were uncomfortable in theaters thinking back on 9/11 and the eerie parallels. In-universe, it's even worse, people in New York are reminded of 9/11 ''and'' the [[Film/TheAvengers2012 attack of 2012]].

* The Black Order members look like something out of your worst nightmare, and all four are portrayed as sadistic [[BloodKnight Blood Knights]] utterly loyal to Thanos and eager to enable his goal of universal genocide. They're also very effective in battle, and can seriously make one doubt that the Avengers can actually defeat them.