746

Eijiro, you kept a LIT MATCHLOCK RIFLE IN YOUR TROUSERS?? Come on, kid, I know you’re just learning about guns, but you’re gonna shoot your butt off! Or set your pants on fire. But, I suppose how else are you gonna pull off a badass surprise quick draw?

Movies are incredible, if you really sit back and look at them. I mean Infinity War is like this marvel (pun intended) of cinema movie magic, a near perfect merging of effects, acting, and narrative, that delivers one of the most intense, if not THE most intense, comic book movie experiences to date. I barely even had a moment to breath in the movie, and maybe that’s a criticism of it (it was so intense, I don’t have a lot of drive to see it again very soon), but that’s also an acknowledgement of how well realized this cinema universe has become, and how much I feel invested in it. I loved all the character banter, and almost laughed myself to tears on multiple occasions, while at the same time getting emotionally kicked in the gut! As an experience, Infinity War may be top of its class. As a film, I think it’s solid with some problems, and I’m going to talk about them a bit, so SPOILERS BELOW.

The movie starts out with Thor’s worst day ever, and that’s coming off what had JUST BEEN his worst day ever in Ragnarok. The death of basically everyone from his franchise films immediately set off alarm bells in my head that I’d be seeing other major character deaths in the movie, as well as the high likelyhood that the sequel film will rewind time/merge realities in a way that brings back those who died. I don’t think anyone who’s seen the movie would disagree with this.

But that’s all standard comicbook fare, and who would be disappointed if they bring back T’Challa or Peter Parker and the myriad of other fan favorites who got wiped from existence? I DO think that maybe killing several liked/loved characters in the opening scene (as well as literally all remaining Asgardians) tipped their hand perhaps too early that we were seeing a worst-timeline scenario with an inevitable reset waiting at the end. I’m not sure if this is really a criticism, though. I did (partly) check out emotionally because the movie was clearly setting itself up for a lot of shocking character deaths so early on. But I also have to assume most of the movie-going audience was eager to be rocked by this kind of drama, and it’s essentially the whole schtick of the film, so I can’t really knock Infinity War for being what it intended to be, especially when it did so on such a grand, operatic scale.

But OH MAN THANOS, DUDE, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM. The movie tries really hard to make him a sympathetic or relatable badguy, but he’s a moron and there’s no getting around it. He has the literal power of creation, he can do ANYTHING, he can turn the entire universe into literal paradise, and what does he do? Kills half of all sentient life. Why? Because…resources? He could’ve snapped his finger and created infinite resources. He could’ve made half the population infertile, if population overgrowth was such a problem. He could’ve given free healthcare to everyone, he could’ve made it impossible for politicians to lie, he could’ve fixed the plot holes in The Last Jedi, BUT WHAT DOES HE DO? He wipes out half of all sentient life and goes “Yay, I saved the universe!” What’s even dumber about this is that it’s not a permanent fix, the universe will eventually repopulate and then, in another two thousand years (give or take a century), he’ll have to do it all again! What a dope. And what a dope that none of the good guys even tried to suggest to him that there were other options (not that he’d listen I’ll give Thanos that he was highly self motivated and goal focused).

In truth, I kept expecting a twist with Thanos’ plan. I expected him to do something with the Infinity Gauntlet that only someone with the power of creation could do, something otherwise totally impossible. But wanton genocide hardly requires a metal glove decked out in rainbow jewelry. It just helps the process along a lot faster. On top of that, Thanos seemed to think the autocratic governments he put in place on his conquered worlds were great at bringing peace and order, but those governments came AFTER the planetary genocides he’d committed. Why, when he snapped his fingers, did he not set up Thanos-controlled autocratic governments on all worlds as well? Why ONLY the genocide? But whatever I guess Thanos is just crazy the end!

Also, this movie had a lot of choking in it. The first five minutes in I was like “Man, lotta guys gettin’ choked in this film”, and the rest of the movie was like “Hold my beer.”

Published on May 6, 2018 by Alex Kolesar

McNutty

I continue to find it impossible to dislike Eijiro
- http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai
  
  Good! Because I love Eijiro.
  - Tim “Azur3flame” Eldred
    
    Indeed. Annoying little prick that he may be, he’s an excellent catalyst for plot and character development. And he does it without ringing hollow as a character himself.
    - purplelibraryguy
      
      He’s got guts and he’s not a bad fellow. He’s just a bit confused.
charles81

Eijiro appears to have done a 180 since the first attack was ceased and I continue to be more and more impressed with him. I expected a coward’s reaction here and I got something much better than even a flip to defiant stoicism.
Sunwu

Seems we have ourselves an ole Japanese stand off
- jankmaster98
  
  Guess again, we’ve got a farmer trained on your position!
  - Sunwu
    
    Nice try, but I’ve had unmaned drone on that farmer this whole time…
    - Debbie Wright
      
      I’ve got a Polish corporal ready to take out the one remote piloting your drone. Said corporal likes to drink booze, eat cigarettes, Greco-Roman wrestle, was raised by the military, and is a Syrian bear. Go ahead, try to come up with a counter for that.
      - SKy
        
        Fire. Lots of fire.
      - clogboy
        
        I have a Chuck Norris. And since that’s the antithesis of Godwin’s Law, does that mean Chuck wins the debate?
      - Debbie Wright
        
        I’d try to counter, but if it saves the bear from fire I’m willing to let you win. Anything to protect a WWII vet bear.
        
        Plus, my counter is an impulsive and overly immortal jerk with a heart of gold Monkey King, and that would probably make this whole thing really ridiculous.
      - Sunwu
        
        You mean the polish corporal who’s wife we just kidnapped?
      - Debbie Wright
        
        I’m not sure if Wojtek had a mate, but I’m a little impressed you managed to kidnap a she-bear.
        
        See, when I said he was a bear, I meant that literally. Like, these Polish soldiers raised him from an orphan club and taught him all that stuff. They actually also taught him how to smoke cigarettes, but he ate them if they weren’t lit. They taught him to carry crates of ammunition, which he never dropped. They enlisted him because the British wouldn’t let him on the ship from Egypt to Italy as a mascot and they didn’t want to leave him. This is a bear that actually existed and took part in WWII.
        
        He actually cornered a high-ranking Fascist in a bathhouse; the guy willingly surrendered because he was being threatened by a bear.
charles81

On Infinity Wars

**** SPOILERS ****

I love this movie. I can see some of the logical issues with the thought process, but I’m willing to write it off as a broken… Titan, who arrived at this conclusion for his own people’s plights a long time ago, when there were possibly fewer options, and watched them all suffer and die for not taking a similar or equally serious measure. And there he is, poised for the soul stone and required to sacrifice what he loves most… and of all the people he could have brought with him… thats the kind of stuff that feeds a mind convinced of their fate. Gamora dying was the point at which I knew things were getting real. Loki and all of Asgard were nasty, but I could sort of feel that after Ragnarok, the Thor franchise could wrap up with even Thor noting in the last movie that Loki had become far too predictable. NOTE: Thor noted to Rocket that Thanos killed HALF his people, which is generally Thanos’ way, though I don’t know where the other half went and it’s possible Thor referred to Hel killing the other half.

One special things I took away from all that hero death… While Hawkeye is unknown, all original avengers are alive (with Dr Strange’s saving of Tony contributing to that). Almost everyone else who could make a decent addition to the Avengers was killed (though likely not Cpt. Marvel).
- Nos Rin aka CTCO
  
  ya, they killed off all the people who will still have movies so you KNOW they are coming back.
  my guess is some of the ones left standing aren’t going to survive the next movie.
  Chris Evans is done after avengers 4.
Nos Rin aka CTCO

I’ll tell you why his plan was so UTTERLY STUPID.
Even if someone else already has.

It is because in the COMICS. He plans on killing half the universe Just to Impress Lady Death.
But since she isn’t a character in the movies they had to come up with a new reason.
Still if they were going to do that just do something different than killing half of everyone.
but then I guess the stakes to stop him wouldn’t be so high?
meh.
I hate it when they only partially copy a plot point or story arc and it just feels, meh.
LOOKING AT YOU CIVIL WAR!!! ALTHOUGH I NEVER LIKED YOUR COMIC VERSION EITHER!!!!!!!!!!
- Yasmin Mazur
  
  wow – that means he’s not as dumb as I thought – just love-struk…
  seriously – one generation is enough for a population to more than double itself, and wars and great loss are a great motivator for people to celebrate life and want to get something to remember their loved ones by.
  - Nos Rin aka CTCO
    
    Like I never read the comics myself, just googled and chatted with those who have. but I did already know about the lady death thing for years.
    But ya, it’s basically just a case of copying a story’s main plot without using the driving goals behind them.
    hey sometimes changing the goals can make it better, but often it just makes it seem dumb.
    this is one of those cases where honestly the original reason would have made much more sense.
    but besides the fact we have a very low character count (almost painfully so, thus that army we got, which was fine I guess) that the MCU is trying to keep some levels of “realism” I think, so the concept of lady death would be a bit weird maybe? also people like sympathetic villains these days?
    - Yasmin Mazur
      
      I think that they have a problem introducing Lady Death after the way they introduced Thanos – I mean – Lokey was attacking earth in his name, he was always in the backgroud lurking and looking meanacing, and then it turns out he’s “working” for someone else? that would be lame. Still – they could have tried to find something less inefficient to give him a motive.
      - Nos Rin aka CTCO
        
        Thanos didn’t kill half the universe as a job for lady death like she was his boss or even just asking him too.
        No no. he did it because he was in love with her and was trying to impress her.
        So it actually wouldn’t be something like that. might have actually worked. they could have done something like that.
        
        he apparently also made a sexy clone of himself to make lady death jealous. (learned this one recently.) needless to say all of his efforts failed and they killed off his clone because, poor writing here, he forget to give her the ability to breath in space. I mean. if he could do it why couldn’t she? sigh.
        
        Fun Fact. While Thanos is in love with lady death, she actually likes deadpool!! lol. I think they had a thing.
      - Yasmin Mazur
        
        comic soap opera… I’m glad they gave it up the more you elaborate. I’m sure it makes sense in context or something – but frankly I prefered it when he looked like he was reading Malthus.
      - Nos Rin aka CTCO
        
        Reading Malthus?
        
        Well remember, he’s considered the Mad Titan. Dude is crazy bonkers.
        A lot of people ask why he doesn’t create more food.
        He’s insane, and nutso people don’t exactly think logically.
      - Yasmin Mazur
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusianism
        it’s a problem with people who disregard modern technology – they’re still listening to 18 century philosophers.
        Basically – he said that the population growth is faster than the growth of the resources. The problem with this attitude is that now we know how to make food in bioreactors from bacterias – and there’s no limits on how many of those we can fit in a planet – they work on volume, not area-surface. There’s no shortage of water now that we know how to desalinate sea-water, and we know how to dry islands so there’s no shortage of living-space. The only limit is the life of the planet itself – a meteor could do what it did to the dinosaurs, so if we have any desire to preserve the human race long-term – we need to spread out of this one planet.
        
        Anyway – creating more food is easy – it’s getting people to eat lower on the food-chain that’s the problem.
      - Nos Rin aka CTCO
        
        Ah, fascinating.
        I do think that we should decrease down to 2-3 billion though. only reason to keep our high numbers is to fight off alien invaders.
        how do I propose this you ask? No genicide, no rush, just find a way to limit children per family, max 3 kids, and support those who dont want to reproduce and if the number still dont go down then limit it to 1 kid each.
        and ya it would be difficult obviously, i’m just throwing out a very basic generic idea.
        
        I don’t know, I just want more areas for adventuring and less crowds of people. I think a population shrink would do us good.
      - Yasmin Mazur
        
        can’t be done that way – china tried to do it, but in a backward society that doesn’t appreciate girls enough – the results were… let’s just say that they have lifted the 1 child per family limit, but now there’s a real shortage of eligible bachlorettes in china. If you want a temporary reduction of population, you need to get rid of the young males – females can share, but the males have a problem with that.
        For 2 parents, you can’t let more than 2 kids for a fixed population size – anything higher than that – it’s a positive increase like what Malthus said.
        High numbers are good for getting people to search for new frontiers to settle – if people feel crouded, they try to move to another place. Admittedly they first try to conquer someone else’s land, but if that doesn’t work out, they do try to create new land. It can be done, most of the earth is not populated (a lot of oceans, but also deserts, forests, mountains ect.), and there’s always going underground or high up in skyskrapers – even going to space…
        You should read some of the recent history regarding forced sterilization if you want to revise your idea about what is a “modern country”. Also read what they tried to do in China – and why it failed.
        
        As for adventuring – space is out there – totally empty and waiting to be explored and settled – you should go to that Mars training program.
      - purplelibraryguy
        
        If your objective is population reduction, I fail to see how ending up with disproportionately few females is a problem. That actually makes it work better. Maybe the extra guys are annoyed, but not annoying guys wasn’t the goal of the policy. What would be a problem would be the reverse–if your population reduction policy ended up with few males but lots of females, the few males would potentially be able to impregnate all the females and still give you more population.
        China isn’t easing up on the policy because it failed, they’re easing up on the policy because it succeeded and so now they don’t need to be as heavy about it. Compare China’s population–and poverty–trends to, say, India’s.
      - Yasmin Mazur
        
        well – the population issue is not a goal in itself as much as the part where people aren’t fighting over resources is. Basically – a lot of young males that are frustrated by not having sex – a good drive for wars in history. Admittedly – after the war, there are less males around – but you come to a point where the wars are so devastating that it’s better to avoid them – and then you really don’t want that exess of young males around.
        As for nature – I like nature, I believe that human beings have evolved in a certain enviroment, and when we change it – we’re hurting ourselves too. Problem is – you can’t really protect all the animal species on earth. A lot of them are beyond the point of no-return – and many more won’t survive the climate change (poor polar bear – that picture really hits home, and the story about how the penguins are losing their breeding grounds because the currents are taking the fish elsewhere is also heart-wrenching). Basically – I put human survival first – and the population reduction methods are all sketchy. The one that actually works – educating young girls to have a career instead of a family – is still too limited.
        China… there are shelters for abandoned babies there – and a lot of abortions and baby-killings over the sex of the baby (if it’s not male, the family wants to try again). I’m not calling that success – and the population in china is not a bunch of middle-class educated people so that is also a failiure.
        Basically they have too many old people and not enough young working people to support them. That way you get economical ruin. A lot of european countries are in that state too – aging population is a real problem – but at least those got there by concensus and not by breaking the male:female ratio.
        
        Again – my point is that planet earth can support as many people as we currently have and more – we just have to manage our resources better. we can even move to live underground as to leave green spaces above us.
      - animalia555
        
        One thing that can help reduce the stress on the extra population is if more people ate a more varied food source. For example instead of just eating the muscle meat us Americans could try to eat the organs of the cows so the whole thing doesn’t go to waste. An example of this dish done right is Menudo, a type of Mexican comfort food.
      - Yasmin Mazur
        
        as a proud carnivor I have to point out that raising cows is incredibly inefficient – internal organs or not – the meat is around 41% of the weight of the live animal. internal organs are less than 4%. No – the future is in bioreactors – eating yeast and seaweed and bacterias…
        but until then – not wasting food is also part of the solution – in France they have an interesting reclamation project for short shelf life in supermarkets – they donate it to charity instead of throwing it away. There’s also a group that’s doing it to collect food from event-halls (weddings and such stuff are incredibly wasteful).
        Waste not, want not – but some things are more efficient than others to begin with.
      - animalia555
        
        I was trying to keep the explanation simple by keeping examples down. But if you want more here are some that can be utilized right now. Guinea Pigs can be breed and raised in the home and were originally domesticated as a food source. Many insects are a cheap and efficient source of protein and are recognized as such by much of the world. The problem lies in overcoming our psychological roadblocks to these food sources.
      - Yasmin Mazur
        
        basically – I’m thinking about how the far east countries are starting to find interest in beef – and how there isn’t enough surface to feed the cows for the current consumption. We’re talking efficiency here – KG of feed for KG of food – and cows are one of the least efficient sources.
        Sure – you keep guinea pigs as pets – but that’s not a daily protein source – you’d have to kill one every day, and the breeding rate is such that you’d have to have more than one breeding pair at a time. I’ve worked at a petting zoo – I used to take care of hamsters and gerbils and also rabbits and guinea pigs – they take more space than the average city appartment can afford.
        The insect farms are interesting – I saw an article about it, and also tried some fried caterpillars once (they taste like a BBQ snack). They are more efficiant than mammals.
        I still think yeast strains are a better fit – I’m a food engineer and I know how to get yeast that taste like beef – which people like better than a roasted cricket – although I may be affected by my jewish enviroment – jews don’t eat insects (except locust – because if you have locust and don’t eat it, you starve). Still – I am aware of some food additives make from insects – there’s a really nice red food-color made of beetles for example.
        The advantage of yeast over insects, aside from being lower on the food-chain and taking less resources to breed – is that people aren’t disgusted by them – bread and beer are common all over the world, and people would eat them more easily.
        
        In short – there are several options – but mass production requires less variety and not more. Also – the cows will be the 1st to go due to inefficiency.
      - animalia555
        
        Another thing for people who advocate complete vegetarianism to keep in mind is that the vast majority of the Earth’s arable surface is already under till. There are some areas of Earth however that are not suitable to agriculture use but ARE suitable to the raising of livestock and not only can but often are harnesed by people this way. Though to be fair this tends to be less cows and more goats and sheep or when it is cow it isn’t the more well known breeds but rarer breeds that were specialy bred to survive in those harsh conditions.
        
        In short there is not likely to be a one size fits all answer, but rather many smaller answers that come together to reach a solution.
        
        Even what I proposed with alternative animal proteins is just PART of the solution, NOT the whole thing.
      - Yasmin Mazur
        
        I am a proud carnivor – I will not give up my steak until the replacement is just as tastey.
        I’m just realistic – cows are the most wasteful – and a lot of the agricultural land is used just to feed the cows. You should see what they’re doing in south america – it’s sad.
        There are 2 problems with the varaiety solution:
        1) people want what they can’t have – if there’s a chance to get “real beef” – they’d pay for it, and other people will try to raise more beef to meet the demand… all of this while we want to lower the number of cows raised.
        2) you really don’t want people to take up illegal hunting – but they will if they think meat is a real option – and it won’t be like the elephants and rhino solution of cutting off their tusks/horn – you’ll have to spend time and effort discurraging poachers.
        
        It will take a long time yet to get the insect farm or bioreactors up and running – until then – the variety solution is good – but it’s not the end result – that will only be going to the lowest level and building the food from that.
      - Nos Rin aka CTCO
        
        Ya, I’m aware of china’s issue.
        and I fully admit there are flaws to the ‘fix’. but I still think it’s one of the better solutions to the overpopulation issue.
        The problem is figuring out the most ethical way to do it without causing too much trauma.
      - Yasmin Mazur
        
        basically – getting the girls to think they don’t want kids – like the europeans do. If you’re resorting to forced sterilisation – you’re doing it wrong. Also – 30 milion missing women is not something you want – the single males are a destabalizing factor – sex-trafficing is an ugly thing. Best to make sure the male:female balance is kept – and that only comes with education.
        The aging population will probably only be fixed when the robots take over all the menial jobs – although right now europe has a plus – they’re getting a lot of refugees from other countries where the population is younger. The problem is that the common people don’t appreciate the addition to the local work-force.
        The whole thing is incredibly complicated – and what Thanos did was just random-killing half the population without noticing who he’s killing – just making it worse.
        At least in WW2 when there was a major population drop, it was mostly the young males dying, leaving behind more females that are now career women…
        There are right and wrong ways to do anything – and China’s way was definitely wrong.
      - Yasmin Mazur
        
        oh – I almost forgot:
        Cultured meat is the future – bioreactors, but with cells from cows and chickens ect.
        We won’t have enough room to grow those animals, but we will be able to grow their muscles at the lab.
        Prices have dropped to about 14$ per KG – but it’s still not commertial. I’m waiting – that would be the ultimate steak without killing anything to make it (eventually – right now it’s not even a proper burger – but they’re working on it).
CaptXpendable

Regarding Infinity War

****SPOILERS****

One thing I think we’re supposed to notice is how much damage was done to the gauntlet by killing half the universe. My interpretation is that while the stones power is infinite, the gauntlets ability to handle that power is not. This means he can’t just create infinite resources, since I think it’s safe to assume that would cost far more power than what he did and was likely beyond what the gauntlet could handle.

Personally, I found it a good idea to imply limits to the gauntlet, it made the fact that Thanos could be challenged by non-cosmic beings more plausible and it means undoing everything in the next movie is not going to be as simple as getting the gauntlet from him. It’s damaged, and pulling half the people in the universe back together will certainly cost more power than destroying them.
- clogboy
  
  Excellent points. Ofcourse there is still the time stone, and I think either of two things can happen:
  -either Dr. Strange returns to our realm after escaping from whatever plane of existence they’re sent to
  -or one of the survivors (most likely Cpt. Marvel) uses the gauntlet to reverse time. To where? Universe reboot? The point where Thor should’ve aimed for the head?
  Although IMO a time reverse would be lame. It worked for Dr. Strange, but only to save one of the observatories, and the time loop was a plot device in order to change the demon’s mind. And not in a plot-undo-it-all sort of device. Time travel is lame, and Marvel should be above it.
  
  So, the heroes should work from inside the quantum realm (most likely explanation) to undo the damage. And then the heroes outside the quantum realm (AKA the Avengers) should work to defeat Thanos, maybe the QR offers some help there.
  Maybe even with return of the original Wasp.
  - CaptXpendable
    
    I thought of reversing time, the problem with that is that we’ve only ever seen it reverse time locally. I think it’s safe to say that reversing time for the whole universe will still take orders of magnitude more power and only gets worse the more time passes.
    
    Also, when you consider that half the people in the universe, as huge as that number would be, would only be a tiny fraction of a percentage of the entire universe, then it’s easy to imagine, base on the damage we saw done to the gauntlet, that trying to affect the whole universe like that would be beyond its capacity. Again, I think the time stone can do it, but it requires something, or someone, who can handle processing that power.
    - Yasmin Mazur
      
      1) the time it takes for a population to double itself is not thousands of years but a few generations. each couple have a couple of children, and if the death rates drop below the rate of borth – doubling the population is a short thing. Earth population tripled itself after WW2 from 1 billion to 3 billions in 33 years. Basically the strategy is moronic any way you look at it.
      2) the studio did say they are shaking the Avenger lineup – so I expect people to retire for good at the very least. Also someone was supposed to die for real in this movie – Poor XXXX and XXXXXX – the 1st was kinda disrespectful and the 2nd was just a tear-jerker – for everybody involved, appearantly. On the other hand – some actors have signed contracts to multipul movies, so even though they dissapeared, we know they will be back in time for their next movie. Something is going to happen to retrieve them from wherever they went.
      3) next 2 movies are Antman and Captain Marvel – and there are plenty of survivors to do the fighting for the next movie – should be interesting.
      
      4) resetting time as a tactic… depends on how it’s done – it can be interesting or annoying, depending how it’s done. I like the Doctor Who way with the time paradox at the end of the 3rd season new show – they erased the major damage but still left some bodies around. Could be something like that – and then – I shall miss those 2 characters.
      
      Other than that – it’s a great movie – I liked it a lot.
      - clogboy
        
        Quantum zone. I can definitely see the Antman movie delving into that one. For two reasons:
        1. To orchestrate a reunion between Pym’s daughter and her mom. Two Wasps joining forces.
        2. To provide a post-credits scene where everybody who died are A-OK (unless they were physically killed by Thanos). Possibly Dr. Strange and Fury overlooking something epic.
        
        Also… if the Time Stone simply alters how the wielder perceives time (as non-linear), then there is no possibility for a paradox, unless it pertains the wielder himself. Subject for another debate.
    - clogboy
      
      Nitpicking, but I think the time stone just alters your perception of spacetime. We only see the passing of time as a linear constant, and perhaps the timestone changes it to a nonlinear variable. However you use it will not be visible for anyone else, unless you pause time, move an object and then press play.
      Very possibly the space stone works in a very similar way, except you don’t have a role as an observer, hence why your travel is perceived by everyone (including yourself) as instant transportation.
  - Nos Rin aka CTCO
    
    or use the time stone to travel back to the point before he got the powerstone and stop him then, no need use the guantlet to bring everyone back.
    even though in the comic Nebula did use the guantlet to bring everyone, or at least the fallen heroes, back.
    - clogboy
      
      You know what? It would be worth it to see the Avengers elite facing off against an unpowered Thanos as a callback to how Loki got overpowered. Waiting for that.
      - Nos Rin aka CTCO
        
        sure, would be nice.
clogboy

SPOILERS
Thanos proposed purging his home planet, and the planet turned into a wasteland because they didn’t. He’s been doing just that on countless other planets ever since. It’s what he does. And if all you have is a hammer, then every problem becomes a nail. And he just happened to get his hand on the mother of all God hammers in the entire universe.
He could’ve made different use of the Gauntlet. But Thanos is an inherently evil person. It’s not in him.
But holy shit what an unexpected return for the Red Skull. Well… I rewatched Captain America a couple months ago, and noticed a distinct flash right before he disappeared. Knowing what the Tesseract is now, it makes sense that he would return, but his new role was well thought of.

THEORIES

Concerning all the deaths, I believe Loki, Heimdal and Gamora will be permanent, although if the Soul stone somehow got destroyed then the sacrifice might be reversed.
Concerning all the other people and heroes, they’re either in a timeline entirely of their own (split universe), or in the Quantum realm which was also shown in Ant Man and Dr. Strange. The gang who got transported there have the opportunity to fight the problem from the inside out. The rest who got stuck in Thanosverse (pretty much the old guard), those are the ones in real trouble IMO. I predict more deaths among them.
Minando

He…had a mini-musket..with a burning fuse..in his belt..under his…you know what? Fine.
- clogboy
  
  If you believe Indiana Jones can pocket a six foot plank in one of his games, then this isn’t a long stretch at all.
  - Minando
    
    If this is Indiana Jones-approved I’m okay with it.
- http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai
  
  Don’t question it! Don’t question it!!
Turul

> drop the sword

But then he’d be fresh outta bodyguards *and* swords!
Kid Chaos

“I won’t be made a tool”? Too late. 😜
- Minando
  
  Cutting tools are *so* 1603.
Arnu?

I love this comic so much, every page is so great, but I am so lost when it comes to who knows who and how they’re related 😛
- Gandalf the Tsaagan
  
  Time to give the “New to NN4B?” section a read
- clogboy
  
  Eji and Yori are brothers, sons to lord Wataro. Genchu was their sword trainer, until he and his lord (their father) had a disagreement about the clan’s expansion policy, especially regarding their attack on the Daisuke clan (of which Ken is a sole survivor, now seeking revenge against the blood thirsty Nataku) to get revenge for the death of lady Wataro (possibly also murdered by Nataku).
  Yori was supposed to marry Ina from the Senshin clan they were at odds with, to achieve a diplomatic peace, but Yori and Ina both ran off, they had a chance encounter onbeknownst of each others identities, and on the way collected a rag tag group of warriors/friends. Meanwhile, Ina’s father traveled to explain the situation to lord Wataro, but got kidnapped on the way by a sexy female ninja clan, who were paid by Eji. As a result, the situation escallated to a point where the Wataro clan saw no other choice but attack the Senshin clan. This is why they’re fighting now.
  
  There is a page for first time readers that makes it easier to understand: http://nn4b.com/new-to-nn4b
- Turul
  
  IDK if you noticed yet, but if you click the “Details” button under each comic, it lists all the characters who appear on that page and has links to their tag where you find every page that character appears on. The tags have family names as well, so they’ll tell you who’s related to whom (and also simply what everybody’s called).
  
  Anyhow, on this page, Eijiro and Yorikiro Wataro are brothers, except their father disowned Yori and now Yori’s aiding the opposite side. Lord Maru (samurai in the background in the first panel) is the lord of the village where this battle takes place. He’s a vassal of Masuhiro Senshin, who is Ina’s father. Maru befriended the main characters during an earlier attack, when Ina arranged the defense of the village against the Wataro army. The guys in red armour are Wataro soldiers.
Gandalf the Tsaagan

Oh no, the most intense sound of them all, “FARMERS!”
- http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai
  
  Not Kadoosh?
  - Mike Sanders
    
    Farmers, woo!
    - Nos Rin aka CTCO
      
      Farmers woo!
      - Minando
        
        Farmers! Who? Farmers! Woo!
  - tinwatchman
    
    Historically? Nope. Farmers win. For instance, Simo Häyhä: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4.
- clogboy
  
  MARCHMARCHMARCH all the way!
Ocean Burning.

DRRAAAAAAMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Question I’ve had for a while — do we know what’s the age difference between them? Yori’s like 18 I think? While Eijiro looks to be about 13-14, but I’m not really sure?
- http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai
  
  Eijiro’s 16 and Yori’s 18. Ina’s also 16.
  - Ocean Burning.
    
    Eijiro’s SIXTEEN? 😳
clogboy

Regarding The Avengers, do you realize we have nearly enough scenes to do one long clips movie that resembles Watchmen (or something along a similar grain)? A group of superheroes fell out of grace, deal with personal issues, and then come together one last time to save the world, only to see it destroyed. I think a three hour long epic masterpiece, riddled with narrative and flashbacks, will be in order. XD
endplanets

Awesome!
endplanets

Why do we even bother putting blades to people’s throats if we are just going to let them do whatever.
Granted death threats don’t really work against a guy who knows he needs to be taken alive.

Meanwhile Yori is all “”Now That’s The Ugliest Looking Sword I’ve Ever Seen”
Mike Sanders

clearly, this entire clan is hard enough to kick ass. Eijiro barely learned what a gun *was* a week ago, and he’s already telling folk not to bring knives to a gunfight. GLORIOUS comeback, kid.
LordBolanderFace

Angst: conveniently growing your bangs long enough to cover your eyes at all the most dramatic moments.
- Turul
  
  My former self resembles that remark. :-/
Debbie Wright

…you know, this kid just can’t stop giving off this “too dumb to live” vibe. Also, kid, you’ve been nothing but different definitions of a tool since you appeared in this story. A fool for your dad, a fool for the general who’d probably going to kill you, just a fool in your general attitude.
MaximumCarnage

Concerning Thanos…

SPOILERS ect, but if your this far in the comments, you know that by now.

I think there actually is a bit of something to sympathize with Thanos in, to a degree, but you really have to not only take his perspective, but a very long view of things. Is he evil? Perhaps… Though I argue evil is a highly contextual thing, and easy to judge from the outside. Thanos is the big bad wolf of all big bad wolves, and the populace of a universe are prey, and prey may ever think of those who hunt as evil, from their point of view. Is his solution reprehensible? HOO boy yes. But I think, while he is perhaps at least a touch mad, he’s not outright insane.

He is a man powerfully driven by his ideals, as well as, I’d wager, a great deal of grief. His solution, as offered to his people, was a terrible one, but he sees their downfall not as a tragic failing to find a better solution in time, but proof positive that his cold, calculated suggestion was justified. And the process of it coming to be so means he saw both the entire populace, as well as anyone he may have cared about there, die in the aftermath. One that undoubtedly grew far worse before better. Dwindling resources has ever lead to war, as well, and I have little doubt desperate, starving people fighting for resources lead first to terrible, bitter warfare that accelerated the loss of what was left, and lead to insane last resort final stands. Society wasted away to bones – and fire no doubt bleached them. And we’ve seen no evidence he is any but the last.

So in having lost all that was home, family, people, and place, he might have clung to that solution with grim and bitter determination, seeing his fate as all the proof he needs that only his solution is the correct one, and a will that he must see it through. People always desire a sense of satisfaction in their life… And he would have found it in the belief that the ends of his work justified the means, in seeing what seems prosperity on the places he has enacted his will, for all it is paid in blood, as the reward for his effort. This, even as he must also know the time will come when, without something to prevent population booms, he would have to do so again. Or perhaps even grimly satisfied his work will continue to be required. He is not a part of these people, even sees possibly the need to remain above them, maybe seeing him as some manifest tool of death and renewal that must be so.

And so until he took his daughters, perhaps finally succumbing to a loneliness he thought he had risen above, he remained. Though as such an individual oft does with those they foster, he sought to makes them just like him, believing it even to be a necessary cruelty to do so, and believing it would be a kindness if he drove empathy from them as he had discarded it from himself, especially should he see them as wards who might not just enforce his worldview, but one day take the mantle from him. Just the same, he cared, in time, more for them then he ever dared to let himself see. But his quest was his Dark Tower – and even in the face of that love, much like Roland, even the one he loved fall in the belief he must not be swayed.

Someone here referenced the saying that if one is a hammer, all they see is nails. And true enough, he’d wrapped himself in his philosophies and wielded them as such. And as far as we can see, he has done so for an unknown age of time. What he saw as success would only harden his view, narrow his vision. The longer one lives, the longer one follows their way, the more they keep to habit, the more unerringly they will keep to that path, now worn down into a deep chasm they wouldn’t believe they could climb from if they tried. We know it’s difficult to break from bad habits, chewing your nails, or sloth, or alcoholism, but what of a habit of millennia? And like alcohol, did he not get some intoxication from the thrill of battle, and the self-satisfaction of each dark victory? Lo, he has become death, yet rides not a pale horse, but a freight train that has gone long beyond the point at which it could arrest it’s own velocity until, by outside force or the paths end, it meets a violent and catastrophic terminus.

And now it is done. At least, for a time. For the first time in beyond memory, Thanos will have many years in which he need not work, and have little to distract him from the result of his deeds. His hammer has broken on that final clash… It might be reforged. But I wonder if the time the aftermath enforces might, with naught else to turn his eyes, make his gaze turn upon his deeds?

Thanos is only passingly sympathetic, and only then in the long view – but from the view of those who could never experience to such extreme the events and aeons he has – but I feel it’s an origin that is at least believable. Considering they couldn’t touch much on lady death and the complications of it, both with Deadpool not yet available to their license and perhaps their own restrictions on the universe ruling her out, I personally feel this take on Thanos is actually a decently believable one. And in any case, I personally prefer it’s circumstance over that of ‘I fell in love with death, gunna murder trillions as an engagement gift’. It certainly seems a reasonably chosen story, to me. I don’t know if this will give any who take the time to read it cause to consider it in new light or not. But if you have, thank you for your time, just the same.
http://www.fennecfoxpress.com David A. Tatum

Eijiro should know better than to think that capturing leadership on the battlefield is the same as kidnapping, and isn’t dishonorable at all. I guess he hasn’t read his Sun Tzu. Yori doesn’t seem all that well-versed in tactics, either. For them to be so incompetent, they must have had a horrible tutor. I guess Genchu deserved to be fired, after all. (FRIDGE LOGIC!)

And now that several people, I’m sure, are looking up what Fridge Logic means (sending them into the depths of TVTropes, where we may never hear from them again), this is a great scene, here. The return of the farmers, Yori showing more poise than we’ve seen since… well, the last time he got into a serious fight, at least. And Eijiro executing a nice feint to draw his pistol… (though I wonder if he couldn’t have done that without drawing his sword. It would be nice to see the brothers having a proper swordfight, rather than gun-v-sword, but… well, whatever)
- http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai
  
  In another universe we would’ve set both brothers up as master swordsmen, and built up to a duel! But we’ve never shown any indication that Eijiro is a good sword fighter, and his interest in firearms is because they make swords potentially obsolete. Granted, we’ve never expressly stated Eijiro ISN’T a master of the blade, which is why on the next page when he throws the pistol at Yori’s face, picks up his sword, and they have a thirty page long sword fight, you’ll be really surprised! (at least for the first couple pages, then you’ll be like “why is this still going?”)
- purplelibraryguy
  
  Sending people to TVTropes, you heartless bastard.
Chett Harris

(an ad on) your page is throwing me to a spam ‘your computer needs cleaning’ page
- http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai
  
  Thanks. We’re trying to figure it out. Are you reading the site on mobile?
  - Chett Harris
    
    no. safari browser. seems to pop up when I open OR when I close the page
animalia555

No Eijiro: You’ll be made a tool by everyone else and you’ll never even realize it because of how naive you are.

I pity the kid. He is in WAY over his head, with no idea of idea of who to trust. If this wasn’t such a lighthearted series I’d expect tragedy to come his way.
RickRussellTX

WOOOO!
RickRussellTX

Honestly in the time it takes a matchlock to engage you could just push the pistol away.
Gandalf the Tsaagan

I finally watchef Infinity War, and…

Did they really try to make Thanos relatable?
I mean, it was quite obvious when it came to obtaining the soul stone with all the drama, but the fact that monsters have feelings is no surprise to me (it’s a part of what makes them what they are).

Anyway, I have taken most of the deaths as permanent.
Like, given the HUGE cast that the MCU has, it made sense to “cleanse” it to lighten the budget put on actors alone (not that I think that Disney is short on cash, but these things happen).
But I suppose that it makes sense to revive many of these characters in the sequel (specially if their actors have contracts for more movies).
Frank Royce Harr

How’d that doofus get pistol? And how’d he not burn himself?

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