Avengers: Infinity War Pitch Meeting — Revisited

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Summary

Avengers: Infinity War's cliffhanger ending, while shocking and emotional, was never meant to be a permanent conclusion due to the planned two-part project and the clear foreshadowing of a happy resolution in Avengers: Endgame.
The decision to end the movie with a cliffhanger was a necessary risk taken by Marvel Studios to show their willingness to take bold choices with fan-favorite characters and stay true to their vision for The Infinity Saga.
While early Multiverse Saga projects have been criticized for lacking innovation in the franchise formula, there is hope that future projects can set up The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars for Infinty War-level success.

Though still regarded as one of the biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe outings to date, Screen Rant's own Pitch Meeting series is revisiting its Avengers: Infinity War episode and why some criticisms remain true. The 19th installment in the MCU saw the various heroes of Earth and the cosmos coming together to put a stop to Josh Brolin's Thanos as he continued his quest to acquire the Infinity Stones and wipe out half of the universe. In addition to being one of the MCU's most-expensive productions, Infinity War was also one of its highest-grossing, becoming the first superhero movie to gross over $2 billion worldwide.
With five years now gone since the movie and original video came out, Screen Rant's Pitch Meeting series is looking back at its Avengers: Pitch Meeting episode. The video, as seen at the top of this article, sees host Ryan George reflecting on some of the jokes of his original video, criticizing himself for opening it with poking fun at the epic crossover's product placement without specifying the jokes in question, and for not focusing more of the video on the plot itself. George does admit to feeling some of the flaws for the movie remain, and that the growing roster of MCU characters has contributed to his own superhero fatigue.
Infinity War's Cliffhanger Was Never Going To Work (But Needed To Happen)

One of the elements George notes in the original Pitch Meeting video and the Revisited segment is Avengers: Infinity War's infamous cliffhanger, in which Thanos successfully snaps away half the universe, reducing many fan-favorite heroes to dust and leaving others in shock. Audiences were similarly left bawling at the movie's final moments, with the death of Tom Holland's Spider-Man being one of the more standout moments for his authentic performance of a teenager afraid of death.
Despite being a bold risk for Marvel Studios to end on a tragic note, the truth is Infinity War's cliffhanger ending was never going to fully work just based on the planning of the MCU as a whole. Well before the movie was released, it was known that it would be a two-part project, with the second part being renamed to Avengers: Endgame instead of Infinity War — Part Two. Also being shot back-to-back with the 2018 movie, it became pretty clear that any such ending like the cliffhanger taken would be resolved in the follow-up which, while a year later, would not be as impossible a wait if audiences didn't already know it was coming.
Avengers: Endgame's title change wasn't made public until late 2018, when Marvel revealed the first trailer for the sequel.
Even with the clear foreshadowing of a happy resolution, Avengers: Infinity War's shocking cliffhanger ending still was a necessary decision by Marvel. It was the ultimate proof that the studio was willing to take some major risks in regard to fan-favorite characters, gambling on alienating the fanbase if the decision didn't work while also ensuring they stayed true to their vision of how to conclude The Infinity Saga. While much of the early Multiverse Saga has been criticized for its lack of innovation with the typical franchise formula, one can hope that other projects can find better footing so that the likes of The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars can recapture the success of Infinity War.
Source: Pitch Meeting
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