Avengers: Infinity War was one of, if not the most serious, tragic film in the entirety of the MCU. After Thanos obtained all the infinity stones and snapped his fingers with the gauntlet, fans watched in horror as beloved characters such as Spider-man, Bucky, and Black Panther died and turned to dust.
In a recent
Q&A discussion with students at Iowa City High School, the Russo brothers were asked about how they made a character death impactful, even when we know that a character has a sequel (Spider-man, the Guardians) or almost certainly has a sequel (Black Panther, Doctor Strange, etc.) coming out in the future. Joe Russo noted that they made the deaths impactful because of the emotional connection that the audience shares with the characters.
For example, Russo noted that they capitalized on the innocence of 16 year old Peter Parker, using the father-son relationship with Tony Stark and putting Peter in a difficult situation that would purposely be painful to watch but also impactful. And as tragic as it was to see Spider-man not want to die, Joe felt that Gamora's was the most painful death:
Certainly the most painful to watch is the Gamora sequence because Thanos is a horrible despicable creature- who believes that he sincerely loves her- which makes it a lot harder to watch. So we try to complicate things emotionally because our job as storytellers is to tell the best story we can and make your experience as many emotions as possible when you watch the film. Because ultimately it is a- you’re paying money to go see it and if we can make you laugh, cry, happy, sad and feel catharsis- you get a lot more for your money than just laughing or just crying.
As tragic as these deaths were, the Russos shared that as major fans of the characters, they put themselves in the audience's shoes to better craft scenes that will enact the best, largest response from the viewer. Joe Russo explained that their focus is on telling as truthful of a story as possible, and they use game-changing moments in their films to do so.
We love the characters as much as anybody- we think very hard about how the audience feels- how we feel and what can make the scenes complicated as possible- to make it as painful as possible- again the job of the storyteller. And after 18 movies we're really committed to making this cathartic and to tell as truthful a story as possible. ...We keep trying to have game changers at the end of each film but we are slowly moving towards deconstruction.
Did the death of any particular character in Avengers: Infinity War hit you right in the feels? Be sure to share your thoughts below about the approach the Russos took to ensuring an emotional impact in character deaths.
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