To begin, I will be discussing each movie and the broader scope of Marvel in bits and pieces to solidify my final position on which movie is better.

To start off, both IF and EG take place in the MCU’s infinity saga. The Infinity saga, as the name entails, is centered over the six Infinity stones. The Infinity saga over the course of twenty movies follows the stone in each time, place, or person the stones find themselves in. Whether the stones are powering a seemingly minor villain: Loki in Avengers (2012) or when they are the foundation of an entire avenger: Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). The stones have quite literally been EVERYWHERE throughout the universe and its infinite timelines. The Infinity saga’s main antagonist is Thanos who seeks to annihilate half of the universe’ population to eliminate suffering (e.g. poverty, violence). He believes the overpopulation in the universe is the root cause of the issues he sees across each planet. Thanos will do anything to fulfill his “destiny” as a savior.

Infinity War: Sub-description

Infinity War, the movie with the name of the entire saga! It makes you wonder what is so special about infinity war. IF sets up for end-game and what all else is to come after. With so many avengers featured that you lose sight of it all. The movie is a direct continuation of Thor: Ragnarok (2017). The ending credit scene of Ragnarok depicts Asgard decimated by Thano’s legion… where we follow Thor into IF immediately warning the Avengers of Thanos and his mission.

Infintity War is an intense film that follows various Marvel superheroes to defeat Thanos and prevent him from gaining control of all six Infinity stones. First, by this point Thanos has already gotten the Power stone (purple) which he decimated Xandar for. Xandar is a minor planet featured in Guardians of Galaxy #1.  As I said before, IF was a direct continuation of Ragnarok, we are shown in the beginning scenes that Thor, Hulk and Loki have failed to defeat Thanos meaning he has now acquired the Space stone that Loki was in possession of. This means Thanos only requires four more stones. The rest of the stones are currently:

Time stone (green) – The source of Dr. Strange’s power and hidden inside of the ancient relic Strange carries on his neck ‘Eye of Agamotto’. Nearing the end of Infinity war, Dr. Strange sees 1 future out of over 16 million possibilities that the Avengers would win. Because of this he willingly gives up the Time stone, one of the last stones Thanos would need to accomplish his mission.

Mind stone (yellow) – The source of Vision’s entire being, inside of Vision’s head who is currently isolated with Wanda, the Scarlet Witch (and one of my favorite Avengers).

Reality stone (red) – By nearly half of IF Thanos has gained possession of the reality stone that was, according to Thor, supposed to be safely guarded on a planet called ‘Knowhere’ by a man named the Collector. We later know (via Guardians) that the collector is a foolish pathetic man who was never capable of safeguarding the stone.

Soul stone (orange) – The soul stone is the most difficult stone to find and make use of. The stone (based off my knowledge) has only ever been on Vormir. The stone is difficult to possess as it requires the sacrifice of a loved one’s soul.

“A soul, for a soul.” – The Keeper.

Infinity War is a highly climatic and complex film that is ACTION PACKED, continuously switching from planet, to avenger, to villain all to follow each of the six stones. It is abundant in scenes that make you want to jump out of your chair and scream. There are so many twists and foreshadowing in this film that make fans regard it as the better film between IF and EG all because of the one thing it shows that most marvel movies do not: a dramatic loss against a villain. That’s something you don’t see often. Various sacrifices were made to stop Thanos in Infinity war… Wanda having to sacrifice Vision, Dr. Strange sacrificing the Time stone, Thanos even sacrificing Gamora. With all these twists, sacrifices, and team-ups it only makes you question why Endgame is considered even better.

Endgame: Sub-description

Avengers: Endgame is considered the final movie for the main Avengers timeline. Endgame is the 2nd highest grossing movie EVER. Meaning it had to be amazing to a certain degree. The movie at the time had many expectations as it is a direct continuation of Infinity War. Immediately after the Avengers’ initial defeat against Thanos in IF on both Wakanda and Titan, we are shown the aftermath of Thanos’ successful ‘snap’. The snap that wipes out half universes’ population and leaves almost all the avengers in a state of defeat and emptiness.

Endgame follows the defeat of the Avengers against Thanos in Infinity War. The Avengers yet again at a disadvantage, attempt to undo Thanos’ snap with a time machine. However , with Ironman having been stuck in a floating ship in space for around a month, and the rest of the Avengers hopelessly and defeated the time machine is a risky move. The time machine is inspired by Ant-man’s ability to enter the Quantum Realm which is theoretically and mathematically unheard of or rare for some of the greatest minds in the MCU (Dr. Bruce Banner/ Tony Stark). The movie is essentially divided into 3 acts, the team up, the actually time traveling, and the final battle with Thanos.

Act I – Getting The Team Back Together

The first act begins with Antman who was a supposed victim of the ‘Snap’ reappearing in the Avengers headquarters. Antman is immediately updated on what happened in the past five years. (Yes it has been five years in movie time). With his newfound knowledge of the snap, he attempts to devise a plan and it all leads to time travel. What does time travel rhyme with? (this is a joke) The greatest mind in  MCU universe: Tony Stark (Ironman). However, Stark one of the luckier ones, was not a victim of the ‘Snap’ and actually added to the population. His newfound family was the sole reason behind his initial decline to help with time travel. In pure Tony Stark nature he somehow cracks the code. Stark manages to find the answer to time travel in his own home and thus realizes he owes it to everyone to try. Which leads us to our second act…

Act II – ‘Time Heist’

The time heist a term coined by Scott Lang (Antman) is the second act in Avengers: Endgame. The goal was to travel back in time to the time AND place the infinity stones were at. Lucky for the avengers, three out of the six stones were in New York in 2012. These stones included the Time stone, Space stone, and Mind stone. The three other stones were the Soul stone, in Vormir, the Reality stone in Asgard, and the Power stone in Morag. The plan was to have the avengers split up into groups of 2-3 to go to each location and retrieve the stones. The groups are as listed:

Hulk:

Sanctum Sanctorum (2012) – Time stone

• Currently with the Ancient One, (Dr. Stranges’ Predecessor) who initially refuses to hand the stone over to Hulk.

Iron man + Antman + Captain America:

New York (2012) – Mind stone, Space stone.

• The space stone is in the form of the tesseract and the Mind stone is in Loki’s scepter.

Black Widow + Hawkeye:

Vormir – Soul Stone.

• The soul stone requires a sacrifice meaning one of the two wouldn’t make it back.

War Machine + Nebula:

Morag (2014) Power stone.

• The power stone was initially kept hidden away on Morag until the first Guardians of Galaxy movie where Peter Quill steals it and brings it to Xandar.
• A big issue arises when past Nebula can access present Nebula’s memories making it possible for Thanos to intercept the Avengers’ plan and attempt to revise it which leads us to the THIRD and final act.

Act III – The Finale Battle

The final battle ensues when Thanos intercepts past Nebula’s memory to see he has in fact succeeded in his goal. While the team is deciding who will carry the burden of the six infinity stones, Thanos realizes that he would simply have to wait for them to all return with each of the stones all in one extremely defenseless building to fulfill his mission in this timeline. Thus, Hulk concludes that because of the nature of his strength (gamma radiation) he is the only avenger who can come close to the handling the power of six infinity stones. Right as the Hulk succeeds in reversing the snap, Thanos and his army invade! Now the final battle truly ensues, all the Avengers are fighting against Thanos and it overwhelming appears to be an Avenger win this time around as heroes who did not fight last time are fighting now most notably: Captain Marvel. The only problem is that none of the Avengers are winning in a 1:1 battle against Thanos making it nearly impossible to use the gauntlet without allowing Thanos to win. You might remember in the Infinity war section, under Time stone, that Dr. Strange willingly gave up the Time stone in the first timeline to Thanos allowing the Avengers’ ultimate defeat. The decision was a heavy one that carried weight in both the avengers’ mind and the Ancient One’s mind as well. In endgame, we come to realize exactly why he made this decision. As the Ancient One and Hulk hinted near the beginning of the movie stating “Strange was meant to be the best of us… he must have done it for a reason”. That he did, in the one future that the Avengers’ won, Dr. Strange saw that Iron Man would have to sacrifice himself to save the entire world. Strange signals Iron man at the end of the movie holding a ☝️ prompting him to make the final move. Iron man comes 1:1 with Thanos and when we all thought he couldn’t win, he stole the Infinity Stones, snapped Thanos and his evil army away and died doing so.

You might be wondering how exactly Iron man did that, because of the nature of his nano-tech suit and the gauntlet that was created using that same technology.. by the same person, the suit can reshape/morph into ANYTHING. This means that Iron man created a replica of the gauntlet and transferred the stones into his own suit. Iron man being an ordinary human could not withstand the power of the six infinity stones regrettably so. To this day many regard Iron Man’s sacrifice is the most compelling and crucial sacrifice in MCU universe.

Final Opinion:

While it is safe to say both superhero movies were a once in a lifetime experience. I would say that Infinity War was the better movie. It had the dramatics, the parallels, the foreshadowing and the unexpected ending that MOST Marvel movies do not have (being superhero movies). The Avengers losing so badly was an experience a marvel fan will rarely ever have the chance of seeing in a theater again. Watching Infinity War in theater changed the way I watched any movie. Many other fans disagree and argue that Infinity War is too “full” and an everywhere all at once kind of movie, I disagree. Infinity war built up and began to tie together eleven long years of storytelling and a carefully woven timeline only to destroy it and leave fans with so many questions. The ending of Infinity War was so impactful that it guaranteed Endgame’s success regardless of what the movie was going to be about.

While Endgame concluded as the second highest grossing movie ever and had if not more sacrifices (Iron Man, Black Widow) the movie has the usual triumphant and hopeful tone that most Marvel movies conclude with. Although I believe that Infinity War is the better movie, Endgame holds a place near and dear in my heart. As an avid Marvel fan who read the Comics waiting and waiting. Endgame was heartfelt to watch. It leaves a beautiful space for new characters and reimagined heroes to flourish in the midst of sacrifices past heroes made. Despite my opinion I always watch Infinity War and Endgame following each other, and I enjoy both movies to the fullest extent!