CAUTION: CONTAINS SPOILERS. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE MOVIE. 

Just this past Friday the highest anticipated movie of the year, Marvel’s Avengers Infinity War, finally hit theaters across the country. Since its premiere the film has been the talk of the country.  “It takes you places that most superhero movies don’t,” reviewed Michael O’Sullivan for the Washington Post.

The movie. was. CRAZY. I cried, I laughed, I got angry, I got frustrated. frustrated. I felt more emotions during that movie than I even knew I had.

Within the first 5 minutes, one of my favorite characters was killed off, for good this time, I think. Loki, the MCU’s beloved god of mischief, met his cruel end at Thanos’s big ugly hand after a daring attempt to kill him. I don’t understand why the Russo brothers continue to kill Loki. He has literally ‘died’ in every movie he has been in so far. Give the poor man a break.  

This movie was also filled with so many crossovers that I almost had a heart attack. Guardians of the Galaxy met Thor, Doctor Strange met Iron man, everyone met everyone. It was a super mix for a super movie. One reunion that I really wanted to see that never happened was between Captain America and Iron Man. After their brutal fall out in Civil War, I really just wanted to see them hug it out. Instead, Tony Stark decided to follow one of Thanos’s minions, who no joke looked like Voldemort with a nose job, into space to save Doctor Strange (which I guess I approve of), and then stayed in space the whole movie. No superhusband reunion in this time.

The rest of the movie was a brilliant blend of battle scenes, hero interactions, devastating Thanos wins, and crazy effects. While the Avengers ultimately failed in stopping Thanos from getting all the stones, they sure did put up a good fight.

Now let’s get to the sad parts. Other than Loki, it looks as if we have for sure lost Gamora too, after she plummeted thousands of feet off a cliff in a sacrifice by Thanos to get the soul stone. It was definitely a tear shedding moment; you suck, Thanos.

We also lost Vision, after the mind stone was ripped from his head, and possibly Wanda as well. As if all this wasn’t enough heartbreak, within the last 10 minutes of the movie, viewers watched helplessly as fan-favorite characters Black Panther, Winter Soldier, Falcon, Doctor Strange, and yes, even Spiderman (after a devastating scene with his mentor, Tony), all disappeared into dust.

Okay, what? Yeah, that was my reaction too. It took me a while to recover before I could actually process what happened. Of course they didn’t actually kill all those characters: Black Panther, Doctor Strange and Spiderman have all only had one movie and Marvel is not about to kill off all that potential revenue. Plus, Spiderman has a confirmed second movie being released next year. So, it’s safe to say any character turned to dust will come back in Avengers 4. Unfortunately, characters who perished in other ways, like Loki and Gamora, probably face a permanent death. Like Thanos said to Loki, “No resurrections this time.”

Okay, now for my main theory. Earlier in the movie, Doctor Strange had some weird seizure attack where he said he saw 14 million ways the fight with Thanos could end in the future. He then said that  in all those scenarios, the Avengers only won one. After that, he willingly gave Thanos the time stone in exchange for Tony’s life, even though earlier in the movie he told Stark that he would under no circumstances let Thanos get ahold of this stone.

Hmmmmmmm. Once Thanos disappeared with the stone, Dr. Strange told Tony they were in the endgame now and while he was disappearing he said what he did was the only way. The only way to what? I believe that the one scenario Strange saw the Avengers winning in, crazy enough, was one where Thanos got all the stones. It sounds bizarre, but that’s the only answer. Doctor Strange, of much less notoriety than his Avengers castmates, may have been the key to this whole movie.

All in all, Infinity War was a wild ride and a brilliant movie. Marvel outdid themselves. Despite all the heartbreak, after 10 years of movies and preparation, the Russo Brothers didn’t disappoint.