What ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Can Teach Us About Winning The Culture War

Big budget superhero films can still have emotional depth and thematic substance

By Josh Lieblein

With Avengers: Infinity War, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has actually reached two milestones. Not only does this film complete the evolution of the comic book movie from niche action flick that barely respected its own source material to movie industry staple, it makes the case that a summer blockbuster can deliver a complex emotional experience.

Even if you haven’t seen the film, you probably know that the deaths are particularly resonant (to the point that there has been a proliferation of “[X], I don’t feel so good” memes, which show characters from different franchises fading away), that Josh Brolin’s Thanos is the Marvel villain that we’ve all been waiting for, and that even with the loads and loads of characters, nobody feels overlooked or half-baked.