Christian Themes
More Religious Undertones in the Film
The Metanarrative of God
In "Culture: The Marvel Cinematic Universe and the metanarrative of God" by Timothy Paul Jones (2016), the author compares the overall organization and content of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the Christian God metanarrative. He divides Christian Theology into phases - just as the MCU divides its movies into phases. The comparisons are as follows:
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Phase 1: In the MCU, the heroes are introduced, and eventually join together to create the Avengers. This mirrors the first phase of God's metanarrative, Creation. This entails the creation of the universe.
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Phase 2: The Marvel heroes continue to fight, and become aware of the much larger evil that they are facing. In the Christian metanarrative, evil arises through the origin of sin and the first humans are exiled from paradise. He calls this Fall and Law. Both narratives deal with the rise of a great evil and the struggle between good and evil.
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Phase 3: The Avengers fall apart, however eventually must reunite to save the universe from the greatest enemy they have ever faced. The Christian phase is called Redemption, where Jesus arrives to save the world, and eventually triumphs over death and sin. (Jones, 2016).
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As this article was written prior to the release of Infinity War, I would like to elaborate on this point. Infinity War is divided into two parts, with the next film being the last in Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and an ending to the movies as we know them. With the rise of our Christ figures, this ties in perfectly with the conclusion of Phase 3. Infinity War sets us up for the final triumph of our heroes over evil. This also leads into the planned Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which will be focused on superheroes other than those like Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. It will serve as almost a reset of the main characters. This mirrors the Fourth Phase of God's Metanarrative suggested by Jones called New Creation. He describes that "in his own time and way, God will consummate the reign that Jesus Christ inaugurated through his life, death, and resurrection. God himself will dwell among his people and make all things new" (Jones, 2016).
Sacrifice
As previously stated, sacrifice is an important theme in Infinity War. There are many examples of this in addition to the aforementioned sacrifices of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and even Thanos himself. Doctor Strange must sacrifice the Time Stone, the magical artifact that he was trusted to protect, in addition to eventually sacrificing his life. T'Challa sacrifices the security of his country in the final battle. Vision must ultimately sacrifice his life to stop Thanos from getting the Mind Stone, while Scarlet Witch must sacrifice the man she loves by destroying the stone, and Vision along with it (Welch-Larson, 2018).
Good vs. Evil
As in most superhero movies, Infinity War is ultimately a story of good versus evil. The heroes choose to fight to save the world, no matter the cost, and defeat the villain. They take on the evil that has been lurking in the shadows of their universe for years. Although Thanos' morals are a bit more complex than the average bad guy, there is no debate as to the wrongness of his ambition to slaughter half of the planet. However, this films sets up a question that few others of its kind dare to ask: what happens if good loses?
Fate
This film also deals with the themes of fate and predestination. As previously mentioned, Thanos has made apparenaces and been referenced in many of the Marvel films, hinting to his arrival in Infinity War. Thanos also states that he was the only one who saw the way to save his home planet, Titan, but was not able to enact his plan, so it was destroyed as he feared. Tony Stark has also been haunted by visions of the future for years, since his near-death experience in The Avengers. It became his mission to try to save Earth in any way possible, and his worst fears finally come true in Infinity War. Tony must finally complete his mission - or the world will suffer. Doctor Strange uses his abilities to look into the future in order to see the possible outcomes of the battle. He sees only one where the heroes win, and sacrifices everything - the Time Stone, his life - in order to make it happen. Of course, it also can't be coincidence that all (or most) of Marvel's greatest heroes meet as Thanos prepares to invade Earth. It is fate that brings them all together when they are needed the most. Was it coincidental that Captain America was frozen in time only to be brought into the future when the threat of Thanos arises? This film provides us with evidence that it was all part of some bigger plan.