WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War, available now on digital HD.
Marvel Cinematic Universe spent its formative years building up its superheroes, from Iron Man to Captain America to Thor. With those characters placed on a collision course with Thanos at the end of 2012's The Avengers, Marvel Studios slowly began to chip away at their core, setting up the battle to come.
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The filmmakers began to strip away what each those icons had become. Joe and Anthony Russo, in particular, started this by dismantling S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, leaving Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) wondering about what Captain America symbolizes. They brought that full circle with 2016's Civil War, shattering Cap's newfound sense of family and belonging.
Just a year later, director Taika Waititi did the same to Thor in Ragnarok, giving the Russos a parallel to explore in Avengers: Infinity War.
"One thing that we really responded to about Thor, where he’s left at the end of Ragnarok, is the destruction of Asgard," Anthony Russo said in the commentary track on Infinity War's digital release. "And we all have a history, obviously, with the Captain America character. I think there’s an interesting connection in that Cap was also a character who lost everything, and there’s something fascinating about exploring these people as you strip away who they are and their built-out identities, and find out what’s left."
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Cap previously lost his best friend, Bucky Barnes (he did get back a cured Winter Soldier, however), his girlfriend Peggy Carter, his friends in the Howling Commandos, and basically his entire life when was trapped in ice in the waning days of World War II. The Russos then re-shaped him up as a man in a new world, questioning the journey and, more so, his purpose.
The star-spangled Avenger was often left wondering whether there's truly good in the world, and if justice is something he can really achieve. Most importantly, on a personal level, for all the good he's doing, will he be rewarded with a happy ending? That's something Infinity War also leaves Thor wondering, as demonstrated in the vulnerable scene when he opens up to Rocket Raccoon about losing everything.
"I think we’re going through a very similar process with Thor in this movie, especially with this scene [the opening], where we’re sort of completing the experience that Ragnarok brought to Thor in the sense that we’re taking the rest of everything away from him – everything that remains," Anthony Russo added. "He’s starting with nothing after that point, and trying to climb his way back. It’s a very underdog arc, a rousing arc, I think, the road that he follows. Very empathetic."
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Infinity War stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Bettany, Anthony Mackie, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Tom Hiddleston and Josh Brolin. The film arrives Aug. 14 on DVD and Blu-ray.