There’s a moment in Avengers: Infinity War that I can’t shake. After watching the movie more times than I should have, I’ve found something that is really not sitting well with me.
WARNING: I’m about to dive deeply into the plots of multiple Avengers movies. If you don’t want to see spoilers, stop reading now.
The Avengers are on the verge of war with Thanos, who is headed to earth with a massive, Apocalypse-inducing army to complete his collection of the Infinity Stones. Thanos was ready to flatten the earth for that stone. One of those stones, the Mind stone, is in Vision’s head, partially fueling his consciousness.
Yank out the stone: he’s dead. But there’s an experimental procedure — that only Shurri, the Black Panther’s sister, can perform — that could separate Vision and the stone safely.
So rather than destroying the stone — sacrificing Vision’s life — the Avengers elect to keep it intact, with hopes of sparing Vision. The result? Well, they lose and it’s a halfpocalypse.
That decision — to try to save Vision — guides the plot of the last two Avengers movies (Infinity War and Endgame). And it doesn’t make any sense. In fact, it doesn’t feel like the Avengers are actually giving it much thought. It’s a moment that happens so fast that you probably didn’t notice it. I’m pretty sure Marvel wanted it to happen that way.
“Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can’t get it,” Vision says.
“That’s too high a price,” Wanda says.
“Only you have the power to pay it,” Vision says. “Thanos threatens the universe. One life should not stand in the way of defeating him.”
“But it should. We don’t trade lives, Vision,” Captain America says.
Timeout!
Vision is synthezoid made from vibranium. HE’S A ROBOT. MADE OF METAL! Let’s just keep things in perspective. (Sorry, Wanda. You’re in love with a highly complicated piece of technology.)
But back to Captain America’s flawed argument. He’s not thinking rationally, so Vision calls him out for sideways thinking.
“Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people. Tell me, why is this any different?” Vision asks.
“Because you might have a choice,” Banner interrupts. “I’m saying if we take out the stone, there’s still a lot of Vision left. Maybe the best parts.”
Banner diverts the conversation and convinces everyone (dumbly) to be patient and see if they can separate Vision from the stone. Never mind that Banner was just telling everyone how urgently they needed prepare for Thanos arrival — which, by the way, should obviously include the destruction of the stone. One second, he’s instilling the urgency of honoring Thanos’ threat. The next, Banner is like: Let’s slow this down for a second and really think about jeopardizing humanity for this robot.
It’s one thing that they made a terrible decision under pressure, but that decision gets more problematic when the logic they applied to justify it comes undone quickly.
When Thanos’ army shows up to destroy anything in its way of the stone, they still decide to keep the stone — and Vision — intact.
In a final meeting of the Avengers before the battle in Wakanda, Vision makes the case for it. He pleads with them. This time, the Avengers dismiss him even faster than last time. There is no explanation of why they don’t sacrifice him for the greater good of humanity. They just whisk in to attack mode — doing exactly what they said they wouldn’t: trade lives. Because on one hand, they’re under siege. Destroying the stone may not stop that siege. On the other hand, they’re definitely jeopardizing additional human lives by not destroying the stone — whether we’re talking about Wakanda lives, defending Vision, or of the human lives at stake in Thanos’ mad quest. It’s obviously complicated and nuanced and hypothetical
Problem is…
THEY DON’T TALK ABOUT IT BECAUSE THEIR DECISION DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!!!!!
Woof. Alright, I’ll take it easy. It’s a comic book movie.
I understand the two main hiccups with destroying the soul stone: 1) Wanda has to destroy Vision and she loves him. So it would be hard to actually get her to do it. (I’ll suspend disbelief that she is actually the only person or thing capable of destroying the stones.) 2) If they did destroy the stone, Thanos might wipe out the planet anyway, perhaps in anger. And there’s no saying if Thanos, with the Time Stone, could have somehow brought the Mind Stone back into existence.
Even conceding all that, the Avengers should have at least discussed destroying the stone — and they definitely should’ve sacrificed Vision. Because by their own logic, it actually makes sense to do so. Captain America died so everyone could live. Black Widow eventually does the same in Endgame. We’ve got no shortage of savior figures in the Marvel universe. And yet they can’t even bring themselves to have a real discussion about letting Vision sacrifice himself — just like they would do and have done. And, again, we’re talking about … a robot.
I understand that the earth was under apocalyptic siege and no one really understood what they were facing. No one is thinking rationally. The Avengers were undefeated and probably thought they’d come away with the W. The Avengers do their best to solve them problem and save Vision. I just need to point out that their decision makes zero sense.
The plot hole isn’t totally gaping. The way to brush it off? Not even the Avengers act logically when facing a universe-altering threat. But that’s not working for me, because of how the terrible decision triggered all the events that followed. And now it’s started burning a hole in my skull the size of an Infinity Stone. I can’t unsee it, and I needed to share it with people to help ease my frustration over a movie that is otherwise absolutely amazing (and, in my opinion, the third best Marvel movie ever made).
Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. I’m sorry if it becomes a viewing problem for you, too.
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