FILM 1896: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

FILM 1896: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

TRIVIA: Tom Holland was not allowed to read the script for this movie, since he revealed too many secrets for Spider-Man Homecoming (2017). In one of the promotional videos for the movie, several of its cast members are in an interrogation room refusing to reveal any spoilers, and Holland's mouth is conspicuously taped shut.

Mark Ruffalo revealed that he was given a fake script due to his habit of accidentally spoiling past Marvel movies. He jokingly claimed in an interview that the fake script was better than the real one.

Thor confirms that "Groot" is a language that can be learned and spoken, as he took it as an elective in school on Asgard. This explains why only Rocket was originally able to understand Groot, and the other Guardians had to learn over time. This also confirms that Groot understands English (and likely other languages) but is only able to speak "Groot".

This became the fourth movie to gross over two billion dollars worldwide, after Avatar(2009), Titanic (1997), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) telling Peter Parker (Tom Holland) to cut it out with the pop culture references is quite hypocritical, as Stark often pokes fun at other characters by calling them by movie titles or character names. In Avengers Assemble (2012), Stark called Loki Reindeer Games (2000), Rock of Ages (2012), and Shakespeare in the Park(1995), he called Thor Point Break (1991), and he called Hawkeye "Legolas". In Captain America: Civil War (2016), he called Bucky The Manchurian Candidate (2004). In Spider-Man Homecoming (2017), he called Peter Parker "Crockett", as a reference to Miami Vice(1984). In this movie, he scorned Ebony Maw by calling him "Squidward", and he called Star Lord Flash Gordon (1980).

The French dub has Tony use "Voldemort" as an insult to Ebony Maw in place of "Squidward". This is likely because Squidward's French name, "Carlo", was too ordinary for audiences to get the joke, and for the joke to work. The same applies to Squidward's German name, "Thaddäus".

Rocket carrying around a stolen eye is a callback to a running gag in both Guardians of the Galaxy movies, as he has always been obsessed with prosthetic body parts.

At one point in the movie, Thanos (Josh Brolin) asks The Collector (Benicio del Toro), "Where is the stone?" The same line was said by Benicio del Toro in the opening scene of Snatch (2000).

On April 26, 2018, the day before it got a wide release, it received enough votes to take the number two spot on IMDb's Top 250 with a 9.2 out of 10, a record for a Marvel movie.

The cast features three Academy Award winners, Gwyneth Paltrow, Benicio Del Toro, and William Hurt, and seven nominees, Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin, and Samuel L. Jackson.

There is a deleted scene with an appearance by Happy Hogan in the park.

When Thor tells the Guardians of the Galaxy about The Avengers, Mantis mentions the actor Kevin Bacon, Peter Quill's hero, and Thor says "He might have joined". Kevin Bacon played the Marvel supervillain Sebastian Shaw, antagonist of the X-Men, in X-Men: First Class (2011).

CAMEO: Stan Lee: The comic book writer who co-created most of the characters featured in this movie is featured here as Peter Parker's school bus driver. In addition, this movie also contains remnants from Stan's past cameos: Tony Stark uses the flip phone that Stan delivered to him in Captain America: Civil War (2016), and Thor still sports the haircut that Stan gave him in Thor: Ragnarok (2017). 

FILM 1795: THOR: RAGNAROK

FILM 1795: THOR: RAGNAROK

TRIVIA: Sir Anthony Hopkins had decided against returning as Odin, but upon reading the story, he changed his mind.

Thor's "friend from work" line about the Hulk was suggested to Chris Hemsworth by a Make-A-Wish child who paid a visit to the set on the day the scene was filmed.

Taika Waititi based Korg's character on Polynesian bouncers: "We wanted to change the idea of what a hulking guy made of rocks could be. He's huge and heavy, but with a light soul, and he's funny and friendly."

This marks the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that The Hulk is not voiced by Lou Ferrigno, but by Mark Ruffalo. Ferrigno voiced Hulk in The Incredible Hulk (2008), Avengers Assemble (2012) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).

Taika Waititi appears in this film as Korg. Waititi is the second Marvel film Director to have a major role in his own film, after Jon Favreau (who directed the first two Iron Man films, and appeared as "Happy" Hogan in the Marvel Cinematic Universe).

Chris Hemsworth plays Thor in the film, while his older brother Luke Hemsworth plays Thor in a play within the film. Their younger sibling Liam Hemsworth was considered for the role of Thor.

Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" appears in the film, and the trailer. This is noteworthy, because Led Zeppelin is known for very rarely licensing out their music for use in feature films, television series, or video games. The majority of other films that have had Led Zeppelin music are related to rock journalist Cameron Crowe (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Almost Famous), making this one of the few films to feature Zeppelin music that in no way involves Crowe. School of Rock is another.

Taika Waititi described the film as a "1970s and 80s science fiction fantasy, the most 'out there' of all the Marvel movies." He cited Big Trouble in Little China (1986) as a major influence on the film: "It's a fun adventure film that has big stakes, but also has a breakneck speed and takes you on a crazy adventure."

In the comics, the Grandmaster has blue skin. Taika Waititi decided against applying blue on Jeff Goldblum, because he felt Goldblum was a good enough actor to not need it, and because Goldblum had already played a blue-colored character in Earth Girls Are Easy(1988).

The retirement home in New York City is named "Shady Acres", the same name as the retirement home where Stan Marsh's grandfather lives in South Park (1997), and the same as the psychiatric institute in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), which was a play on that film's director Tom Shadyac.

CAMEO: Stan Lee: comic-book writer who co-created Thor and the Hulk, appears as the barber who cuts Thor's hair.

Film 1010: Thor

Trivia: Stan Lee claims he'd always wanted to play Odin, but was happy with Anthony Hopkins's casting and performance in the role.

Jim Carrey was a long-time favorite and candidate for the role of Loki since The Mask, which indirectly featured Loki (but put in more fame his magic powers). Josh Hartnett was also rumored for the role.

Thor's armor is an amalgamation of the current Thor costume in mainstream Marvel continuity and the "Ultimate Marvel" comics universe.

It's mentioned in passing that Thor's hammer was forged inside "a dying star". This actually makes a modicum of scientific sense. When a very large star dies in a supernova, sometimes its remains collapsed to form a "neutron star". These objects cram the mass of the sun into the size of a city, forming a new kind of matter nicknamed neutronium. A single teaspoon of this material would weigh billions of tonnes. If Mjolnir was made of this material, it would certainly explain its incredible weight.

Dr Selvig mentions a comrade who got mixed up with SHIELD, whom he described as "a pioneer in gamma radiation"; this alludes to Bruce Banner, whose experiments in gamma radiation mutated him into the Incredible Hulk. A deleted scene also has him mention Hank Pym, also known as Ant-Man.

Brad Pitt was rumored for the role of Thor; Channing Tatum and WWE wrestler Paul Levesque (aka Triple H) was considered for the part; Daniel Craig was the first choice; and Charlie Hunnam, Tom Hiddleston, Alexander Skarsgård, Liam Hemsworth and Joel Kinnaman tested for the role, but finally Liam's brother Chris Hemsworth got the part.

Brian Blessed was rumored for the role of Odin.

Film 809: The Avengers

Trivia: Edward Norton was originally set to reprise his role from The Incredible Hulk but negotiations between him and Marvel Studios broke down. Norton was replaced with Mark Ruffalo.

Mark Ruffalo describes Bruce Banner as "a guy struggling with two sides of himself, the dark and the light; everything he does in his life is filtered through issues of control." He furthermore describes Banner's alter ego the Hulk as "a loose cannon - he's the teammate none of them are sure they want, it's like throwing a grenade into the middle of the group and hoping it turns out well!"

This film holds an unusually high number of Academy Award nominees in the cast/crew for a comic book movie, or most movies for that matter: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, director Joss Whedon, and cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, possibly many others. This tops Iron Man 2, and Iron Man which each had four nominees a piece.

With Samuel L. Jackson's role as Nick Fury in this film, he is now the second actor after Hugh Jackman (who has appeared in all X-men movies) to play the same comic book superhero in five different movies.

After Thor takes Loki off the Quinjet down on the mountain side, two large ravens fly by them as they are talking. In Norse mythology, their father, Odin, had two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, who would bring Odin information from Midgard (Earth).

Stan Lee:  the old man being interviewed at the end of the New York battle.