How Did the MCU's Infinity Saga End?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Infinity Saga was 11 years in the making.

After meeting and getting to know countless iconic characters, including Tony Stark, Thor, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, and Peter Parker, to name a few, everything came to a head in the epic two-part conclusion: Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

In these two films, supervillain Thanos, otherwise known as the Mad Titan, enacted the goal he had been trying to achieve from day one: gathering the six Infinity Stones for his Infinity Gauntlet and erasing half the universe's population from existence.

His reasoning behind this decision is flawed at best. After seeing his home planet become ravaged by overpopulation, he decided to take matters into his own chunky purple hands. To him, mass genocide was a small price to pay to ensure the survival of the universe and its natural resources.

In Avengers: Infinity War, the titular Avengers put up a heck of a fight to prevent Thanos from doing this. Ultimately, they were unsuccessful. Thanos gets all the stones, snaps his fingers, and roughly half of our heroes disappear into dust, leaving the remnants of this super-team to pick up the pieces. But while all hope was lost, the fight with Thanos wasn’t over yet.

If you need a reminder, here's how the MCU's Infinity Saga ended.

How Did The Avengers Bring Everyone Back?

In the days following the snap at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, the surviving Avengers grieve for their losses. They bump off a significantly weakened, post-snap Thanos at the start of Avengers: Endgame, but this doesn’t really achieve anything or make them feel any better.

Then we jump to five years later as presumed Snap victim Scott Lang (Ant-Man) escapes the Quantum Realm he'd actually been trapped in at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp and for the duration of Infinity War, and reunites with the Avengers. The Quantum Realm ends up being a key concept going forward, as the Avengers discover that they can time-travel through the Realm.

Because the present-day Infinity Stones were destroyed, the Avengers have to go back in time and collect all six of them. Their hopes are that, by performing the Snap again, they will reverse Thanos' damage and bring back the rest of the universe. Bruce (in Professor Hulk form) ends up being the one who snaps his fingers with their own gauntlet. But then a past version of Thanos shows up. After learning of the Avengers’ plan, he too time-travelled in order to stop them.

This sets the scene for an epic battle which, once again, it seems like the Avengers will lose, until Steve Rogers (Captain America) receives a fateful radio transmission from the previously-snapped Sam Wilson (Falcon) calling back to their first encounter in Captain America: The Winter Soldier: “On your left.” All of Marvel’s unsnapped heroes emerge from various portals created by Doctor Strange, Wong, and their army of sorcerers, and line up united to fight against Thanos. Cue the iconic line delivery from Cap: “Avengers! Assemble.”

This significantly evens out the battle, but even then, it just comes down to Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Thanos. Just as Thanos looks set to win, he declares: “I am inevitable," and snaps his fingers. But he then discovers his gauntlet is empty. 

Unbeknownst to him, Tony has taken all the stones. After confirming with Strange that this was the only way they’d win, he bravely sacrifices himself, saying, “I am Iron Man” (referencing his final line at the end of the first Iron Man movie), and snapping his fingers. This time around, Thanos and his army get a taste of their own medicine and dissipate.

What Happens After Tony Stark Defeats Thanos?

Because he is just a human, Tony is fatally injured from the snap and ends up dying soon after. He is then mourned at a funeral attended by Marvel’s greatest heroes. From there, we see how some of the key characters move on from this tragedy. 

While Thor joins the Guardians of the Galaxy, T’Challa (Black Panther) and the others go back to Wakanda. Peter Parker (Spider-Man) reunites with his best friend Ned at school, and Clint Barton (Hawkeye) goes back to his family. Bruce Banner remains in his Professor Hulk form, and Scott sits with his daughter Cassie, now five years older, and Hope Van Dyne (The Wasp).

However, the most significant moment at the movie’s end is what becomes of Steve Rogers and the Captain America mantle. After going back through time and returning the Infinity Stones they took, Steve decides to put himself first for once and stay in the past with the love of his life, Peggy Carter, with the pair finally getting that dance he promised her in their original time period. 

Still, he pops up in the present day as a content older gentleman and passes on his shield and the Captain America moniker to Sam. 

With the two beating hearts of the Avengers gone, the end of the Infinity Saga ushered in a new era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Arguably, the Avengers as a unit have never really recovered from the losses of Steve and Tony. But as fragments of the Multiverse Saga come together in Avengers: Doomsday, that recovery may finally happen.

Honestly, even if the multiversal stakes are higher, nothing will hit as well as the Infinity Saga.