It’s finally here. I have been waiting for “Avengers: Infinity War” since Thanos was introduced in the first Avengers movie in 2012. This is the 19th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it is definitely the most ambitious project in the modern comic book cinematic landscape. Just go look at the movie poster to get a sense of how crowded the universe has become. It would be impossible to give each character their own arc without the 2.5 hour movie ballooning even further. Instead of trying to find the most important hero of the universe, “Avengers: Infinity War” uses the 2.5 hours to tell the story of Thanos. There have already been hours of film developing the numerous Marvel heroes—18 films worth of hours, to be exact. Instead of making a movie that can be consumed on its own, “Avengers: Infinity War” rewards its most devoted fans with the best comic book movie ever.

This movie does not spoon-feed the audience. There is little explanation for the characters’ origins, relationships or humor. Keeping the exposition to a minimum allows a deep, more-nuanced story to take place. With Iron Man’s continuing battle with PTSD, Captain America’s disillusionment with the modern world and the group dynamic of “Guardians of the Galaxy” among other iconic plotlines, Marvel shows off the world they have been building for so long. Don’t go into this movie underprepared, as it’ll be confusing and overwhelming. This is not a starting point for those who want a smooth entry into comic book movies, nor is it for casual fans who haven’t seen a Marvel movie in the last few years.

With movies of this length, pacing is always an issue. Keeping audiences entertained for that long without resorting to boring filler content is a hurdle not many have cleared cleanly. “Infinity War” uses the goodwill it has built up with all of its characters to give everyone a moment to shine. Some are small—the cast of “Black Panther” has less screen time than I would have hoped for—but even these small moments are excellent and serve as a reminder of why you fell in love with them in the first place. Whenever a character is introduced, the music switches to their own theme, which helps the audience draw on their past experiences with the characters. However, none of the heroes match Thanos in importance. This is his story and the Avengers are merely a problem he must overcome. He is the reason for the character interactions and represents a change so massive that everyone must respond.

Marvel has struggled with creating compelling villains for their heroes to go against, but recently they have found a winning formula. A successful villain is one the audience can relate to, with Killmonger from “Black Panther” being the best so far. You may not have agreed with how he went about reaching his goal, but his motivations and reasoning made sense. He was a true antagonist. Thanos fits that description and takes it to another level. Throughout the movie, you get to know his reasoning for everything he does and why he believes it has to be done in his specific manner. In fact, I began to see Thanos as a reluctant participant.

As I don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone, I will instead talk about the feeling in the theater. The previous Marvel films always show their heroes beating impossible odds and saving the day. These triumphs are hardly surprising and make us feel good. The heroes are pretty much invincible, so them cracking jokes in the middle of a battle was fun since we knew they would succeed and were always in control. “Infinity War” took the control away from them and handed it to Thanos. Whenever we are with the heroes, we feel their desperation and growing hopelessness in confronting someone who is always four steps ahead. There are several moments in this movie that seem to follow common superhero movie tropes and you start to relax before it goes in a completely different direction, leaving you as clueless as the Avengers. There were about 150 people with me in the theater, and maybe three people left their seat during the entire time. There were loud gasps, a lot of laughter at our favorite heroes interacting with each other in ways we haven’t seen before (Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, Rocket and Thor, Shuri and Bruce Banner) and a building anticipation for what could happen next. Keeping so many people glued to the screen over that amount of time is a testament to how well this film is constructed and the power the Marvel brand has created over the years.

There are so many little things that go into this movie that would spoil it, so I recommend avoiding them all until you can see it yourself. The less you know, the better. Though there is another Avengers movie coming out in 2019, “Infinity War” is a complete story. It is not the story of the Avengers coming together to defeat Thanos, but the story of Thanos doing whatever he needs to do to accomplish his goal. Go into the movie with an open mind and the knowledge that this is simultaneously similar to all the previous movies, yet completely different.