Avengers: Infinity War has been available for digital download for a little while now, and today it will be released on Blu-ray and DVD. No matter how you like to watch your movies and hours upon hours of special features in the comfort of your own home, you can now do it. Marvel has done so well in part because of the re-watchability of their films, but Infinity War is going to be a tough one to watch over and over, at least for some fans. Not impossible by any means, because it’s one hell of a movie. On the other hand… I’m not going to beat a dead horse about it, but the villain wins, everyone’s a dirt pile, it was scarring, blah blah blah. It’s important to look on the bright side when we can, and in this case there is one. As hard to watch as the ending of Infinity War was, I was reminded this weekend (as I was watching one of the various Marvel marathons that cable TV blesses us with on the reg) that it isn’t actually the most infuriating thing to happen in the MCU. That honor goes to a moment in Iron Man 3.
No, not even some of the absolute absurdity that went on in Age of Ultron takes the top prize. I have plenty of issues with it, but they’re with the movie overall—the writing and some of the character arcs. That’s not what I’m talking about here. I mean just a good old WTF moment that gets you every time. Overall, I actually really like Iron Man 3: Pepper kicks ass, Tony strikes up a sweet friendship with a little kid, Rhodey saves the president, Ben Kingsley is a delight, and the villain fights the final battle of the movie donning khakis and loafers. BUT THEN.
After almost losing Pepper to Killian’s Extremis experiments, Tony decides to make a grand gesture by destroying all the Iron Man suits he was using as an emotional crutch and finally having the shrapnel in his chest removed. Huge, positive steps forward. Such an occasion deserves a gift! Enter this monstrosity.
What is that necklace??? Tony Stark has literally billions of dollars, he can buy the most beautiful things the planet has to offer. Instead he chooses this—something that a person who doesn’t know any better thinks looks really good just because it’s flashy—and it makes me so irrationally annoyed every single time I see it. Somehow that necklace is the worst gift in a movie where a two story stuffed animal bunny is a Christmas present. Was this moment storyboarded? With a caption like, “And here Tony will give Pepper an even worse version of the Heart of the Ocean necklace?” It’s such a dumb thing to mess up, that’s what gets me the most.
Loki, Thanos may have snapped your neck in the first five minutes of Infinity War, but at least that neck wasn’t adorned with something that looks like it came from Limited Too in 1999, so consider yourself lucky.
“Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.” Is that because you just found out what a terrible gift-giver your mentor is, Peter? That’s the judgmental look of someone who has to die in the arms of someone who has abysmal taste in jewelry.
I hope that necklace is one of the things that disappeared when Thanos wiped out half the universe. It would almost make it worth it.
Does this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment matter in the slightest? Not at all. Will I continue to complain about it every time it appears on my screen? You bet.
If you haven’t already, you can now buy Avengers: Infinity War on digital, DVD, and Blu-ray. You can check out all of our Marvel coverage here.
