So this has been an idea rattling around in my head for a while, but I didn’t exactly know how to write about it, but I think Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4 are drawing on some major chess metaphors.
The first hint of this is in Age of Ultron. Near the end, Thor says this:
“The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. That’s not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. But once all these pieces are in position…”
My suspicion is that this is a game between Thanos and Tony. They’re the two Kings.
Why? They’ve been referred to as the “big two.” Their conflict was the longest one in Avengers: Infinity War. The two are parallels to one another. They have an “existential connection” (per Joe Russo). They have discordant color schemes (Thanos is blue/purple, Tony is red/gold). And, what’s more, a great cost was paid to keep Tony in the game.
According to Wikipedia:
In chess, the king (♔,♚) is the most important piece. The object of the game is to threaten the opponent’s king in such a way that escape is not possible (checkmate). If a player’s king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be done, the king is said to be in checkmate, resulting in a loss for that player. Although the king is the most important piece, it is usually the weakest piece in the game until a later phase, the endgame. Players cannot make any move that places their own king in check.
When Tony’s life was directly threatened (aka he was put in “check”), Strange (a player on Tony’s side) sacrificed not only himself, but several other players to keep Tony in the game.
When Tony asked why Strange did this, Strange replied, “We’re in the endgame now.”
“Endgame” is a term used to label the late stage of the game where there’s fewer pieces on the board (post-snap); and the King becomes far more powerful.
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the1timetraveller 