After 10 years and 18 movies, it’s all been leading up to this. “Avengers: Infinity War” promised to be the biggest movie ever presented by the Marvel Cinematic Universe … and it delivered.

Since I think a lot of this movies strengths rely on surprise, I’m going to try and keep this review as spoiler free as possible, but if you want to go in completely blind, just know that this movie is spectacular.

“Avengers: Infinity War” is the culmination of 10 years of work by Marvel Studios, doing what seemed impossible and bringing together 19 separate superheroes all to fend off their biggest threat yet, Thanos.

The basic plot is that Thanos is going around collecting the Infinity Stones, and once he collects all six he’s going to destroy half the life in the universe with a snap of his fingers. Obviously, our hero’s are not huge fans of this plan and give their all to protect the universe.

From minute one, “Infinity War” does an amazing job establishing just how big of a threat Thanos is. He effortlessly destroys an entire civilization and even beats the Hulk in brute strength, and that’s only with a single stone.

Josh Brolin bring a sinister yet sympathetic aspect to the mad titan. While Thanos is clearly insane, he truly believes that obliterating half of the life in the universe will bring balance and lead to a better tomorrow for those who are left.

His ideals aren’t exactly relatable, but I found myself much more invested in his actions then I thought I would. Thanos doesn’t just show up and say “grrr,” he talks to our heroes and even tries to reason with them that his twisted ideals are the correct path.

Speaking of heroes, the cast is too large to go into every single one, but I’ll touch on a couple of the more important roles. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo do the impossible task of balancing 19 huge stars and making each of them feel important and true to their characters. They massively succeed in this department, bringing us team-ups that the comic fan in me can’t help but light up in a smile about. Seeing Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and Rocket Racoon (Bradly Cooper) together, fighting hordes of aliens isn’t something I thought I needed but it turns out that I desperately did.

If there’s any main protagonist in “Infinity War” its probably Tony Stark aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.). Iron man plays the roles of point of view character, as he’s one of the few heroes who has no idea about the Infinity Stones or who Thanos is. Seeing Tony evolve since the first Iron Man has been a wonderful sight to behold and this film is no different. Tony is a little older and wiser and less excited to jump into the fight, but he knows that he’ll do whatever It takes to protect the ones he loves.

As much as I love “Infinity War” it’s by no means a perfect film.

The large-scale battle that takes place in Wakanda is a bit of a mess. The cuts are messy and quick, and while that may look cool for a few seconds it becomes disorienting and confusing after a few minutes. This fight scene goes on for about 15 minutes. The true strength of the film lies in it’s quieter character moments, watching our heroes realize they are truly outmatched but give their all anyways.

“Avengers: Infinity War” is a celebration of the past 10 years of Marvel and it’s ending has me impatiently awaiting part two coming next year.

If you haven’t already, go see this movie before someone spoils a lot of its best moments. This film is something special and will stick with you long after you leave your theater seat.