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The Prep Diary: Peak Week

Chris Kenny July 14, 2018

It’s felt like an eternity, yet at the same time, it’s come around all of a sudden, out of nowhere. The final week before my show which is termed “peak week” has arrived. The goal during this week isn’t to drastically wipe out all of my food or go the opposite way and carb load so I end up on the stage as a watery, overblown mess, the key is striking the balance and getting my body into a position where it’s the best it has ever been; the peak.

To clarify my opening statement; I feel like I’ve been in prep for a long time, which, is true. I’ve had some form of restricted diet since around January, however, as you’ll recall I didn’t get truly going until around about the end of April, where I enlisted the aid of the Chase Perfection team. Since then, my physique has transformed in a huge way, check out the picture below;

My calories were actually increased from what I was previously doing, yet it was more nutritionally dense and overall just far better for my body, which responded accordingly.

Yet all this time in prep and the last seven weeks have truly flown by for me. I feel like I’ve cruised into the show, helped by the fact that I’ve been ludicrously busy in my personal life, which has actually made prep become a sideline in many ways, I’ve simply stuck to the plan and got my head down.

That will be the key for this final week as well. I know what I’m like; if I start thinking too deeply about the intricacies of every single meal, or making sure every rep is executed with perfect form, I’ll lose it. For me, I have to just keep the grind going and make sure I don’t derail in any way and stay focused on the task at hand.

Focus. But also make time for a selfie when appropriate 😉

I can’t wait for the day to arrive now, partly because I’m excited to see how I fare on the day, but also because I can’t wait to gorge myself on a post-competition cheat meal (and likely stay on that binge for a day or two!) I can’t go too crazy though; I have a photoshoot on the 10th of August, so I need to keep myself in somewhat decent shape for that! For me, it’s important to have a target to strive for, otherwise, I am prone to boredom and therefore, not maximising my time in the gym, or otherwise.

A likely post-show meal!

Before I had the desire to compete, I wasn’t really doing much in the gym apart from spinning my wheels. I had the occasional holiday to “get in shape” for and I enjoyed the activity on the whole, but it wasn’t goal orientated and therefore, nothing to truly measure my progress against, or put pressure on myself for. I thrive under a deadline and need some competitive edge to what I do. This accompanied me in my football playing days, my time as a semi-professional gamer and in my work life. I relish the chance to prove myself and get better, so this is why I was so attracted to competing in the first place.

Approaching the shape of my life

It’s crazy that as I’m writing this, a moment of reflection and self-praise has arrived. I’ve taken something that was a pipe dream in 2016 and converted it into a reality. I said back then “I will compete in 2018.” That was the goal and here I am, a week away from taking my first steps into the competing world. It shows the power of keeping a goal and a dream going, no matter what. If you work hard enough to achieve something, you really can and I firmly believe that. So if you’re reading this and wondering if you could compete, or change your body, or make any goal work; you can. Just set the bar, don’t deviate from the path and you’ll do it. Be determined, be fearless and don’t worry if you stumble or slip on the way, it’s inevitable. Keep going forward, keep staying positive and relish the challenges as they come, it’s what makes us grow and become better.

The Prep Diary: 2 Weeks Out

Chris Kenny July 9, 2018

Well, it’s been a minute, hasn’t it? Suffice to say, I’ve been completely swamped lately with work, personal life engagements and of course, prep life.

But it’s high time I gave you guys another entry to sink your teeth into and now we’ve traveled forwards to a mere two weeks out from my competition, so let’s dissect what’s been happening in the run-up to the present day.

I’ll begin with this photo;

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This depicts me in the best shape of my life (at that point) and in a condition that I dreamt about for years.

Fast forward a few weeks to the current week and we have this;

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Again, further improvement. The simple fact is this; I’ve pushed my body further than it’s ever gone before and the results are incredible. Transformation has been steady, slow and at times, rough. Diet, training and sleep are all variables that get affected by prep and it’s been a roller coaster at times, with temptation at every turn.

There have been times, especially recently, where I’ve faltered and almost completely caved in. Eyeing up packets of biscuits, knowing full well I could demolish them in a second. Being one click away from an enormous order from a Chinese takeaway, or simply buying a few “share” packets of Doritos and ploughing through them. It’s taken huge amounts of willpower to pull myself away. There have been times where I’ve been in the kitchen staring at my oats and thinking “I don’t want this.”

But then reality kicks in and I realise, I do want this. I do want to present myself in the best possible way on stage, with a body and presence that I can look back on in years to come and feel proud of my achievements. It’s a constant battle to keep myself on the right track however and there have been more difficult days than not. But it’s dawned on me, particularly recently, that it’s not you against the world.

For those competing, we are all in the same position. I’m fortunate to be surrounded by competitors who have been there and done this before and friends that are also joining me on stage in a few short weeks. It’s here where you can lean on people and simply get things off your chest. The carrot dangling is not simply the day and the possibility of placing, but the aftermath; celebrating the hard work with a glorious cheat meal and a bit of a blow out! That’s what keeps me going for now.

There are plenty of people who don’t fully grasp what it’s like to push yourself in this way and can become irritated at your lack of responses, or mood, or simply not being yourself. So to put things simply, what is happening right now is that I am expending the maximum amount of energy with a minimum amount of intake. My calories are as low as they’ve been and yet my work (inside and out of the gym) is beyond anything I’ve done before.

I’m training 5 or 6 times a week, with cardio. I’m working full time and trying to juggle other priorities in my life and stay current with friends and the like. Put simply, it’s hard. I’m constantly fatigued, yet there’s no giving up. There’s no chance of taking a breather for more than a day or two, because otherwise, for me, it’s easy to step off the gas and throw the towel in. Not everyone will be like this, but I personally need to stay in the right frame of mind in order to maximise my results. If I take my eye off the ball for a moment, I’ll be in trouble. It’ll be all too easy for me to stay in bed and miss the 5:30am training session, skip the cardio and stick on some trash TV.

It’s my dream to place in at least one of my categories, but lately, I’ve taken stock and realised that no matter what happens, I’ll be damn proud of myself and it’s been one hell of a journey. More importantly for me, I can say that I achieved what I set out to; from a declaration in 2016 that competing in 2018 was my goal, to actually following through with it and making it happen with a plan of action. It proves that if you set your mind to a task, you can and you will, make a stride forward.

Now it’s time to knuckle down and make these last few days count. Work isn’t over.

Fitness

The Prep Diary: 6 Weeks Out

Chris Kenny June 3, 2018

Welcome back to my journey to the stage! It’s now the third of June and it’s a critical time in my path to July; under six weeks out.

Typically, most people begin their competition prep from twelve weeks out so this would be considered the halfway point. However, as you know, I’ve been prepping for a while; alone and with the help of the team at Chase Perfection, so for me, six weeks feels ridiculously close!

So let’s start with a visual update on my current physique;

The biggest change for me is vascularity; the obvious difference being the left shoulder coming through from out of nowhere. However, there’s also the beginnings of veins appearing down near my lower abs, which is pleasing to see. All this can be attributed to the usual suspects; training, nutrition and rest. My waist size has also decreased as has my weight, so everything is certainly getting tighter and leaner. Let’s get a breakdown of the core facets and

Training

Remember when I said, “training was the easy part”? It turns out, that this has suddenly not been the case so much. Strength has, predictably, started to tail off somewhat and the training sessions themselves are taking it out of me more than before. Rather than having the energy to push through the last set and finish with aplomb, occasionally I’ll drift out rather meekly and find I’m unable to get that extra rep I was claiming just a few short weeks ago. This is to be expected though and it doesn’t worry me, it just means the weight will be dropped to allow for crisper repetitions and full completion of the set. I’ve always maintained that the number written on the weight doesn’t matter, as long as it’s a challenge for you.

In addition to the usual weight sessions, my step count per day has been upped to fifteen thousand. This suits me as my jobs are desk-based for the majority of my time and with the weather being as great as it is, it’s helping me get the steps in with relative ease. Cardio is, of course, an important aspect of my regime, with high-intensity interval training (HIIT) now playing a vital role in my prep, not only getting me fitter but providing another outlet for calories to be burned.

Nutrition

My diet hasn’t changed a bit since working with Chase Perfection, which for me is a good thing. I much prefer having a standardised routine that I can stick to without deviation, as I’ll likely end up forgetting what I should be having and when! My diet has a lot of variety, so my macronutrients (macros) come from all different sources. For protein, I’m employing fish, chicken, beef and protein powder (added to my oats). Carbs come in the form of basmati rice, white pitta bread and the aforementioned oats. Green vegetables are, of course, also throw in the mix, so I tend to make sure most meals have this excellent source of nutrition. When I was prepping myself, my fats were far too low, which has also been addressed with the addition of olive oil, pesto and sauces for particular meals.

I’d certainly advise maintaining a healthy mix of different food sources, as it can soon become monotonous eating chicken and broccoli every other meal; trust me I know, I’ve been there.

Rest

With a busy work life (I know it may seem hard to believe, but it’s true I swear) that involves a regular day job as a head of a department that is supplemented by my freelance work online, rest is something I crave in abundance yet hardly achieve. Why is that? For me, it comes down to distraction. I love consuming media in all forms; books, television, online forums, whatever it may be, I simply love soaking up more knowledge and interesting ideas from others and of course, kicking back and watching some entertaining stuff – you’ll be familiar with my love of wrestling if you move around this website! Back to the point though; rest is something I desperately need to address. Some days I’ll be running on about four hours sleep which is just not good enough and long-term impacts my muscle repair.

What’s Next?

I’m entering Phase 2 of my plan with Chase Perfection, which has updated training regimes. Posing is now becoming a bigger area of importance for me and I try and get in a solid fifteen minutes per night in some capacity.

I’m relatively happy with how I’m progressing – at the end of the day I’ve never looked better in my life. That’s obviously something to be proud of, but I simply want more; I want to achieve and excel.

Watch this space.

Marvel

Avengers: What’s Next?

Chris Kenny May 20, 2018

By now, I’m fairly confident everyone has seen the blockbuster hit Avengers: Infinity War and some of you might be on multiple viewings (I’m on three and counting). It’s an incredibly enjoyable film that serves as the first act in a two-part conclusion to over a decade of world building and movies from Marvel Studios, and for me, it hit the nail firmly on the head when it comes to entertainment, amazing action sequences and sheer fun. It also did very well at raising the stakes to hitherto unseen proportions (yes I did really just say hitherto unseen) as well as bracing the audience for the inevitable; the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is set to change, and drastically. These films have essentially been a big budget TV series strung out across ten years. The so far untitled Avengers 4 will be the end of “Season 3” and this is where the bell of change will be rung.

What Do We Know?

Speculation is, of course, nothing without some facts to fuel the fire and in typical Marvel fashion, we don’t really know anything about how Avengers 4 will unravel. We do know however that we’re getting two films beforehand; Ant-Man & The Wasp and Captain Marvel, the latter of the two will become significantly important to the plot and outcome of the Avengers film. Before that though, the latest Ant-Man instalment should be the lighthearted relief we all need after the gut punch that was the ending of Infinity War, the trailers so far have leaned on the comedy aspect of the movie, which will surely be delivered in spades. As for Captain Marvel, not much is known at present other than it will be set in the 90’s, which likely explains the modified beeper Nick Fury whipped out at the end of Infinity War’s post-credits scene to contact Captain Marvel.

90s tech with some “alterations”

What I think

So with those limited facts in place, let’s start with the next film set to come out; Ant-Man & The Wasp. As already established, this will be the comedic relief we require post finger snap. It’s also fairly obvious that the majority of this movie will take place before or during the events of Infinity War, however, I have a feeling that the end of the film could line up exactly with Thanos’ snap and we see one or more of the characters fade away. My feeling is Wasp gets turned to dust and this is what sparks Scott Lang to join up with the remainder of the Avengers in the fourth film and figure out a way to un-do what Thanos achieved. (More on this later).

Now for Captain Marvel. I’ve got a basic knowledge of her power set from the comic lore, but essentially she could stop the Hulk with her little finger. The point is, she should be a match for Thanos. Delving a bit further into the comic book backstory, in the original run of “The Infinity Gauntlet” a character called Adam Warlock gets hold of the Infinity Gauntlet that we saw Thanos equipped with, and manages to put a stop to all of the conflict. While this character has been teased and confirmed by Guardians director James Gunn, his absence from Infinity War makes it unlikely that he will feature in Avengers 4. Instead, I think this role will be given to Carol Danvers; Captain Marvel. Similar to Warlock, Danvers has been missing in action and I think it’s a fair assumption to think she’s locked in a cosmic conflict far from Earth (hence the strange appendices on the beeper Nick Fury used). But why haven’t we seen her yet? Surely if she’s so powerful, she could have quelled the events that took place in New York and Sokovia with relative ease? This is my lingering question heading into her solo movie and one that I’m sure will be answered, but my instinct is to assume her adventures take utmost priority over Earthly matters and Fury was quite content to let his Avengers deal with the threats to Earth, until now.

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Captain Marvel – The one to save the day?

Avengers 4 Predictions – Ant Man’s Involvement

Circling back to Ant-Man and how he can be a catalyst for change for Avengers 4; there have been leaked set photos showing Ant-Man, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner and Captain America in what looks to be New York and more specifically, set during the crisis of the first Avengers film. So what on Earth is going on there? Well, diving further, the team appear to be using a device affixed to their arms, and I have two theories on this. The first and perhaps more boring is that they are using Tony’s BARF contraption to re-visit the event and see if there are any clues as to how to take down Thanos, which is plausible but not as exciting as my second idea; they’ve gone back in time using the Quantum Realm. If you recall from the first Ant-Man, the Quantum Realm is a dimension accessed by the original Wasp who shrunk herself to sub-atomic levels in order to disable a Soviet missile; the price paid was heavy, however, as she continued to shrink for all eternity in a realm where space and time are irrelevant. Let’s stop there and focus on that part; if space and time are meaningless than it’s not a stretch to imagine this strange dimension can be used as a tool to travel back in time if manipulated correctly. I believe there will be a plot within Ant-Man & The Wasp whereby Hank Pymm (the original Ant-Man) will again embark on a journey to find his long-lost wife and thus open the door for exploration within this fascinating realm. Leaping further still, the attachments on the arms of the Avengers seen in the set photos could be the tools that they have used to enter the Quantum Realm and thus go backwards in time, again to learn about Thanos or even re-write history, perhaps destroying the mind and space stones that were present on the battlefield that day?

Ant-Man delving into the Quantum Realm

What About the Dead Heroes?

“Mr Stark… I don’t feel so good.” We all got a lump in our throats when Peter Parker croaked out these words as he was about to fade away into nothing, followed by an emotional breakdown and desperation to cling on to life before Spider-Man was wiped out before our eyes. Once he and Black Panther were “gone” I knew this would be reversible. There’s simply no way Marvel axe two of their biggest stars right now, plus Spider-Man 2 has already been announced and while yes, plans can change, it’s unlikely that particular one will. So this is where things get somewhat tricky. To my mind, it’s difficult to undo all of what Thanos achieved without completely undermining him and his efforts and the struggle of the first act of this two-part conclusion. There needs to be a satisfying way to bring back the newer Avengers, but before that, let’s remind ourselves of what happened. Thanos snapped his fingers and our heroes turned to dust. But briefly, before the dusting happened, Thanos was transported into the Soul Stone and came face to face with Gamora. What does this mean? Is Gamora still alive? How did she end up in the Soul Stone? Let’s take a pause here and rewind slightly. Again I’m going to lean on the comic lore here for some explanation. Within the pages of the story, the Soul Stone actually houses the Soul World, which is where many of the heroes get trapped, and where the aforementioned Adam Warlock actually resides and eventually joins up with those locked in this dimension. So if we take that information and apply it to the current MCU, I think it’s entirely possible that our “New Avengers” will be locked in here, along with the rest of everyone else who died and will figure out a way to get out, thus giving them their first chance to bond and gel as a team. One such hero, Doctor Strange could well be the link tying in all of the teams; he can astral project his form to Tony Stark et all and they can concoct a plan together to get free and finally all be united against Thanos instead of fractured divisions attempting to attack the Mad Titan in isolated pockets. I think this is where we’ll get the ultimate money shot of the entire ensemble of heroes standing together against Thanos with the Avengers theme blaring in the background.

Avengers Forever

How Does it End?

While we’re having this epic faceoff, I think this will be the introduction of Captain Marvel and she’ll rip the gauntlet straight off of Thanos and wield it herself, banishing the Titan away using the power of the Infinity Stones to reverse the damage caused, before herself removing the gauntlet and taking it away for safe keeping. I think the team deserves a heroic send-off like this and the film could end on an overwhelmingly positive note, with all of the team gathered at Tony and Pepper’s wedding before the old guard such as Captain America, Tony Stark, Black Widow, Thor and Hulk bow out gracefully to usher in the new era of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Conversely, however, it could go the other way in the form sacrifice. Perhaps the Soul World requires a trade of sorts and thus the heroes must sacrifice themselves to save the new crop, i.e. Tony Stark for Peter Parker, Steve Rogers for Bucky etc. It’s a darker variation of the above, in that the old guard still get to bow out, but I don’t think this will be happening, as it could cause a certain amount of resentment for the new team as they would only be there because one of our favourites had to go.

The death of Steve Rogers might be coming..

Quick Fire Minor Predictions

Alright, those are my big thoughts, but here are some other quick things I think could be happening;

Tony Stark is the new Director of Shield (set photos has him in Shield attire)
Hulk will finally come out, perhaps due to an unrivalled amount of rage such as Black Widow dying?
Captain Marvel will fight Hulk to control his rage
Tony and Steve will finally reconcile and it’ll be wonderful
Vision will be “reborn” with his all-white attire
Hawkeye will be back in action following the death of his family, post “snapping”
Thanos won’t be killed, but will instead retire to life as a farmer (as happened in the comics)
Steve Rogers will be relinquishing the title of Captain America, one way or another

That about wraps it up. I adored Infinity War and I can’t wait to see the conclusion to this thrilling saga, I truly have faith that the writers and creative team will do it complete justice and we’ll be able to look back on this past decade in years to come as a truly amazing period of cinema history which took the comic book genre out of obscurity and into the mainstream.

Fitness

The Prep Diary : 10 Weeks

Chris Kenny May 14, 2018

Greetings everybody and welcome back to the Prep Diary! As of writing, I am 10 weeks out from my competition debut with Pure Elite and since the last entry, there’s been some updates, challenges, highs, and lows so let’s explore how things have been going.

As you recall from last time, I have now been working with the team at Chase Perfection in order to bring my nutrition and training up to the required standard for the show and so far, things have been going really well. The diet is far more densely packed with nutrients than I had previously and whilst the calories remain almost the same as what I was dealing with before, the meals are spaced out a lot nicer and the balance is great. That’s not to say however that I don’t get cravings and feel hungry, because of course, I do. Anybody who’s been on a diet knows this will always be the case, but what I’m finding now is that these urges are easily managed as the next meal comes at the right time, thus quelling the anger brewing in my stomach. Nutrition is such an important factor with any successful prep, not only in terms of what you eat but keeping your sanity. So far, this has been the most important change in approach, as I’m happy with my food and the relationship is healthy.

One “challenge” I faced – trying to get a decent tan!

We all have challenges during prep, whether it’s late night working hours, financial issues, illness or any combination of those. My personal plight was being abroad for a week. Thankfully I am very familiar with Varna, Bulgaria, so finding good gyms to train at is easy as I’ve done that plenty of times, but sticking to my nutrition; that’s a whole new ball game. Typically, my intentions whilst away from home are good however I often descend into random eating habits with minimal training. This time though, I was fortunate enough to be joined by my very close friend, who actually encouraged me to join a gym five years ago and I haven’t looked back since. Training, therefore, was easy to manage as he was very keen to join me on my sessions and this allowed me to continue pushing myself to my limit.

Snapshot from the Chest and Arms session

As an aside, I can’t stress how crucial it is for me to have a training partner. I’ve previously trained alone for months at a time, and while the solitude is peaceful and I can simply get on with the task at hand, it’s just too easy to back out of going all in and getting that extra rep. With a like-minded partner, however, those extra reps become three or four more, that set you didn’t want to do becomes your best one and overall, the session is a far more productive one. So my point is this; if you find training to be a chore or boring, get together with someone. Training is the fun part, the easy part. It needs to be done right though, as it’s a component of the machine that steers towards success.

Back to the week just gone by overseas and let’s focus in on nutrition. I mentioned above that my desire is always to try and stick to some sort of mental guideline, but typically I’ll get derailed by the plethora of wonderful restaurants available to me. This time, however, I was armed with my meal plan, a suitcase filled with supplements, my electronic weighing scales, and a specific intention to buy only what food I needed to and do my meal preparation in the apartment. Having a direct plan of action this time made things a lot easier; yes I did eat meals out but I controlled my urges and kept as close to my plan as possible, with the odd question fired at my coach to make sure I wasn’t stepping out of line anywhere. The result? Progress in my quest to reduce body fat and also seeing more weight drop off without limiting my lifestyle.

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Latest progress picture; taken post Leg workout.

I’m seeing the weeks tumble away into the past now as the big day draws ever closer. There’s excitement, nerves, and optimism; this has been a dream of mine for just over two years now so I’m determined to make sure I’m bringing the very best version of myself to the stage. To all my fellow competitors; let’s go there and tear the house down.

Fitness

The Prep Diary: 12 Weeks Out

Chris Kenny April 30, 2018

With just under twelve weeks to go until I make my debut on stage in Manchester, there’s been a call to action and a change in direction in order for me to bring about the best possible physique I can on the day.

Enter Chase Perfection. You’ll recall from earlier posts that I’ve already attended posing camps run by this team, however now I have fully immersed myself in their services, enlisting their aid to prep me for this contest. That includes a personalised meal plan, training split and regular check-ins and contact. For me, this is the step I needed to take, as it was becoming clear that managing this alone was not the way to go; I simply don’t have the experience. Therefore, I’m now equipping myself with all of the tools necessary to get the job done. I make no secret of my ambition; I want to do well and place in my categories and now I’m confident that I’m giving myself the very best chance I have of achieving my dream.

So what changes have been made? Apart from the increase in cardio (as you’ll see if you follow my Instagram stories) the biggest and most beneficial adjustment has been the nutritional side of things. As mentioned above, I’ve had my meal plan completely revamped for the better, and so far, things seem to be moving forward at a good pace. Body fat is reducing, weight has again dropped and I feel better. The meals are enjoyable too which is always very helpful when dieting as it means that I’m not lured to the pull of the ever-tempting “cheat meal”.

Training has stayed largely the same, intensity and work rate are still high but the focus and aim is to ensure each body part is being hit twice a week, to maximise the amount of growth possible within these coming weeks. Speaking of, next week I’ll be back to Bulgaria, so this is where the revised training plan will really come into its own in order to keep me on track. I’ve usually struggled with my nutrition when abroad, so with my meal plan I can now stay firmly committed to what I need to eat in order to stay the course.

Getting back to the competition side of things, this weekend just gone was the first Pure Elite show of the calendar year and I had many friends competing, who all did extremely well, placing in their categories and some even taking first place wins and pro cards! I made sure to attend, not only to give my support but also get a real feel for the competition, as I’ve never been to one before. Needless to say, it was really beneficial to see what goes into the entire day, the downtime between categories, the atmosphere when up on stage, how everyone looks on the day, it was very eye-opening. It made me more motivated than ever to keep working hard, as I know I’ll be up against some like-minded individuals who also want to succeed. Above all else though, it’s important to take stock and realise that ultimately, it’s about how far I’ve come over the years and put myself in this position where I am able to walk onto the stage and proudly display my body, knowing I’ve given it my all.

Avengers: Infinity War – Predictions and Thoughts

Chris Kenny April 23, 2018

We have arrived at last to the culmination of a ten-year journey that has spawned multiple films, sequels and of course, massive team up movies. When Avengers: Assemble was released in 2012, I couldn’t believe it. To me, seeing comic book heroes from multiple films co-exist in the same universe and fight against a singular foe was nothing short of spectacular; it had never been done before and it truly felt like a comic book had been brought to life. Of course, the film was an enormous success and continued to fuel the very profitable and entertaining freight train that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Their competitors have failed spectacularly in their attempt to try and jump on the bandwagon and create a cinematic universe overnight and as such, Marvel Studios (owned by Disney) are not only setting the bar, they are the bar.

It’s no surprise then, that excitement and anticipation for the latest film (Avengers: Infinity War) has reached fever pitch. Everywhere you look, you see the iconic symbolism and characters plastered on billboards, posters and even illuminating towers. This has filtered down to the public, myself included and I simply can’t remember being as excited for a film since X-Men: Days of Future Past. (Full disclaimer, X-Men are my favourite comic book heroes bar none, period.)

The first trailer is something I’ve probably watched over fifty times by now, and each time I never fail to get goosebumps as the “Avengers Theme” blares out at the climax of the trailer. It’s been an ever-present in the films and is the perfect backdrop to the epic visual image of the heroes charging into battle.

Death, Darkness, and Doom

With that said, however, there is a slight cause for trepidation. The trailers, clues and other such media are all hinting at this film having serious consequences; i.e. big character deaths and a villain that is not going to be taken lightly. It’s foolish to compare Thanos to anything we’ve seen before in terms of antagonists, but my cause for concern comes from Ultron. All the marketing and trailers centered around a very dark tone, with Ultron being portrayed as a huge threat that would cause our heroic team to be really against it. The first trailer really epitomizes this for me and I believe many others felt the same, which is why some fans were left disappointed with the film, as they weren’t served what they thought they ordered. Instead of a menacing, dark and serious villain, we got a quick-witted James Spader voiced robot trading quips with Tony Stark. Although there were consequences (Quicksilver dying) this wasn’t as impactful, as he was a new character. The trailers and “reading in between the lines” had Hawkeye earmarked as the sacrificial lamb, but this clever misdirection from Marvel kept the true death a secret, albeit a somewhat underwhelming one.

The point is that yes, the media so far is nothing short of amazing, but I’m going in with expectations slightly tempered, as I’ve been burned before. I’m hoping that Thanos is going to live up to all that we expect, after all, ten years is a hell of a time to build up a villain, so he should be foreboding and powerful at the very least. My prediction is that he will be given plenty of screen time to flesh him out and may even have a backstory that garners sympathy from the audience in some way. Complex villains are always the best, the layers and depth of character are far more interesting than a bizarre CGI monster suddenly appearing and wrecking everything for no real reason. (Okay, last shot at DC taken, promise).

Something that will lead to this development of Thanos is that he will kill Nebula, his daughter. I know I sound confident, but I think her death will serve as a pivotal plot device to portray how unforgiving and powerful he is, as well as giving his other daughter, Gamora a reason to go all out against him. Unfortunately for the Guardians, I can also see Mantis being axed, again to add some emotional weight and gravity to the situation. Her sweet relationship with Drax will be heavily leaned into in order to really hit the point home and I think it’ll be a heart-wrenching moment for the audience.

Ready for more death? Good. Pepper Potts is next. It’s a gut feeling, not really based on much, but there’s something about the first trailer that points me to this. When Thanos punches Iron Man, the body language and mannerisms look quite feminine to me. So my theory is that Thanos transported Pepper to that location in order to again, demonstrate his power and cruelty to us and in the last moment, Tony is able to affix an Iron Man suit to her to give some protection – much like he did in Iron Man 3. This is probably the least likely of my predictions, but one I’ll stick by nonetheless as it will again have gigantic ramifications, especially if it happened fairly early into the movie and really help set the tone for what’s to come.

Captain America. This seems to be the one death that everyone is sure about and I’m not going to buck the trend here; I think this is the end for Steve Rodgers. Being a fan of wrestling, there’s often “real world” events or facts that can help one deduce the outcome of a storyline, and I think the same thing could be happening here. Chris Evans is reportedly done with these films after Avengers 4, which follows Infinity War, so my theory is that he will appear in the fourth Avengers film in some kind of flashback/time travel capacity, but his present-day body will be very much broken and crushed by our big bad and this will lead to how I think the film finishes; a snap of the fingers on a fully completed Infinity Gauntlet and fade to black. Half of the Universe wiped out, just like that.

Loki. I have a bad feeling for Thor’s adopted brother. Again, possibly a red-herring from Disney, but in the trailer, Thanos has Thor’s head in his hand and I believe he’s making the God of Thunder watch Loki’s execution at the hands of the Black Order, who we also see attempt to pry the Mind Stone from the forehead of Vision, who I think will actually survive, rescued by Captain America and Scarlet Witch who then flee to Wakanda for medical assistance, and to mount a formidable defence.

Moments to Make Your Mouth Drop

Okay, so while that’s a lot of bleak moments to endure, I think this movie will also more than balance this with an outrageous outlay of amazing action sequences and scenes, one of which will take place in Wakanda. There are three things I would love to see during this battle. Firstly, I want to see Hulk explode out of the Hulkbuster armour. I very much think it will be Bruce Banner operating the Hulkbuster, as he doesn’t wish to turn back into the Hulk again. However, at some point, I think he gets overwhelmed and is being torn apart, literally, and that’s when our favourite green rage monster appears to cause havoc. The next moment that would make me wide-eyed with joy would be seeing Thor appear to somewhat save the day. Picture this; the Avengers are completely overwhelmed, Cap is on the verge of death at the hands of Thanos, yet there’s a grin emerging on his face. A puzzled Thanos asks why he’s smiling and Rodgers simply says “thunder” and that’s when we get a wide shot of the battle and an enormous lightning storm strike, with Thor descending into battle, flanked by the Guardians in their gunships with “Immigrant Song” echoing in the background. With Thor’s arrival, we would see the tide of the battle turn and to amplify this, Tony Stark arrives with Doctor Strange, Spiderman and whoever else is left. What follows is a beatdown on Thanos by the entire team, in a sequence similar to Civil War, where Bucky and Cap’ hammered Iron Man. Of course, it wouldn’t actually defeat Thanos, but offer a great visual nonetheless.

It’s crazy to me now, but prior to Thor: Ragnarok, I was getting a bit of “Marvel fatigue”. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was okay and Spider-Man: Homecoming didn’t really grab my attention, but then after Ragnarok I was back in and now I’m fully on board. I compounded this with a recent watch of many of the Marvel films and now Friday simply can’t come soon enough. Let’s see what happens and hopefully, we’re all blown away. What do you think will happen? Let me know below or reach me on social media!