Confessions of a Writer: The Hilltop Scene and the Soul of Storytelling

DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN INFINITY WAR AND ENDGAME!!!!

I love the MCU! Just gonna make that blatantly obvious as this post is essentially me gushing about a scene in the MCU- well two scenes actually. First HUGE ENDGAME spoilers so if you haven’t watched the movie turn around now and do so. Endgame was a masterpiece and going in with as little info as possible made the whole experience one of the best movie going experiences I’ve ever had.

So let’s talk about the “H” in the THANOS Theory! For the uninitiated this is a reference to how each of the six infinity stones were located in objects that spell THANOS. Tesseract for space, Aether for reality, Necklace for Time, Orb for power, and Scepter for Mind. The “H” as it turns out is the Hilltop of Vormir.

By far my favorite scene in Infinity War is the Hilltop were Thanos and Gamora meet Red Skull and learn what the price of the soulstone is. This scene is perfection, from the history behind these characters, how this was the last of the infinity stones to be found in the MCU, The acting, the music, the effects. I could gush on about this but there’s one aspect in particular I want to draw attention to: Thanos throws Gamora over the side for the sake of Duty. He willingly throws his daughter over the edge to serve the greater good (or at least what he perceives as the greater good). Gamora says it herself “This isn’t love, this is madness.”

Now let’s jump ahead to my favorite Endgame scene: The Hilltop! This time we see Natasha and Clint make their way to the top to meet Red Skull and learn the price of the soul stone. This scene is similar to Infinity War’s as the two learn this truth and there’s a sad realization about what’s going to happen.

By far what makes these two scenes so perfect is that it the the striking parallels we see between Heros and Villans. Where Thanos, while somewhat reluctantly, sacrificed his daughter we now have two characters who love each other like siblings fighting to keep the other alive. The tension is not just felt between the characters but the audience as we have an established emotional connection to both of these characters- even if they’re not the more popular fan favorites. 

The fact that these two were sent together is honestly the only way it would have worked. Their relationship is established in the first Avengers movie as it was Clint being taken by Loki that caused Natasha to Join the Avengers. She never thought herself a hero and if it wasn’t for Loki taking Clint she probably would have refused to come in like Culson wanted.

Then on the other side we have everyone’s least favorite member of the team. Hawkeye has really gotten the short end of the stick: He’s beaten up by Thor, Put under Mind Control, Thrown into a battle with robots on a flying island while he’s just a guy with a bow, Arrested, put under house arrest, becomes a vigilante after having his family turn to dust in the snappening. It’s always felt like that until now nobody really knew what to do with him but honestly there’s other priorities when you’ve got a 22 movie story going on.

So now we have these two trying to keep the other from dying while trying to be the one to make the sacrifice. These two would rather be the one to die for the greater good than see the other die. This is the perfect parallel of what separates heroes from villains! While the villains are willing to hurt others for what they see as right the heroes are willing to be the ones hurt for what they see is right. A perfect representation of good and evil in two separate scenes in two seperate movies that mirror each other while showing the conflicting elements.

It’s the small details that make me such an avid fan of great story telling and this scene is a pivotal moment in both movies. I also like how this is the last scene before the final confrontation/building an all powerful mcguffin in both movies which just further establishes why it leaves the impact it does.

While we don’t get to see something devoted to the soul stone in one movie or another like with all the other stones we have two scenes that represent the Soul of filmmaking and storytelling. And i couldn’t be happier with what we got!