i notice something about Avengers: Infinity War.

I think you could argue that the villain won in Civil War as well. I think Thanos is every bit a headliner in this movie as the Avengers so I see your point on that.

Kevin Feige said he wanted to make Thanos the protagonist in this movie.

As for the villain winning, that was done in Civil War. And somewhat in The Dark Knight.

that seems rather myopic an observation.

1. In "Watchmen", a thematically more mature CBM film about characters, the villain wins.

2. Thanos does not really win, as with the comics, this is just the first part with a cliffhanger ending. The Avengers will so kick his ass in the next one (with a whiff of raccoon turd) that he will never show his color-changing nutsack of a chin again.

3. Also, rest assured, in old Marvel formula tradition, you will have all the "disappeared" super heroes magically return in the next one as their film schedules already suggest. The only one who will likely stay dead will the black guy who hillariously died first.

None were ever quite victorious like Thanos, that’s for damn sure. Even if the victory is temporary, what the aforementioned Zemo and Joker accomplished in their movies pales in comparison to the devastation left by Thanos. Universal genocide? I mean... wow. Thanos did EVERYTHING that he set out to do. And to celebrate this earth-shattering victory, he went to a remote planet to relax and feel that wonderful sense of accomplishment and serenity he felt he was entitled to. The huge smile on his face said it all.

This was unprecedented for a movie of such large size and scale, no doubt about it. Fyi, up to 30 minutes of Thanos’ backstory were cut from Infinity War (they might be seen on the 4K/blu-day release). So yeah, this is his film. Exceptional villain.

Villain is relative, right? In the classic sense of the word, Thanos is the hero of the film. He has the obstacle-frought journey to complete. I sing of arms and a Titan and so forth.

I posted here about this when the film came out. Curious to hear your thoughts:

https://moviechat.org/tt4154756/Avengers-Infinity-War/5ae630f28fd4b40014cc18f5/The-Real-Hero-of-Infinity-War

He lost his beloved daughter in the process though. So not really a complete win.

It's one of three superhero movies where the villain won, the others being Captain America: Civil War and The Dark Knight. Zemo and Joker also got what they wanted. Thanos was the focus of Avengers 3, mainly due to past criticism that MCU villains weren't complex characters. I never bought into that argument but Marvel Studios listens and the responded by making Thanos a character with emotions and a motivation you can understand.

In my opinion it should have just been Marvel: Infinity War and Marvel: Endgame. More all encompassing, and most of these characters aren't known for being Avengers.