Infinite Ending, Explained

‘Infinite’ is a quintessential summer blockbuster action film that uses its extremely coherent plot and gripping set pieces to deliver a little over a 90-minute-long, action-filled joyride. The film revolves around Evan McCauley (Mark Wahlberg), a man who has dreams so vivid that they feel like memories, and he also possesses knowledge of things that he never learned. He has spent most of his life believing that he has schizophrenia and is being self-medicated.

That changes when he discovers that he is an Infinite, a reincarnated individual who remembers all his past lives. Soon, he becomes embroiled in a war between the two factions of Infinites, the result of which will decide the fate of the world. Here is everything you need to know about the ‘Infinite’ ending. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Infinite Plot Synopsis

The film begins in Mexico City, Mexico, in 1985. Heinrich Treadway (Dylan O’Brien) tries to escape the authorities and a man that he and his associates, Abel (Tom Hughes) and Leona (Joana Ribeiro), refer to as Bathurst (Rupert Friend). They speak about something they call “the Egg,” which Treadway presumably has stolen from Bathurst. Treadway tells Abel that if he doesn’t survive, the latter must remember to “look inside.” He then drives through a roadblock and off a bridge, jumping from his car in mid-air and miraculously making it to another bridge 150 feet away. However, Treadway watches helplessly as Bathurst arrives and kills both Abel and Leona.

The story then shifts to 2020. Evan McCauley has struggled with mental health issues all his life. His vivid dreams have been designated as part of schizophrenia. Because of past institutionalization and violent behavior, he can’t get a job. Desperately needing the meds for his condition, Evan forges a katana for a local gangster. It is revealed that he has never learned how to be a bladesmith, not in this lifetime anyway. After the deal with the gangster goes south, Evan makes his escape but is later arrested. A man comes to see him at the police station and introduces himself as Bathurst (Chiwetel Ejiofor). He starts to refer to Evan as Treadway and claims that they have known each other for centuries.

Just when Bathurst manages to make Evan remember things about his past life, a car slams into the room. Evan’s rescuer turns out to be a young woman named Nora Brightman (Sophie Cookson), who takes Evan to the Hub, the base of operations of the group she is part of. There are about 500 individuals in the entire world who can remember all of their past lives. These people are known as the Infinites. The two opposing factions that have developed among the Infinites are the Believers and the Nihilists. The Believers such as Nora, Treadway, and Abel think that the gift of remembrance is a responsibility given to them by a higher power to leave the world in a better situation than they found it.

On the other hand, Nihilists like Bathurst consider it a curse. They think that the Infinites have been perpetually condemned to witness humanity self-destruct itself. They want to be free of this cycle and exterminate all life on Earth, including plants and animals. Both factions believe that Evan is Treadway’s reincarnation. Hidden in the memory of his past life is the location of the Egg, the device that was specially created to end the world. Now, Evan and the Believers must race against time to retrieve his memory and secure the Egg before Bathurst gets Evan and tortures the information out of him.

Infinite Ending: Where is the Egg? What Does It Do?

As Nora, who is revealed to be Leona’s reincarnation, explains to Evan, the Infinites start to remember things when they are quite young. By puberty, they have recalled everything. She calls this process “reawakening.” In Evan’s case, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was a teenager. Around the same time, he carved on his chest the phrase “look inside” with a box cutter but didn’t realize what that phrase ultimately means. Even during his stay at the Hub, Evan struggles to regain Treadway’s memories, likely due to his personal trauma and the interruptions caused by the steel plate in his head. However, after his session inside Artisan’s (Jason Mantzoukas) machine, Evan unlocks his memories and realizes the meaning of “look inside.”

Treadway was apparently killed by the previous Bathurst not long after Abel and Leona. The Believers subsequently retrieved his body and took it back to the Hub, where it is kept in a chamber filled with a crotonic acid matrix, which has stopped the cellular deteriorating process. Evan recalls that he slashed open his own belly and put the Egg inside his body, knowing that it would be the last place that anyone would look.

Bathurst used to be a comrade of Treadway. They spent centuries fighting beside each other and taking part in some of the most pivotal moments in history. However, he became disillusioned with the Believers’ mission about 300 years before the current events and began his attempts to find ways of ending the reincarnation circle. The Egg was the product of that search. When activated, it will attack the very DNA of living beings and destroy life in its entirety.

Does Evan Die?

Yes, Evan dies in the climax of the film. When the detonating device with the Egg inside it flies right out of the plane, Evan jumps after it, and Bathurst soon follows. The two of them fight in mid-air, and Evan manages to stop the countdown by pulling out the Egg. He shoots Bathurst with the latter’s Dethroner, which ironically ensures that the Nihilist will not be reborn.

Evan holds on to the Egg and drowns in the ocean with it. But as he is an Infinite, his story doesn’t end in death. As the final scenes of the movie reveal, Evan is reborn in Jakarta, Indonesia. Artisan visits him, and the reincarnated Evan recognizes him. Evidently, he has undergone a total reawakening, and unlike his previous life, it hasn’t brought misery and pain to him.

What Is the Dethroner?

The Dethroner is a special gun that Bathurst has developed. It can put a temporary stop to the circle of reincarnation. The gun fires bullets that can draw out a person’s consciousness or soul from their head and trap it in a chip. Bathurst uses the Dethroner to kill several people in the film, including Abel. And as mentioned above, he himself gets shot with it in the climax, which effectively ends his reincarnation cycle. As the chip is now at the bottom of the ocean, his consciousness is likely to remain trapped inside it for centuries to come unless it naturally corrodes.

What is the Beginning?

The Beginning is an important component in one of the subplots of the film. Leona/Nora and Abel have been in love with each other for several lives. Each time they are reborn and experience a reawakening, the two meet each other on the Angor Wat temple premises. However, in 1985, the previous Bathurst shot Abel with the Dethroner and kept the corresponding chip as part of his collection in his home. Close to her death, Nora blows up the collection with Artisan’s help, freeing Abel and others. In one of the final scenes of the movie, she and Abel are reunited as their next reincarnations at Angor Wat.

Read More: Where Was Infinite Filmed?