SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains key, albeit vague, spoilers about the end of Captain America: Civil War. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see the movie yet, and don’t wish to know any big or small details going in, we recommend clicking away to another one of our wonderful articles!
Joe and Anthony Russo have proven to be two of the most talented directors in the Marvel Studios family of filmmakers, which is why their run with the comic book movie company won’t be coming to an end after Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War. Before the duo even started shooting the latter film, it was announced that they would be the men put in charge of making the two-part epic The Avengers: Infinity War. This put the Russos in the position of basically controlling the direction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Three – and it’s precisely why Civil War ends with its superheroes disassembled.
Last month, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Joe and Anthony Russo for an on-camera interview during the Los Angeles press day for Captain America: Civil War, and it was at the end of our chat that the subject turned towards their big project looming in the future. I asked the filmmakers how they found the making of Civil War influenced them in their development of The Avengers: Infinity War, and Joe Russo explained that the answer to that question can be found in the way that the new movie wraps things up in its third act. Said the director,
What we love about [the Marvel Cinematic Universe] as storytellers is that we get to tell a story over the course of movies. We get to take the characters on journeys that, again, can be unique to the cinematic experience. So knowing that we’re doing Infinity War really informs Civil War because we knew we wanted to leave the characters in as complicated a place as possible to set up Infinity War. You gotta walk into that movie going, ‘How the hell are they going to figure this out? Can they ever repair it? What’s going to happen?’ The greatest threat that the universe has ever seen is coming, and they’re completely fractured.
This is interesting to consider if not only because of the number of movies that are set to come out in the Marvel Cinematic Universe between Captain America: Civil War and The Avengers: Infinity War. It’s true that we will be encountering many different Civil War characters in the movies set to come out over the next few years, including Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Homecoming and Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, but it seems that the events that unfold in those titles won’t be able to repair the deep fractures caused by the Sokovia Accords. So not only will the superhero characters be dealing with Thanos, they’ll be dealing with their own hurt emotions and concerns as well.
You can watch Joe Russo talk about the link between Captain America: Civil War and The Avengers: Infinity War in the video below:
Captain America: Civil War is now in theaters around the world, and will be arriving here in the U.S. this Friday, May 6th. The Avengers: Infinity War won’t be going into production for another couple of years, but the first part is scheduled to hit cinemas on May 4, 2018.
