Needless to say, there will be spoilers in this article, so stop reading now if you want to go into Avengers: Infinity War knowing nothing.
Because next year's Avengers 4 remains such a mystery, there are huge questions tied to Avengers: Infinity War that we can not wait to have answered. Which heroes will still be alive to defend our precious planet? Is Thanos' arc still going to be a factor? And is it possible that Avengers: Infinity War ends on a massive cliffhanger, asking audiences to come back the following summer to see how it's resolved? When we visited the set of Joe and Anthony Russo's Avengers: Infinity War, we asked longtime Marvel screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely how they viewed the two movies, and whether they thought of them as one massive story, or two separate tales. They replied:
Christopher Markus: Both.Stephen McFeely: Can't have the second one without the first one. But our hope is that it's breakfast, and then lunch.Markus: It does not feel like you hit pause, and then unpaused it. It is two very different [movies].
At the time that we visited the Avengers: Infinity War set, both movies were being shot at the same time, so there was a fair amount of hedging from the screenwriters about what they could reveal, and what might be being saved for next summer's Avengers 4. After listening to them hash out the distinction between the movies, I'm more confident that somewhere in the process of filming Infinity War, the screenwriters and their co-directors -- who all collaborated on Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War -- found a natural stopping point, and that Avengers 4 was shaped to be a pure follow up to whatever happens at the conclusion of Infinity War.
The one wrinkle in that plan happens to be the two movies that happen between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4. However, since visiting the set of Joe and Anthony Russo's blockbuster, we have learned that both Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel will be stories set in different eras of the MCU, so continuity can be preserved from when Infinity War ends and Avengers 4 picks back up in May 2019.
Now, if only we knew that Avengers 4 title.
Avengers: Infinity War will find the major heroes of the MCU teaming up to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin), a mad despot hellbent on acquiring all of the Infinity Stones and bringing balance to the universe... by eliminating half of the galaxy. Bold plan. The most recent trailer dropped, and we have it here for you:
We will have plenty more from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Also, all of our Avengers: Infinity War set coverage can be found here. And you can bookmark our Upcoming Marvel Movies guide to stay up to date on all of the future happenings in the MCU.
