Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Infinity War. If you haven't seen it yet, look away!
It's been two weeks since Avengers: Infinity War arrived in theaters, and fans are still processing it. 18 movies and 10 years of filmmaking came to an explosive head when the various corners of the MCU combined in an epic battle against Josh Brolin's Thanos. The Russo Brothers had a giant pool of characters to play with, but many Marvel fans were hoping that the shared universe's small screen heroes would be included as well. While the studio has never revealed any plans to have that type of crossover, it turns out The Russo Brothers didn't rule anything out. As Anthony Russo recently admitted:
We made the briefest consideration of [including TV characters in Infinity War], when we're alone in a room with [screenwriters Christopher] Markus and [Stephen] McFeely, we consider every idea. We like thinking of everything. But it seemed like the story that had been told within the movies was so specific and elaborate already that once we started working through the story, we knew we had our hands full just with this set of characters and narratives.
Do you hear that? It's the sound of comic book fans' hearts breaking. While Infinity War was already a fairly dense and chock full of MCU favorites, it's even more exciting to hear that characters like The Defenders might make their way into the narrative as well. While The Russos probably made the right call for the sake of pacing, the FOMO is through the roof on this one.
Anthony Russo's comments to Variety, while somewhat depressing, is still enough to get most Marvel fans excited. If small screen heroes were once considered for Infinity War, where could they have fit in?
Perhaps the most logical place for characters from Netflix's Marvel shows would be during the scenes set in New York. Once the action of the film focuses away from Thor and Thanos, The Hulk is teleported to New York, landing in the roof of Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. The first big conflict with the Black Order comes here, with Wong, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, and Bruce Banner attempting to fight them off. A conflict in New York would have been a great way to bring in the likes of Daredevil and Jessica Jones-- perhaps if the entire Black Order went on the mission. That, or they'd have a quick cameo disappearing into dust.
Ultimately, there doesn't appear that there's any plans for Marvel's movies and TV shows to interact-- with the exception being Phil Coulson. But given Thanos' world changing finger snap of death, one has to wonder how the characters from the MCU's small screen adventures fared in the new world.
Avengers: Infinity War is in theaters now. Be sure to check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
