How do you wrangle a film like Avengers: Infinity War into shape without succumbing to two and a half hours of fan service?
That was the conundrum left facing Joe and Anthony Russo – not to mention Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely – as they approached Infinity War, the biggest Marvel movie in the history of Marvel movies. And to their credit, all four creators committed to an emotional, yet deeply satisfying finale for this current installment of the MCU.
It’s one that’ll inevitably spill over into 2019, given Avengers 4 is still on the cards, but at least for now, moviegoers have been left mulling over a devastating (and somewhat contentious) third act that witnessed the likes of Doctor Strange, Spider-Man and Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther turn to dust before our very eyes.
And make no mistake, as Joe Russo tells ComicBook.com, the creative team responsible for Avengers: Infinity War committed to that finale from day one, as it was the only way to underline Thanos’ raw power.
It was always a plan to show beyond that because when we made the decision to have the snaps themselves, that’s a plot trick to cut to black after an incident like that happens. And it doesn’t give you any emotional resonance or catharsis. What he said thinking about it realistically; the true heartbreak doesn’t lie in the fact that he snapped his fingers, it lies in the fact that people have to watch loved ones, and we have to watch characters that we care about die. And that’s where the real heartbreak lies for the characters who live in the Universe and for those of us watching the movie.
It’s for this reason that Avengers: Infinity War belongs to Thanos, as the Marvel mega-movie is largely structured around the Mad Titan’s quest to round up all six Infinity Stones and unleash anarchy on a scale hitherto undreamt of, to quote the late Stephen Strange.
Bouncing off his brother’s comments, Anthony Russo went on to discuss how they arrived at the decision that, yes, the Avengers had to lose by the time the credits rolled on Infinity War.
We certainly knew that it was a difficult choice to make, but that’s what excited us about it. Joe and I, I think, we run at… when something makes you nervous or scared on a creative level it’s usually because there’s something really good there. So, we knew it was a complicated proposition, but it’s something that sounds good or exciting to us.
Continuing on, he said:
The next step to me, to continue to surprise audiences and surprise ourselves with where these stories can go and what kind of an emotional experience that they can give us, it’s so important to keep pushing forward and keep these movies evolving and treading new ground. And it’s just, we knew that was a very rich choice that would lead us and audiences to new experiences. And I think, seemingly, it’s having that effect.
And now the long wait for Avengers 4 begins. Granted, the Russos’ conclusive blockbuster isn’t expected to arrive until May of next year, though fans can still take solace in the fact that both Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel will be releasing in the interim.