Joe and Anthony Russo are prepped and ready to usher in the beginning of the end.
Having just wrapped production on 2018’s Infinity War – word is that Marvel’s dynamic duo finished up just prior to last month’s San Diego Comic-Con – the Russo Brothers are now back behind the lens for the as-yet-untitled Avengers 4, and announced the start of filming via Facebook yesterday evening. The post was accompanied by a rather cute image of a gloved hand – a purple gloved hand at that – holding up four fingers.
Those fingers almost certainly belong to Thanos, Josh Brolin’s Mad Titan who has declared war against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the name of those six Infinity Stones. And we know that Herculean power struggle will bleed over into Avengers 4, possibly with some big-name casualties along the way. It’s said to be the ultimate game-changer for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, bringing a sense of climax to an arc spanning 22 movies.
Here’s Kevin Feige on what lies in store:
Certainly as we get to Infinity War, there is a sense of a climax, if not a conclusion to, by the time we’re at untitled Avengers 4, the 22 movies that will have encompassed the first three phases of the MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe]. And what happens after that will be very different. I don’t know if it’s Phase 4, it might be a new thing.
Get it? Four. As in the fourth Avengers movie. Impatient fans have stipulated that this image is actually a precursor to some form of Marvel reveal (Infinity War‘s teaser being released online in glorious HD, perhaps?) that’s due to take place in four days’ time. That being said, the Powers That Be are adamant that that SDCC teaser won’t debut until the release of Thor: Ragnarok in November.
Once Avengers: Infinity War has enjoyed its time in the sun – along with Ant-Man and the Wasp and the long-awaited Captain Marvel movie – the so-far untitled Avengers 4 will deploy into theaters on May 3rd, 2019. The countdown has begun, but what are your hopes (and fears!) going into the Russo Brothers’ titanic crossover? Let us know in the usual place.