UPDATE: These photos have been removed. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.
Filming continues on the Atlanta set of Avengers 4, and Just Jared has relayed another helping of curious (spoilerific?) set photos to prove it.
Indeed, it’s proven to be a busy week for Marvel Studios, what with news of Thor: Ragnarok‘s Blu-ray release and a special showcase dedicated to Black Panther. Towering above all those films, though, is Avengers: Infinity War, the event movie poised to usher Thanos (AKA the Mad Titan) into the MCU – much to the dismay of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
It’s a super-sized brawl that’s been broken into two distinct parts, given the mysterious Avengers 4 is poised to drop in 2019. And when it does, it’ll seemingly herald a titanic finale for our costumed crusaders, one that will presumably redraw the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it.
How do we know? Well, by the time Thanos is in control of all six Infinity Stones, he’ll literally have the universe’s greatest powers in the palm of his giant, purple hand, which has led to some speculation about flashbacks, alternate timelines, and vastly different roles for the Avengers. Lending credence to those rumors is this gallery from Just Jared, which again features four MCU veterans in Captain America, Iron Man, a disheveled Hulk, and Ant-Man.
Pretty cool, huh? There’s a lot to digest here, as Captain America appears to be sporting his costume from The Avengers (not to mention arguing with Tony). Couple this with Stark’s hairstyle – there are speckles of blonde and grey peppered across RDJ’s new do – and it’s been claimed that this scene actually takes place in an alternate timeline, one in which Ant-Man helped fend off the Chitauri during the Battle of New York.
Remaining with this theory, it would also explain why Bruce Banner looks a little worse for wear (is that giant bindle a part of the scene? Or just Ruffalo goofing around?), as he likely wasn’t included in Nick Fury’s original masterplan.
It’s admittedly a little confusing, but if time travel were to factor into the Avengers 4 story, Joe and Anthony Russo could leave the MCU knowing they’ve left a relatively blank canvas for the likes of Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Chalk that up as conjecture, though, as the Russo Brothers’ sequel is still a full 18 months away.
