Thanos has arrived.
Following 10 years and 18 movies’ worth of build-up, not to mention a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo tucked away beneath the credits of The Avengers, Josh Brolin’s Mad Titan took center stage during Infinity War, where he commanded the screen in his search of the elusive Infinity Stones.
And whereas the MCU movies of old typically ended with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes overcoming great adversary, Avengers: Infinity War flipped expectations on their head by allowing Thanos to triumph, as some of our favorite on-screen heroes vanished before our very eyes.
In doing so, directors Joe and Anthony Russo have levelled the playing field in anticipation of Avengers 4, which will likely see Phase One heroes like Captain America and Tony Stark set aside old squabbles in the face of a common enemy.
But let’s now get too far ahead of ourselves, Infinity War is here, and it’s already morphed into a box office behemoth, one that surpassed Age of Ultron‘s domestic gross in only 11 days. Suffice it to say, the Russo Brothers knocked it out of the park with this one, and above, we’ve included a gallery of behind-the-scenes pics designed to take you closer to the action.
Looking further afield, and it seems the prospect of future team-up movies featuring Earth’s Mightiest Heroes isn’t out of the question, necessarily, as Disney boss Bob Iger told investors just yesterday:
We meet on a regular basis with our Marvel team, and we’ve plotted out Marvel movies that will take us well into the next decade. I’m guessing we will try our hand at what I’ll call a new franchise beyond Avengers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t see more Avengers down the road. We just haven’t made any announcements about that. Given the popularity of the characters and given the popularity of the franchise, I don’t think people should conclude there will never be another Avengers movie.
Or, failing that, the Mouse House is also open to fostering a brand new Marvel franchise, though whether it winds up factoring in the likes of X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool largely hinges on the possible merger between Disney and Fox.
Avengers: Infinity War is now screening all over the globe – save for China, which is expected to welcome Marvel’s epic blockbuster this Friday, May 11th.
