Avengers: Infinity War must have been the most challenging movie to script for writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Not only did they have to juggle a ridiculous amount of superheroes and make sure Thanos lived up to all the hype, but they also had to spin a story out of whatever the previous MCU entries had left them with.
Given that, they must have harbored a few resentments that certain films had left them with more work to do in order to fit everything on the board, right? That’s the question host Kevin Smith put to the duo when speaking with them on his podcast recently. But as McFeely says, it’s best not to dwell on details like that.
“No, because then I’m gonna have to, Monday morning, quarterback other filmmakers and other films to say, ‘It would have been nice if you had done X, Y, and Z for my convenience.’ So it’s probably best not to say.”
Markus did admit, though, that some of the things in their script had to evolve as the movies preceding Infinity War came together. In particular, Thor: Ragnarok‘s arc for Hulk closely mirrored what the writers were planning on doing with the Jade Giant in their own film, which might explain why Banner’s alter ego features so little in the finished product.
“There were times, though, because we’re writing this while…they hadn’t shot [Thor:] Ragnarok yet, [Black] Panther, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange…none of these movies exist,” the writer noted. “So we’re trying to plot out a movie and then you find out, you’ll see Ragnarok, and, ‘Hey, they did everything we were gonna do with Hulk.'”
Smith’s co-host, Marc Bernardin, then mentioned that he felt that Star-Lord and Gamora’s deep-seated romance in Infinity War was quite a change from how they were just starting to admit their feelings for each other in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. McFeely took responsibility if there was any disconnect there, though he did point out that Vol. 2 is set back in 2014, so there’s room for the couple’s relationship to grow.
That’s probably not on [Guardians director James] Gunn, that’s on us wanting that to be their relationship. It was clearly what that relationship was heading towards. And it’s four years in between movies, seemingly.”
When you think about how many other movies the writers had to keep track of while making Avengers: Infinity War, you start to realize just how impressive it is that the film holds any continuity with the rest of the MCU at all. Sure, there were glitches like Gamora’s backstory changing from the first Guardians, but Markus and McFeely still did a terrific job at making sure everything fit in together as neatly as possible.
