How Avengers: Infinity War’s Writers Chose Who Lived And Who Died

Who lives, who dies…

That was the crucial, potentially game-changing question that came attached to Avengers: Infinity War, the Marvel blockbuster with more characters and bone-rattling action than the last three or four MCU movies combined. Seriously, we’re not exaggerating.

And sure enough, as Infinity War approached its gut-wrenching, and heartbreaking finale, Joe and Anthony Russo kept the pedal firmly to the metal, ensuring that the stakes were just as high – if not higher – than everyone had anticipated and feared. However, as writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely recently told Collider, deciding who lives (and who dies!) was no mean feat, and actually involved a “two-movie conversation,” what with Avengers 4 waiting in the wings for 2019.

“It’s based on the story for the next film. And wanting to have an intense, emotional impact. You also don’t want to be accused of having red shirts.”

So while characters like Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) got very little screentime during Infinity War, it sounds like they’ll be better served by Avengers 4 – ditto for Hawkeye – as the remaining Phase One Avengers will now join forces with Captain Marvel in order to reverse Thanos’ devastating finger-snap. Or, at the very least, create a new reality in which the Mad Titan failed to acquire all six stones.

It lays the groundwork for a pretty wild and entertaining sequel, so it’s small wonder why fans are beginning to count down the days in anticipation of Avengers 4‘s arrival on May 3rd, 2019. And while plot details remain firmly under wraps for now, we fully expect time travel to somehow factor into things. Which means we can also expect to see some familiar faces turning up.