Believe it or not, 2018 will mark the ten year anniversary of Iron Man and the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That means there are now ten-year-old children enjoying Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 who were only just being born when Nick Fury first recruited Tony Stark – crazy, right?
Next year, Marvel will release a number of movies, but Avengers: Infinity War is obviously the biggest. That’s because it’ll bring together Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the Guardians of the Galaxy as they unite to battle Thanos. Not only that, but according to head honcho Kevin Feige, the film will also celebrate the studio’s tenth anniversary.
“It sort of blows my mind when I think about that,” says Feige. “We’ll have 20 films in ten years. We’re now working on how we mark that occasion. How we celebrate it. I have a very fun memory of the tenth anniversary of ‘Star Wars’ when I as in junior high school. Now ‘Star Wars’ is 40 and I wonder what Marvel Studios will be in another 30 years. I have no idea. But I know we’re very proud of the last ten years and we want to celebrate that somehow. ‘Infinity War’ will, frankly, be that celebration.”
It makes sense that Marvel will be using this movie to celebrate the MCU’s anniversary, as it looks set to bring together pretty much every superhero still breathing for one epic battle. Asked to elaborate on whether Avengers: Infinity War is just an event movie or the culmination of everything since Iron Man, Feige responded:
“It is, I think, a very good combination of both. It’s a result of having a goal and having an endgame. It’s about heading towards that and still being willing to make adjustments along the way where it serves whatever film we’re working on. We never want to be so rigid in a structure that we don’t allow ourselves to do fun, new, unexpected things that can happen along the way. I’d say it’s a pretty healthy combination of both… We started out being very excited that we were finally able to be the people creatively responsible for a Marvel film ourselves and do them in the way that our instincts sort of called for us to do them. That has remained unchanged.”
That sounds downright amazing, and you have to believe that Marvel Studios will be making 2018 a special year for fans. After all, aside from Infinity War, Black Panther and Ant-Man and The Wasp are also on the way next year, and it’s also possible that the studio could announce some concrete Phase 4 plans, too, with 2020 getting ever closer.
Whatever ends up happening, Avengers: Infinity War definitely feels like a fitting celebration for Marvel and we’re pretty confident that it’ll be able to live up to the huge expectations being placed upon it.