Vanity Fair’s big blowout for Avengers: Infinity War continues apace.
Arriving on the eve of Wednesday’s long-anticipated trailer reveal (it’ll likely drop via Good Morning America between the hours of 7 am and 9 am EST, so stay frosty), the latest scoop heralds a rather frank interview with Joe and Anthony Russo, the masterminds responsible for the MCU’s biggest movies yet.
Infinity War will be the first to tumble off Marvel’s production line in 2018, at which point we expect to learn more about Thanos and his long-gestating plan for world domination. Flanked by the Black Order, Josh Brolin’s Mad Titan is ostensibly the harbinger of death, and his presence on our planet only portends all kinds of danger for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
But Infinity War is merely the first chapter of a two-part story, given Avengers 4 is pegged to arrive the following year. Shrouded in secrecy, Marvel fans have been left picking over scraps of story clues and far-flung rumors, but according to the Russo Brothers, Kevin Feige and Co. have already identified the expendable characters. Eek!
“So we know who we’re allowed to kill, and that’s about it. I don’t even think Marvel had any ideas about where they would go after [3 and 4]. It’s not an end for all of these characters; it’s an end for some of these characters. So some of these characters will go on. So it’s more complicated, that’s why it’s not a clean ending.”
Indeed, for all of the MCU’s highlights – and there are quite a few – it’s fair to say that Marvel could be a bit more ruthless when it comes to on-screen deaths. That’s something that James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) addressed head-on, and stressed that the MCU needs to raise the stakes if it’s to retain everyone’s attention.
“I think part of that is also the natural evolution of the series. You can’t keep making movies that are too similar. You can’t make the same movie over and over again. If Marvel is going to survive, they have to start making movies with characters who are a little different. They have to start allowing characters to die. They have to start having stakes really mean something if they want people to stay interested.”
But no one really dies in comics, right? Expect Avengers: Infinity War to flip the MCU upside down on May 4th, 2018.