“...what would be helpful,” McFeely adds.
“Or ‘You kinda absolutely have to do
this,’ ” Markus says. “A lot of times it worked
out perfectly.”
Even thoughInfinity War and its sequel
were shot back-to-back last year, directors
Joe and Anthony Russo have been warning
fans that the first installment would have...
let’s call it finality. “We like to think of them
as two complete narratives. You’re getting
two whole films. It’s not like we just
chopped them in half,” Joe Russo says.
“Marvel is serialized storytelling, and the
stories continue one movie to the next.”
The groundbreaking twist of the current
movie is—major spoiler alert—the villain isvictorious. Thanos (played by Josh Brolin)
assembles all six Infinity Stones and uses his
golden gauntlet to exterminate half the life in
the universe—including many late and great
superheroes. The post-credits scene involves
Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury signaling to
Captain Marvel just before Fury dissolves
into oblivion, so count on her coming to the
rescue inInfinity War part deux.
A major factor in the sequel will also be
the absentees from round 1, specifically
Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, Paul Rudd’s Ant-
Man, and Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp. Mark
Ruffalo was mainly Bruce Banner in the cur-
rent film, but count on Hulk to be a key
player in the follow-up—as soon as his
keeper can figure out how to coax him back
to the surface. “None of the rules of the past
Hulk and Banner’s relationship apply,”
Ruffalo says. “They’re in this constant
struggle for primacy. That struggle is
becoming more and more accentuated.”
It’s obvious that some kind of reversal is
in order since some of the departed heroes
have lucrative franchises ahead of them, but
the Marvel Studios brain trust promises
there will be ramifications that stick.
“It’s exciting, because you start to even
think differently about how the characters
are interacting, what characters’ stories are
coming to a close, and what characters’ sto-
ries are only just beginning, albeit in
different ways,” says Marvel Studios presi-
dent Kevin Feige. There will be aGuardians
of the Galaxy Vol. 3, another Spider-Man
stand-alone with Tom Holland, and a return
to Black Panther’s kingdom of Wakanda.
“All those stories will continue,” Feige says.
“I think they’ll continue in surprisingly dif-
ferent and unexpected ways after these two
Avengers films.”
Right now, it’s a matter of letting the
dust settle. But from the dust, Earth’s
mightiest heroes will return.XBY ANTHONY BREZNICAN
Infinity War
AVENGERS
BURNING QUESTIONS
Ininity War leaves all audiences—
including our newsroom—with a lot
of questions.BY EW STAFFWhy does Steve Rogers’ phone
number have an Atlanta area code?Thanos already got the first stone
from Xandar. So, R.I.P. Xandar?What’s up with Scarlet
Witch’s accent?How far down into the ground does
the Wakandan force field actually go?Where did Pepper Potts get her
running clothes?Why didn’t Doctor Strange use
the Time Stone to undo Star-Lord’s
mega-mess-up?If Thanos’ scheme could happen
with a “snap of the fingers,” why did
everyone dissolve so slowly?Once Thanos set his mind to it, he
got all the Infinity Stones in, like, 10
minutes. Why’d he wait until now?Why was Hulk Hulked-out in the
trailer during the Wakanda scene?When Thanos kills half the life on
Earth, do animals count? And it’s not
like half the trees in the forest disap-
pear. Where’s the line?What if Ant-Man was actually in this
movie the whole time, but he was
just too small to see?When Black Panther says about Cap-
tain America “get this man a shield,”
why did they give Cap little plates?Is Shuri okay?Should the Guardians of the Galaxy
get a new name? Because they
straight-up did not guard the galaxy.If they took a twig off of Thor’s
new ax, could they regrow Groot?Does Rocket get Bucky’s arm
now that he’s faded away?1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910111213141516Captain America, Doctor Strange, and ShuriHAWKEYE: © MARVEL STUDIOS; CAPTAIN AMERICA, DOCTORSTRANGE, SHURI: CHUCK ZLOTNICK/© MARVEL STUDIOS 2018 (3)