Avengers: Infinity War has been out for weeks now so those involved with the movie are finally able to talk spoilers! In a recent interview, screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have addressed a number of topics, including apparent plot holes, surprise cameos, ways the movie could have been different, and much more (including what could be on the way in next year's Avengers 4).
Needless to say, this makes for fascinating viewing and we've also included the video for you so you can check out this in-depth Q&A for yourselves. It's well worth watching so try to find the time if you can!
In the meantime, to find out the answers to twenty burning Avengers: Infinity War questions which have now been answered by Markus and McFeely, all you guys need to do is click on the "View List" button below to check them out. Once you're done, share your thoughts in the comments section.
When Did Thanos Get The Infinity Gauntlet?
That Avengers: Age of Ultron after-credits scene featuring Thanos and an Infinity Gauntlet confused the already hard to follow timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so when did the villain lay waste to Nidavellir and how did no one hear about it? "I think the Gauntlet was made when Loki was pretending to be Odin," they explain. "Presumably, Eitri was running a relatively regular business and people would have gone there and said something. So, it hasn’t been that long."
So, that places his attack on the dwarves and Age of Ultron's after-credits scene during Ragnarok.
Why Didn't Avengers: Infinity War Include The Netflix Heroes?
Fans were understandably disappointed about the likes of Daredevil and Luke Cage not showing up to help out in Avengers: Infinity War, so what's the deal with that? "I don't know anything about animosity [between Marvel Studios and Marvel Television]," the writers confirmed. "In a movie this big, we certainly had the conversation, 'Should we put Luke Cage in this? Here we are in New York...' That kind of stuff. As you could probably tell, it would be just a glorified cameo at this point."
It was because of that and the fact many moviegoers wouldn't necessarily be familiar with the characters that they didn't make the cut, not to mention the fact that killing some of them off with that snap would have had a huge impact on the seasons which are currently in the works at Netflix.
Was It Always The Plan To Bring The Red Skull Back?
The writers have been involved with Captain America from the very start and after the Red Skull was teleported away at the end of The First Avenger, fan theories about that leading to his return have never gone away. Well, the duo has now confirmed that not only was the Tesseract going to be used to somehow bring him back but Marvel initially referred to it as the Cosmic Cube behind the scenes.
"Obviously, we started with him, 10 years ago," the writers said, referring to the Red Skull. "And he had the Cosmic Cube, which was then referred to sometimes as the Cosmic Cube, and we didn’t know it was one of the Infinity Stones." It became one once Joss Whedon boarded The Avengers.
Was Captain Marvel Always Going To Be The Focus Of The After-Credits Scene?
Confirming they thought about scrapping an after-credits scene to avoid providing fans with the hope that Earth's Mightiest Heroes would ultimately be able to save the day, the writers denied that negative test screening reactions are what resulted in an additional scene being added to get fans excited after they just witnessed seeing all of their favourite characters being killed off in front of them.
"It's hinting at a whole path of story that isn't in the movie so it seemed legit," they said, revealing that Captain Marvel being a period piece played a big role in deciding to use her this way because they could hint at her relationship with Nick Fury without undoing any of Infinity War's story decisions.
How Much Of A Toll Has The Snap Taken On Thanos?
If you looked closely at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, both the Infinity Gauntlet and Thanos' arm had been left damaged by unleashing the power of the Infinity Stones. So, has that left the Mad Titan with some permanent scars? "That’s an immense amount of energy," the writers explain. "There’s a reason why other people haven’t done this. Because I think it’ll kill you. So the strongest guy in the universe has to be the one to do it. And I don’t think he’ll be doing much with that arm."
That's going to make the villain slightly less formidable when he returns but even a one-armed Thanos is bound to be a force to be reckoned with so Earth's Mightiest Heroes still have a fight in store.
Why Did It Take Longer For Some Heroes To Die Than Others?
As you may recall, when Thanos snaps his fingers in Infinity Gauntlet, his victims just vanish suddenly. On the big screen, many of them took their time dying and they didn't all go at once either.
Asked to explain why things played out like that, the writers again pointed to it being for dramatic effect. "In the comics, everyone is gone and there's some dramatic fun to that. You lose the emotional thing of people seeing other people perish." They add: "You don't cry because these characters are blipping out. You cry because the reaction the other characters are having."
Would Taking The Infinity Gauntlet From Thanos Made A Huge Difference?
Well, he wouldn't have been able to wipe out half of the universe with one snap, that's for sure! However, the writers were quick to point out that even without it, Thanos would be hard to stop.
"Thanos trashed half of the universe without the Stones. I mean, he went from planet to planet slaughtering people. He's unbelievably powerful without the Stones. I think they would've been very disappointed to get the glove off of him and find he was still beating the daylights out of them."
How Did They Handle Shooting Captain Marvel's Scenes Before Her Solo Movie?
"Brie was going to have to shoot her scenes before she shot Captain Marvel," they confirm, making it clear that the actress took on the role in an Avengers movie long before work started on that solo outing (similar to what happened with Black Panther and Spider-Man). "We can't really talk about what we decided but it was clearly a conversation we had to have with Ryan and Anna. We're trying to set up something that's going to work for our movie without screwing up their movie."
Will Avengers 4 Involve Time Travel?
There's been a lot of speculation surrounding Avengers 4 and the possibility of time travel but the writers refused to comment on that, something which is bound to further fuel all that speculation.
Where Was The Hulk At The Start Of The Movie?
The Hulk's arrival to do battle with Thanos is perfectly timed but where was he before Loki said, "We have a Hulk." Apparently, it was both for dramatic effect and a plan of sorts to take the Mad Titan by surprise. "We wanted to announce Thanos as the biggest villain in the MCU so he takes out the previous reigning champion," they explain. "By defeating Hulk relatively savagely and easily, hopefully there's a sense of dread for the rest of the movie for anyone who comes up against him."
Was It Always The Plan To Kill That Many Characters?
"Um, no it was more the reverse that some people in earlier drafts made it to the next movie and we decided that we didn't have enough story for them and so they...disappeared," the writers confirmed, making it clear that some of those deaths had to happen in order to leave room for other characters to be given the spotlight as we move into the still untitled Avengers 4 next May.
Is Star-Lord Really To Blame For All Those Deaths?
"I do love this debate I've seen online of 'It's Star-Lord's fault! It's Doctor Strange's fault! It's Thor's fault!'" the writers laughed. "Everyone has a part to play in their failure. If Steve and Tony could've just gotten together everybody would've been... If Civil War hadn't have happened the Avengers would've been united. There's plenty of blame to go around and maybe there's nothing they could've done about it." So, there you have it...stop trolling Chris Pratt on social media!
Is The Stormbreaker More Powerful Than The Infinity Gauntlet?
In Avengers: Infinity War, Thor's Strombreaker was able to bust through the energy being emitted by the Infinity Gauntlet so the God of Thunder could plunge his new axe through Thanos' chest.
Does that mean it's the more powerful weapon? "I imagine it has something to do with the fact that the same guy made both of them. It’s dwarfen magic," the writers said when asked how they measure up. "Eitri can make what he likes for whom he likes." So, it appears as if these weapons are on pretty equal ground when it comes to how powerful they are which does make sense.
Was Hawkeye Ever Going To Have A Role In The Movie?
The only mention of Hawkeye in Avengers: Infinity War came when Steve and Natasha pointed out that he was forced to make a deal with the government after being on the run put too much of a toll on his family. However, was he ever slated to appear in an earlier draft of the movie's screenplay?
"We've said this before: the idea that some characters have great stories in the second movie," the writers point out, making it clear that the hero's time will still come. "And we also gave ourselves permission to use both movies to tell complete arcs for the characters. And that might mean that somebody like Cap or Natasha you might feel like, 'Oh, they didn't have as much to do as say Thor or Doctor Strange, and that surprises me.' It's likely because they have a lot to do in the next one."
Why Did Thor's Powers Seemingly Fluctuate Through The Movie?
Throughout Avengers: Infinity War, Thor's powers seemed to vary greatly despite his last solo movie making it clear he doesn't actually need a weapon to unleash his powers. Asked why those seemingly fluctuated throughout the course of this adventure, the writers offered a convincing explanation.
"I think he's very durable. Like I think, literally, his flesh is very hard to break. That's why he can survive in space, that's why he can take that thing in the star. But you can still drain him of energy, you can still knock him out, you can still hurt him. So I think it would be very hard to wreck his body, but I think, you know, he has stamina and his stamina goes up and his stamina goes down depending on what he's been through." That definitely adds up and stops Thor from becoming too powerful.
Where Was Sharon Carter During Infinity War?
Despite Captain America: Civil War making it clear that romance was blossoming between Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter, she was nowhere to be seen in Avengers: Infinity War and the writers confirm that while she was in some earlier versions of the movie, they ultimately couldn't make it work.
"Sharon Carter was a victim of what we came to realize as we were writing it which is that if you're writing scenes that set up people before the story has gotten to them such as Steve and Sharon trying to make it work in an apartment, they're gonna go because the movie does not have time to catch up 'previously on the life of Steve Rogers.' Once it became sort of a smash and grab type movie anything that wasn't in response to Thanos collecting stones mostly got jettisoned."
Was Brie Larson Ever Going To Appear In The After-Credits Scene?
Avengers: Infinity War's after-credits scene only showed Captain Marvel's logo but was there ever a plan for Larson to make a physical appearance in this movie? "We want Marvel to be introduced in her own movie," the writers confirm, making it clear that we'll spend time with her in next March's solo outing before she then returns to Earth and takes centre stage in May's Avengers 4.
Could The Vision Return?
When it was put to the writers that The Vision could still be within the Time Stone due to Shuri not finishing the surgery (I think it's more likely some of his consciousness remains within the shell of his body), the writers replied: "I don't know [Laughs]. Pass!" That's the sort of answer which leaves us wondering about what they could have in store for the character moving forward, right?
Was The Final Shot Always Going To Revolve Around Thanos?
Apparently, the writers did talk about whether or not this should be the tag or final shot but decided that Thanos' importance to the story meant that it would make sense for it to be how the film ends.
"There's that famous frame from the comics where he's sitting there, in his robe and he's done and he's happy. It's so peaceful and you don't get peaceful frames in comics. We all pointed at it and said, 'That's where we're going.'" It's fair to say that it was an effective way to wrap the villain's story up.
How Old Is Thanos?
"Good question, I think he's really old but I don't know if I have a hard date for you," the writers said in regards to how old the Mad Titan is. "It didn't really matter to us," they then confirmed making it clear that this isn't something which will have an impact on the villain's story arc moving forward.