Anthony and Joe Russo are quickly becoming Marvel Studios' secret weapon. The duo was behind the extremely well-received "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," they're about to hit the movie-going public with "Captain American: Civil War," and then they are moving on to the main course, "Avengers: Infinity War Part I & II." That's a whole lot of superhero-ing.
Talking with Empire Magazine (via Comic Book Movie), Joe Russo revealed that "Civil War" will directly set the stage for "Infinity War."
"We wanted Winter Soldier, Civil War, and the Infinity War films to have a strong through line," he said. "We look at this movie as setting the stage for Infinity War, how it stars and what condition everybody is in."
It's not a huge surprise that "Captain America: Civil War" will have a significant impact on the story of "Infinity War." "Civil War" has long been tagged as Avengers 2.5 thanks to its collection of almost every Marvel Cinematic Universe hero, aside from Chris Hemsworth's Thor and maybe Mark Ruffalo's Hulk. In fact, "Civil War" may include as many as 67 characters, according to the Russos themselves.
But at the center of it all will be the conflict between Chris Evans' Steve Rogers and Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, as their friendship dissolves among the backdrop of ideological differences. This splintering of the team will have long lasting effects that likely will not be fully resolved by the time "Infinity War" shows up. And there's no telling how it will affect newcomers such as Martin Freeman's Everett Ross, Chadwick Boesman's Black Panther and Tom Holland's Spider-Man.
We'll get to see it all play out when "Captain America: Civil War" arrives on May 6. "Avengers: Infinity War - Part I" will hit theaters on May 4, 2018 and "Part II" will follow on May 3, 2019.
