The Infinity Stones have served to give the Marvel Cinematic Universe an overall shape that will presumably come into focus with the two-part Avengers sequel that Joe and Anthony Russo are set to direct as their next outing for the studio.
In an interview with Uproxx (now part of the same publishing family as HitFix), The Russos revealed that they are now planning to retitle what had originally been called Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War Part 2, and that there”s a reason they will no longer be sharing the title.
“The movies are two very different movies,” according to Joe Russo. They told Mike Ryan that they are definitely going to give them different identities with the new titles. That”s a good move overall. I think the recent trend of splitting a sequel in half, starting with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, is wearing out its welcome with audiences. It feels like if you”ve got two movies worth of material, then make them two movies. Give them each a title. Give them each a conclusion. Even with these two films only set a year apart, that still seems like you”re selling the audience something incomplete. It definitely feels like there was an impact in the effectiveness of the final two Hunger Games films from handling them like that, and I suspect Marvel is being careful to make sure that audiences feel like they”e had a full experience by the end of each of these films.
One of the by-products of just how good Captain America: Civil War turned out is my new confidence that the Russos are the exact right guys to make sure that these two Avengers sequels don”t just feel like an overstuffed fan-service checklist. Along with the also-returning team of screenwriters Stephen McFeely & Christopher Markus, they did such a good job at balancing characters and story in this film that I feel like they are going to be the exact right guys to try to bring all these disparate story threads together. Thanos and the Infinity Stones have been seeded into the Marvel films in ways both graceful and graceless so far, and making all of it pay off is going to be incredibly difficult. It”ll be exciting to watch them try, though, and that cast of possible characters that could show up just keeps getting longer and more interesting.
Captain America: Civil War is in theaters Friday.