With a mere six months to go before it’s official release, the first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War premiered Wednesday morning on Good Morning America. The film is set to be released on May 4th, leaving fans plenty of time to dissect the trailer, search for Easter eggs and run buck wild with speculation about what’s in store for not just the Avengers, but Spider-Man, Ant Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther and Doctor Strange.
Prior to this first official trailer’s release there was a teaser released on Tuesday and snippets of footage was shown to an audience at San Diego Comic Con earlier this year. Tuesday’s teaser featured fans losing their minds in anticipation of catching the first real glimpse at the third installment in the Avengers’ series.
The series fourth movie, currently titled Avengers 4, will be released in 2019. It was filmed at the same time that Avengers: Infinity War was in an attempt to make things at least a little easier for directors Joe Russo and Anthony Russo.
While officially titled Avengers: Infinity War, the movie could have just as easily been called Marvel: The Gangs All Here because characters from all 17 films released by Marvel Studios since the first Iron Man was released in 2008 are featured in this third Avengers‘ movie. As a result, the cast list for Avengers: Infinity War is practically an embarrassment of riches.
From the Avengers‘ movies there’s Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie. Then there’s Paul Rudd (Ant Man,) Tom Holland (Spider-Man,) Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther,) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch.) Spider-Man and Black Panther made their debut in Captain America: Civil War, while Ant Man and Doctor Strange debuted in their own stand-alone movies.
Also appearing are the Guardians of the Galaxy: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff. Peter Dinklage takes a break from Game of Thrones to appear in the movie, while Josh Brolin plays the film’s villain, Thanos. Thanos has been a presence in both Guardians of the Galaxy movies and Brolin’s turn as the new Marvel big bad has been highly anticipated among fans and Marvel loyalists.
GettyMarvel Studios chief Kevin Feige and actors Robert Downey Jr. and Josh Brolin at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con.
Vanity Fair recently featured a lengthy exploration and deep dive into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel Studio’s head Kevin Feige’s grand vision and while the entire piece is definitely worth reading, the main takeaway is that following Avengers 4, fans should expect some changes, mainly Marvel moving on from this initial run’s key players such as Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the Hulk. In the piece, Feige says that the final two Avengers’ movies “bring things you’ve never seen in superhero films: a finale. … There will be two distinct periods. Everything before ‘Avengers 4’ and everything after. I know it will not be in ways people are expecting.”
Part of that second period kicks off in early 2018 with the release of the first stand-alone Black Panther movie. There will also be a Captain Marvel movie starring Brie Larson that is set to be released in 2019, as well as sequels to Ant Man and Spider-Man: Homecoming.
But in the meantime, it’s all about Avengers: Infinity War.