‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Writers Explain Ending

Avengers: Infinity War has left fans with plenty of questions given its dramatic ending so the writers behind it are now opening up about their epic ensemble’s conclusion and how it makes room for Avengers 4.

Major spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War follow. Major spoilers!

The writing duo of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (who managed to snag a cameo in the film) always knew Thanos would come out of Avengers: Infinity War victorious. Although the film only has “Avengers” in its title, it was always intended to be a Thanos movie with the Mad Titan serving as the protagonist.

“This is the hero’s journey for Thanos,” McFeely told Buzzfeed. “By the end of the hero’s journey, our main character, our protagonist — at least, in this case — gets what he wants.”

Though Markus admits he and McFeely had “to be fairly calculating and cold” to create the ending, the reaction from fans has still caught them a bit off-guard. “It really seemed to be a gut punch to people in a way that I didn’t fully [realize],” Markus said.

“You know, I don’t tear up every time I read it,” Markus added. “But to see the characters fully rendered, and to see the actors’ faces processing that loss, it’s pretty profound.”

Heading into Avengers 4, which is yet to get a title, many fans suspect the dramatic erasing of characters like Black Panther, Spider-Man, Nick Fury, Scarlet Witch, Star-Lord, Drax, Mantis, and more to be undone — at least in part. The writers, however, promise there are serious stakes on the line. “[Avengers 4] doesn’t do what you think it does,” Markus said. “It is a different movie than you think it is…Also…[the deaths are] real. I just want to tell you it’s real, and the sooner you accept that, the sooner you will be able to move on to the next stage of grief.”

“Even if the end is a tragedy, we wanted it to be definitive,” Markus said. “To say, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s he going to do?! He’s only got one [Infinity Stone] left! I wonder if he’ll get the other one!’ That just seemed like ‘Tune in next week’ jerking around.”

“We had so many characters in movie 1, and we knew it was a two-movie conversation,” said McFeely. “Some characters were better served in movie 2 after this event. We were making some choices based on some characters we knew were going to leave us at the end of the first movie, so they got highlighted in the first movie. And some who were going to be in the second movie more maybe got less attention or less screentime [in Infinity War] — I’m thinking of Cap and Natasha, specifically. It’s about the story we wanted to tell in movie 2, mostly.”

With both Cap and Natasha still existing, the writers clearly have plans for them and others heading into 2019. With less heroes being in the mix, the original Avengers characters seem to be nabbing more time in the spotlight. Is that a relief, if it cost us most of the newer heroes? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War are now playing in theaters. Ant-Man and The Wasp is set for release on July 6, 2018. Captain Marvel will follow it on March 6, 2019, with the untitled Avengers 4 set to tie everything about the Marvel Cinematic Universe into a bow on May 3, 2019. Leave your Marvel questions and thoughts in the comment section below or send them to @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter!