Early 'Avengers: Infinity War' Draft Was Non-Linear, Had Thanos Narrating

Thanks to an epic Q&A with Joe and Anthony Russo, the directors of Avengers: Infinity War, we've learned tons of new information about the making of the film. Some of the most interesting facts about the filmmaking process involve the early draft, which was 250 pages. According to the directors, this version of the film would have made the final product vastly different...

During the interview, which was moderated and presented by Collider, the directors were asked about the writing process and how different the film was originally. "Radically different," answered Joe Russo. Joe took the lead on this question, explaining that one draft had the movie's villain, Thanos, narrating the film, which was originally "nonlinear in structure."

While they obviously didn't keep the narration, Russo explained that "writing out Thanos' narration gave us insight into who he was as a character and what we wanted him to do in this film." Despite not keeping everything from the hefty draft, they did use it as a "Bible for the movie."

"You gain a lot of information, you write characters out in a way that you start to understand what it is they want," he explained.

They also realized the original nonlinear idea was a little to complicated, and that they needed to "simplify the structure."

"I think that's really what led us from that 250 page draft to what the movie is now," explained Russo, "simplifying the plot, keeping it linear, and letting the character moments come through."

It also occurred to the directors that Infinity War was basically a "heist movie." Since the movie features "multiple MacGuffins" and many characters trying to stop Thanos from obtaining them, the linear route was a better way to let those character moments shine. (In case you're unfamiliar, a MacGuffin is defined as "an object or device in a movie or a book that serves merely as a trigger for the plot.")

Russo went on to mention 2 Days in the Valley (directed by John Herzfeld) and Out of Sight (directed by Steven Soderbergh) as examples of heist films that created inspiration for their final product.

Avengers: Infinity War was the third Marvel film directed by the Russos, who previously helmed Captain America: The Winter Solider and Captain America: Civil War. The dynamic sibling team will also be directing the highly-anticipated Avengers 4.

Avengers 4 will finally hit theatres on May 3, 2019.