‘Avengers: Endgame’ Directors Explain How Thanos and the MCU Have Changed

Many fans are curious to learn more about Avengers: Endgame and how it could possibly pick up the pieces left from Infinity War. And while the filmmakers have been very careful about where the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going next, they did offer some clues.

While speaking with Empire Magazine about the new movie, directors Joe and Anthony Russo explained how Thanos‘ actions have had an unintended effect of uniting the galaxy.

“These are characters and a story moving forward where Infinity War happened,” Anthony Russo said. “The entire universe experienced the same fate, and has been brought together by this experience.”

As far as the Mad Titan is concerned, there’s a reason that his farm from the end of Avengers: Infinity War has figured so prominently into that movie’s ending and the first trailer for Endgame.

“He’s succeeded in the thing he has set out to do,” Joe Russo said of Thanos’ current state in the MCU. “He’s done. He did it. He’s retired.”

The directors revealed some other details about the film, teasing that it could be a lot longer than the 2-hour-29-minute runtime of Avengers: Infinity War.

“There’s a high probability that this movie will clock in at around three hours,” Joe Russo said. “It’s a big movie with a lot of story.”

When asked if fans should bring tissues to brace themselves for emotional moments or possible character deaths, Anthony Russo attempted to deflect.

“I will be bringing one,” Anthony said with a laugh.

Addressing fan expectations to top the billion-dollar phenomenon of Avengers: Infinity War, the directors stressed they were tempering their expectations but did plan on putting their all into Endgame.

“Whether we top Infinity War or not, I don’t know,” he added. “But we try to tell the best story we can with these characters. This is bringing to a close the first decade of stories. I think that alone has a dramatic power to it.”

These comments echo their previous interview with Business Insider, where they explained that this movie is the story they always wanted to tell and that they weren’t bowing down to fan expectations.

“When Joe and I got hired to direct [Captain America:] Winter Soldier, that movie was many multiples larger than anything we’d ever done before as filmmakers,” Anthony said. “But the way we work as filmmakers is we have to satisfy ourselves first and foremost. If we’re making a movie that excites us, that’s the best we can do. We can’t predict if people are going to like it, we just know whether we like it. That’s how we’ve made every one of our Marvel movies and it’s how we’re making this one. For all of the anticipation and anxiety about it, nothing serves Joe and I better than staying focused on the story we’re trying to tell and telling it the best way we can.”

Avengers: Endgame premieres in theaters on April 26, 2019.