Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige pushed for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame to each have distinctive feels over splitting the same film into “part one” and “part two.”
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“He particularly had to work with a kind of bifurcated mind because he’s working on three movies that take place before it, two movies that take place in the middle and then the [final] two movies. So it was interesting to watch,” co-writer Christopher Markus told Backstory Magazine.
“He definitely fought for making the two [final] movies sort of freestanding stories. Obviously they’re connected, but he never wanted a part one and part two. He never wanted a cliffhanger. Some people call the end of Infinity War a cliffhanger, but it’s not. It comes to a definitive end. It’s just sad.”
That ending, where a satisfied Thanos (Josh Brolin) retires to his porch after fulfilling his mission to halve all life in the universe with the snap of his fingers, was the conclusion of what Feige, Markus, co-writer Stephen McFeely and directors Anthony and Joe Russo agreed was a hero’s arc for Thanos.
“Kevin pushed for a different feel, a different structural take for the second movie so it did feel like its own separate event,” Markus said.
Added McFeely, “Kevin’s the coach in a way. He lets the players really have to go win the game. He’ll encourage you and say, ‘No, you can do better. That snap should probably come at the end, don’t you think? Write yourself into a corner.’ But there’s not really a dictate other than to feel.”
When asked if other ideas were considered for the post-snap ending of Infinity War, McFeely said it was always going to end on the closing shot of a smiling and self-satisfied Thanos.
“No, the idea was to reinforce that this was a kind of reverse hero’s journey and we wanted to tag that it’s not a cliffhanger,” he said. “Everything ended, and in fact it ended really well for the guy who was driving the story [Thanos].”
“The hero won, and he got to retire to his shack — just like every cop who’s one week away from retirement [in a movie] and usually gets killed,” added Markus. “Thanos made it all the way. He got his little fishing post.”
When first announcing its past two Avengers in October 2014, Marvel Studios unveiled Avengers: Infinity War Part I and Avengers: Infinity War Part II. The Endgame subtitle wouldn’t be revealed publicly until December 2018.
Buy or Pre-order Avengers: Endgame:
- Buy it digitally on Amazon, Fandango Now, and Vudu (7/30)
- Pre-order on Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray at Walmart (8/13)
- Pre-order the Steelbook version at Best Buy (8/13)
