How Captain America: Civil War Sets Up Avengers: Infinity War, According To The Directors

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is all about continuity. From Iron Man to The Avengers and beyond, the entire superhero franchise has relied on narrative consistency to thread each individual film together. Such a task can be daunting for directors as the MCU spans across ten films and countless cast members. However, it looks like the Russo Brothers are taking the challenge in stride. Having recently directed Captain America: Civil War, the two are prepping to undertake their biggest project yet with Avengers: Infinity War. So, really, it's a good thing then that the brothers made sure Civil War set the scene of Infinity War's arrival.

Speaking with IGN, the Russo Brothers discussed how Civil War helped ease their workload for Infinity Wars. From character arcs to political shifts, Civil War laid the footwork for what's to come in Infinity War. It's almost impossible to point out all the clips in Civil War which help set the scene for Infinity War, but the directors did they intend to treat their characters like they always have. Anthony told the site, "We love ensembles. That's part of what we love about our Marvel work as well, so the fact that we get to carry that process forward into Avengers: Infinity War, and not only carry it forward but at a scale and a scope that we've never even attempted before in those films, because those films are so much intended to be a culmination of everything that's unfolded in the MCU up until this point."

And, while Infinity War has yet to reveal its cast, the Russo Brothers did indicate they'd learned a lot about folding in new characters with returning heroes. After all, fan-favorites like Black Panther and Spider-Man debuted in Civil War, and other characters like Captain Marvel are rumored to appear in Infinity War.

Speaking about balancing characters, Anthony said adding new heroes "created an opportunity for characters who didn't have to shoulder that narrative to show up in the movie and be much more whimsical and light and spontaneous and unencumbered by the weightiness of the overall narrative." However, that same feeling may be harder to replicate in Infinity War. If the ensemble cast is set to showdown against The Mad Titan, feeling whimsical might be out of the question - even for someone like Carol Danvers.

And, in terms of continuity, the directors feel confident they can navigate Infinity War's massive scale since they've already laid groundwork for the film. "From the point of view of Joe and I, we think about all of these movies as a continuity. The story that we told in Winter Soldier set the basis for the story we told in Civil War, and the story that we told in Civil War is again laying the groundwork for the story that we're going to tell in Avengers: Infinity War," Anthony said. "For us, there's a narrative continuity between the movies, and each movie is in many ways setting the stage for the ones that follow. For us, we have a very specific through-line for all those films."

Clearly, Avengers: Infinity War will be unlike any other film the Russo Brothers had directed before. Civil War simply can't hold up to Infinity War's sheer size, but the duo believe all of the MCU's previous works have paved a road which will bring the franchise to Thanos. So, now, fans can only wait until Infinity War releases in 2018 to see how the Russo Brothers connect it into the MCU's preexisting titles.