Avengers: Infinity War
is undoubtedly one of the biggest things that happened this year, the culmination of a decade of Marvel movies, and a movie that features a great cliffhanger that perfectly sets up the sequel. Avengers: Endgame will bring us some sort of closure, as we expect the remaining Avengers to regroup and take on Thanos in an effort to restore order and bring back the half of the universe that turned to dust in Infinity War, including all the fallen heroes.
Marvel, Disney, and everyone involved in the making of the film have been pretty secretive about the movie so far, and we don’t expect the plot of Endgame to leak ahead of its release in late April. But the Russo brothers who have directed a few MCU movies to date, including Infinity War and Endgame, have finally confirmed an exciting detail about the film. And, as expected with their Marvel films, they teased more heartache that lies ahead.
A few weeks ago, the Russos revealed that a rough cut for Endgame is somewhere near three hours long, and some speculated that the film’s run time would be reduced in the final cut so that theaters can schedule as many showings as possible. After all, Endgame is probably going to make as much money as Infinity War, if not more.
In a new interview with Empire Magazine, via ComicBookMovie, the Russos again said that the movie will indeed be three hours long. This time, however, they indicated that the theatrical release will be that long:
There’s a high probability that this movie will clock in at around three hours. It’s a big movie with a lot of story.
That’s great news for fans, since time flies by when you watch Marvel films. However, the directors were not keen on dropping any spoilers:
Whether we top Infinity War or not, I don’t know. 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. We’ve sat on the title, we’ve sat on the trailer. The last thing we want to do is give any clues to story structure or tone.
Anthony Russo did say that what Thanos did in Infinity War brought together the universe:
These are characters and a story moving forward where Infinity War happened. The entire universe experienced the same fate and has been brought together by this experience.
His brother Joe added that Thanos is now retired, having completed his mission… not that we believe him:
He’s succeeded in the thing he has set out to do. He’s done. He did it. He’s retired.
When asked whether viewers might need a tissue for possible heartache toward the ending of Endgame, Anthony said that he “will be bringing one.”
We do expect some of the heroes who are still alive right now to sacrifice themselves in order to undo the snap. And the Russos have always said in the past that they’re willing to push the envelope with their MCU creations and try new things that might shock the audience. Endgame will likely follow the same pattern.