The Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown by leaps and bounds ever since Iron Man kicked things off exactly eight years ago today, back in 2008. The studio now has a number of hit TV shows on both ABC and Netflix, which have featured minor crossovers into the MCU. But thus far, none of the movies have featured any of the characters from TV shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Netflix series like Daredevil. Some have speculated that, with the massive two-part adventure Avengers: Infinity War Part I and Avengers: Infinity War – Part II gearing up to start shooting later this year, some of the MCU TV characters will be joining the fight against the Mad Titan, Thanos. But that probably won’t be the case.
Avengers: Infinity War directors, Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, recently shed some light on the possibility of including Marvel TV characters in this two-part adventure, during an interview with Italian website Bad Taste. While the filmmaking brothers wouldn’t completely rule out any of the Marvel TV characters coming aboard in Infinity War, Joe Russo made it quite clear that they’re primarily focusing on the movie characters that have been established thus far, along with new characters that will be introduced as well. Here’s what the filmmaker had to say below.
“The Marvel Universe is sprawling – the Marvel Cinematic Universe is enormous. Just think of all the characters that haven’t been introduced yet that are going to be introduced by the time that we’re working on Infinity War. We have a tough task just telling the stories of the characters who exist [on the big screen] in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, let alone adding the entire Marvel Television universe. … Anything is possible in the Marvel Universe. It’s certainly something we’re considering. But our focus is on telling the stories of the characters that currently exist on the movie side.”
The directors made headlines in January when they claimed that Avengers: Infinity War will feature a whopping 67 characters. They later clarified that it won’t be exactly 67 characters, and many of those parts won’t be leading roles. But this two-part movie will mark the “culmination” of the entire MCU up until that point. Even if the character count doesn’t quite add up to 67 roles, it seems clear that Infinity War will be the biggest MCU adventure to date.
Production begins on Avengers: Infinity War at the end of this year, with Anthony Russo and Joe Russo directing both movies back-to-back, over a massive nine-month shoot. The filmmakers will be working from a script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige producing. We’ll be sure to keep you posted with more updates on Avengers: Infinity War as we get closer to production starting.