Marvel Cinematic universe will systematically expand to around 68 comic-book characters who are likely to appear in Avengers Infinity War. The superheroes will be literally jostling for screen time and space. The Russo Brothers had clarified that the final two movies in phase 3 are two independent movies without any major inter-linkages. The first one is from Team Avengers perspective while the second one is entirely based on Thanos storyline.
Although the cast is stacked up with superhero heavy-weights, the most important comic-book character present in the movie is Thanos. Till now, he has been teased in Marvel movies in post-credits of Phase 2, 3 films, but Infinity war will be the first major project where he is going to be the big villain hell-bent on total destruction.
But he can do that only if he takes possession of powerful Infinity stones that are scattered across the realm. Anthony Russo, the co-director of the movie described it as a heist movie where Thanos will spend time strategizing in order to steal Infinity stones. In an interview with CNET, Russo Brothers spoke about how they were inspired by heist movies for Avengers Infinity War. Here’s what they said:
“With “Infinity War,” the biggest new element to the movie is Thanos and the fact that he’s entering the storytelling in a very bold, strong way, to the degree that he’s almost one of the leads. We’ve shaped an interesting narrative around him that in some ways leans heavily on a heist film in the fact that he’s going after the infinity stones in a much bolder, successful way than he has in the past. The entire movie has that energy of the bad guy being one step ahead of the heroes. We looked at a lot of movies that had that heist-style energy to them, and that brought some inspiration”.
It will be very interesting to see the most powerful cosmic creature stealing stuff to pursue his sinister ends. It will inject a totally different energy into the MCU than any other Marvel movie. Everyone will be rooting against the mad Titan while he keeps on accumulating more power through Infinity stones. He will have more hands-on and direct approach as he can’t trust anybody as they failed to meet his expectations. He will bring big guns in the form of “Black Order” who are a team of ruthless mercenaries and their “Outriders” who are genetically engineered for a single purpose, find new worlds, invade and conquer it for Thanos. Although the movie will come out in 2018, Black Order made its animation debut in Avengers Assemble episode “New Frontiers” in 2015.
The actor Josh Brolin is excited as he is finally getting a shot at playing super-villain Thanos. He shared a picture on his Instagram account teasing his transformation into the most powerful cosmic being in the galaxy. He teased the massive powers of Infinity gems, each of them individually is powerful but collectively they can rewrite reality and destroy worlds.
At Disney’s D-23, the Black Order of Thanos (also known as Thanos Children) was revealed including Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian who was Black Dwarf. In a departure from comics, the members of Black Order were introduced as “children of Thanos”. On one hand, Thanos’ children Gamora and Nebula have rejected the overtures made by the father, the Black Order is firmly behind Thanos all the way.
They made their first appearance in 2013’s New Avengers #8 created by Hickman and Mike Deodato Jr. These cosmic creatures were brought together by Thanos to serve as leaders in an inter-galactic campaign for universal domination. They followed the orders of Thanos and destroyed many worlds for him until they found out that Infinity Stones are with “The Illuminati”, a secret society/group with members like Iron Man, Black Panther etc. created to keep the Infinity gems safe.
This group of ruthless aliens picked up by the Mad Titan from Black Quadrant will be sent to Earth to kill Thanos’ son Thane and then retrieve Infinity stones from Wakanda in a violent way. Ebony Maw found Thane in Greenland, but then his latent Inhuman abilities are activated which made him unwilling slaughter an entire village with his “death touch”. Later, he fought Thanos with the power of Phoenix force.
Here’s the official synopsis of the movie:
“As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment – the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain”.
The studio has been building the hype of Thanos over a series of films, so expectations of Marvel fans are very high, some even believe that the movie will not only break the record of highest box-office collections for a superhero movie but of any movie. And it’s heartening to see that things are falling into the right place.
It’s been 10 years and 18 movies since Iron Man (2008) came out, and now MCU is approaching at the culmination of everything that has happened till now, as Kevin Feige puts it. Marvel Studios has managed to assemble a magnificent cast under one roof to create a mega comic-book event as part of phase 3. The Infinity war films are the most awaited superhero ensemble movies of the 21st century. Fans are ready to witness the grandest event called Infinity War. Hopefully, we will see the trailer soon.
Avengers: Infinity War to arrive in theaters on May 4, 2018, Avengers 4 likely a year later on May 3, 2019. CHEERS!
Note: In Marvel “Thanos Quest” series, the Mad Titan’s journey to collect all the six infinity gems from the likes of In-Betweener, The Runner, The Gardener etc. has been chronicled and then something insane happened. Do check out this one before you see the movie.
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