Some very sinister men, women and otherworldly creatures have tried to take down Earth’s finest heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but so far none have been savvy enough to snuff out the Avengers. According to a CNET interview with the directors of Avengers: Infinity War, Anthony and Joseph Russo, that will change when Thanos comes onto the scene. Anthony Russo said the Mad Titan will stay one step ahead of the Avengers when he embarks on his galaxy-wide quest to steal the Infinity Stones:
“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.”
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Thanos’ quest to pilfer the Infinity Stones has been teased since the early days of the MCU, when the character first appeared in a mid-credits stinger at the end of The Avengers. At first, Thanos relied on his alliances with villains like Loki and Ronan the Accuser to collect the Infinity Stones, all of which failed, forcing the Dark Lord to personally join the fight. Movies like Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther set the stage for Thanos to take on the Avengers in 2018’s Infinity War.
The two-part Infinity War film is an adaptation of the Infinity Gauntlet Trilogy that saw Thanos first zipping across the galaxy, thieving Infinity Stones from various powerful, surreal figures before slotting them into the fabled Infinity Gauntlet and erasing half of the sentient life in the universe. Several of the universe’s most mighty heroes (and some of Marvel’s most conceptual beings) came together to right Thanos’ wrongs and deal with the fallout.
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Debuting in theaters on May 4, 2018, Avengers: Infinity War is a production of Marvel Studios directed by Anthony Russo and Joseph Russo and starring Robert Downey Jr., Josh Brolin, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Olsen, Sebastian Stan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders and Benedict Wong.