Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War is the third Avengers film and the nineteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that put the Avengers teaming up with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange and Spider-Man to save the world against Thanos. It will be part of Phase 3.

Plot
An unprecedented cinematic journey ten years in the making and spanning the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” brings to the screen the ultimate, deadliest showdown of all time. The Avengers and their Super Hero allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

Cast

 * Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
 * Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
 * Josh Brolin as Thanos
 * Chris Hemsworth as Thor Odinson
 * Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk
 * Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
 * Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye
 * Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange
 * Paul Bettany as The Vision
 * Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
 * Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/White Wolf
 * Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon
 * Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord
 * Vin Diesel as Groot
 * Zoe Saldana as Gamora
 * Bradley Cooper as Rocket
 * Dave Bautista as Drax
 * Pom Klementieff as Mantis
 * Karen Gillan as Nebula
 * Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man
 * Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne/The Wasp
 * Michael Douglas as Hank Pym
 * Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man
 * Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa/Black Panther
 * Don Cheadle as James Rhodes/War Machine
 * To-be-confirmed actor as Corvus Glaive
 * To-be-confirmed actress as Proxima Midnight
 * Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Ebony Maw
 * Terry Notary as Cull Obsidian
 * Tom Hiddleston as Loki Laufeyson
 * Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
 * Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill
 * Benedict Wong as Wong
 * Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
 * Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie
 * Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton
 * Danai Gurira as Okoye
 * Letitia Wright as Shuri
 * Angela Bassett as Ramonda
 * Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan

Continuity and references to the Marvel Cinematic Universe

 * Tony Stark/Iron Man appears.
 * Bruce Banner/Hulk appears.
 * Steve Rogers/Captain America appears.
 * Thor Odinson appears.
 * Clint Barton/Hawkeye appears.
 * Peter Parker/Spider-Man appears.
 * Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange appears.
 * The Vision appears.
 * Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch appears.
 * Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier appears.
 * Peter Quill/Star-Lord appears.
 * Groot appears.
 * Thanos appears.
 * Loki Laufeyson appears.
 * Maria Hill appears.
 * Nick Fury appears.
 * Wong appears.
 * The cellphone that Steve gives Tony in Captain America: Civil War appears.
 * Iron Spider suit appears.
 * The Hulkbuster armor appears.

Taglines

 * An entire universe. Once and for all.

Production
Since their early films, Marvel Studios has been planting the seeds for Infinity War by introducing the Infinity Stones, immensely powerful objects that if held together can grant its holder near omnipotence, as mcguffins: the Tesseract / Space Stone in Captain America: The First Avenger, Loki's Scepter in The Avengers, the Aether in Thor: The Dark World, and The Orb / Power Stone in Guardians of the Galaxy. Additionally, the Infinity Gauntlet, the glove designed to house the stones, is briefly seen in Thor. Thanos, the villain who in the comics covets the stones, was initially believed by many fans to be the antagonist of the second Avengers film after making a brief appearance in the first. However, Joss Whedon, the writer and director of the first two films, explained that "Thanos is more powerful. He is so powerful, he is not someone you can just try to out punch. Like in the comics, you want him to be threading through the universe and to save the big finale for the big finale."

In June 2013, Robert Downey, Jr., who played Tony Stark / Iron Man, signed on to Avengers: Age of Ultron, as well as a third Avengers film. The following May, Josh Brolin, signed a multi-film deal including both parts of Infinity War to play Thanos.

In September 2014, Jeremy Renner confirmed he was contracted for The Avengers 3. In October 2014, Marvel announced a two-part sequel to Age of Ultron, titled Avengers: Infinity War is scheduled to be released on May 4, 2018, with Part 2 scheduled for May 3, 2019. Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 are scheduled to being filming back to back in 2016. Following the November 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures' computers, it was revealed that Anthony and Joe Russo, directors of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War, would direct both Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Part 2.

In March 2015, Joe and Anthony Russo were confirmed as directors of the film and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are expected to pen the screenplay. In April 2015, Markus and McFeely were confirmed to write the screenplay. Also in the month, Feige said the films would be two, distinct films: "because they [have] such shared elements, it felt appropriate... to [subtitle the films] like that. But I wouldn’t call it one story that's cut in half. I would say it's going to be two distinct movies." While promoting Age of Ultron Chris Hemsworth revealed that he and Chris Evans both had three films left on their contracts, which consisted of both parts of Infinity War as well as the third films of their respective franchises. Filming on both films will be for 9 months.

In June 2015, it was revealed that casting was now underway in Los Angeles.

In February 2016, Stellan Skarsgård stated he may appear in Infinity War and confirmed he won't be appearing in Thor: Ragnarok.

In April 2016, Joe and Anthony Russo confirmed that Chris Hemsworth's Thor will be in the film and teased the involvement of Chris Pratt's Peter Quill/Star-Lord while Samuel L. Jackson stated he believes he'll reprise his role as Nick Fury in both parts of Infinity War. Later in the month, Jon Favreau revealed that he will executive produce the film and Joe Russo confirmed that Elizabeth Olsen will return as Scarlet Witch.

In May 2016, Joe Russo revealed that Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War, Part 2 will be retitled.

In July 2016, it was confirmed that Part II would no longer be called Infinity War and Part I would take the title of Avengers: Infinity War only with Chris Pratt confirmed to appear in the film as Peter Quill/Star-Lord.

In August 2016, it was confirmed that Sebastian Stan will reprise his role as James Barnes/Winter Soldier in the film. Also in August, Vin Diesel confirmed that the Guardians of the Galaxy will appear in the film.

In September 2016, Benedict Cumberbatch confirmed he will reprise his role as Doctor Strange as well as confirming that Paul Bettany will appear as The Vision.

It will film under the working title "Mary Lou".

Filming
The film is scheduled to begin shooting back-to-back for 9 months with Avengers 4 in 2016. Principal Photography is slated to begin in January 2017.

Trivia

 * Split into two films, it will loosely adapt the Infinity War, The Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity and some aspects of The Thanos Quest storyline from the comics, concluding with Avengers 4 in 2019.