The release of Captain America: Civil War is only weeks away, but with the pacing of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s only appropriate to continue to have our eyes on what’s coming next. The directors of Civil War will be returning in May of 2018 with Infinity War Part I, followed a year later with Infinity War Part II, and they are definitely thinking about what is to come in those flicks.

io9 provided some insight from the Russo Brothers (who will direct both Infinity War movies) on what’s to come in the two films. The first thing that was stressed is that while the movies will be “Part One” and “Part Two,” they will have differences.

“The movies are very very different from one another,” said Anthony Russo. “It’s not a part one and part two scenario, necessarily. They’re just two different expressions. I think it creates a misconception that we’re shooting them at the same time.”

Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely went on to confirm Anthony’s comments that we should expect the films to be two different films, even though they’re essentially two parts of one overall story.

“I will agree [the two movies are very different], and that was very important to all of us,” McFeely said.

Leading up to Avengers: Infinity War, just how long has the MCU been preparing for this story? According to the Russo brothers? For them it kicked off with 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

“For us there’s a through line from Winter Soldier, through Civil War, right to Infinity War,” said Anthony Russo. “In our mind, the storytelling arc moves that way.”

“There’s an overarching story that’s going to be told through all four films,” added Joe Russo. “And I think having the amount of characters we have in [Civil War] certainly prepares us to deal with probably triple the amount of characters in Infinity War.”

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige added that we have already seen some of the build-up, and that more is to come in all of the Marvel properties.

“Much of the groundwork has already been laid,” he said. “That’s the truth. Doctor Strange will lay some more. Thor: Ragnarok will lay some more—but I think the majority of it is already there.”

Markus and McFeely, who are currently at work writing Infinity War, added that the planning has been extensive and that they have a major task in pulling everything together.

“We’re on set for Civil War and then as soon as they start shooting we don’t have much to do for the next six hours,” McFeely said. “We’d go to the office, read comic books, write down ideas, put everything on the wall and just go ‘These are all the characters we could have.’”

“We sent in literally 60 pages of unrelated ideas,” Markus added. “Just like ‘Here’s some stuff that could happen in this insane movie.’ Then we came back from Atlanta and everyone had a copy of that [document] and they’d circle this, ‘This is cool, this is insane, this is cool, we’re not allowed to do that,’ and from there we’ve pieced it together very slowly. We’re in the middle of it now.”

The article goes on to say that the Infinity War team is in constant communication with the rest of the Marvel Studios teams.

Again, no one would talk about any specifics in the movie—but both the writers and directors said they’ve been talking to the directors and writers of the other Phase 3 movies on an almost weekly basis, to make sure everything lines up right. And both pairs used the word “culmination” when referring to the films. Does that suggest the Marvel Cinematic Universe could be over in 2020? Not at all.

As to what’s to come after Infinity War? Feige wouldn’t say too much, only stating that they’re only focusing on the films leading up to 2019 right now, and that we can probably expect Guardians 3 to be one of the 2020 films.

“We’re only working on what’s been announced through the end of 2019,” said Feige. “And it is still a big chess board for 2020 and beyond, but certainly I would say Guardians 3 is [one film that’s] up there. I don’t know what exactly the order will be.”

With all of these films coming together in one masterpiece, what do you hope to see?

Source: io9