Ending of “Infinity War” Was Supposed to Begin “Avengers” 4

According to the screenwriters of Avengers: Infinity War and its upcoming sequel, the dramatic ending of the former was originally supposed to happen at the beginning of next year’s film. (Warning: spoilers to follow from here!)

At the end of the film, Thanos managed to acquire all of the Infinity Stones and, with a single snap of his fingers, instantly extinguishes half of all life in the universe. Among the dead are Spider-Man, Black Panther, Bucky and most of the Guardians of the Galaxy, while the other heroes (Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow and others) are left stunned, now forced to pick up the pieces in the next movie.

However, according to Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the writing team who worked on this movie and the untitled Avengers 4, Infinity War was originally just going to end with Thanos getting the Stones, with the fatal snap happening at the beginning of the next movie.

“What we realized is, it would feel more like a cliffhanger than we intended,” Markus explained, and that they didn’t want the next movie to start with “a continuation of exactly what you were watching before.”

This is an interesting way to put it. Obviously the fourth Avengers movie is going to deal with, and presumably undo the massive death toll of the previous movie―the characters we see die are all contracted for more films, after all―but the implication is that Marvel Studios wants these to feel distinct. In that regard, it is interesting that the movies were originally going to be billed as “Part 1” and “Part 2,” before instead being given different subtitles.

What exactly will happen remains to be seen; even the official synopsis that was recently leaked is frustratingly vague. Many believe that it will be some sort of time-travel story, which will allow Thanos’ massive death toll to be completely undone; presumably, the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp and/or Captain Marvel will help set this up, possibly with the Quantum Realm, before Avengers’ May 3, 2019 release.

Most fans will probably agree that the lethal snap belongs in Infinity War; after all, it’s better to go with a hugely dramatic ending than a beginning, when we can spend the next year writhing in agony and guessing what will happen.