AVengers: infinity war
As the Marvel Cinematic Universe turns 10 years old, every hero so far is teaming up for Avengers: Infinity War, and the stakes have never been higher. Total Film meets Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, Star-Lord and more on set as they face the u
On set of the blockbuster event of the year, Iron Man, Black Panther, Star-Lord and more tell Total Film all about battling...
Pinewood Atlanta Studios, 2017. Total Film is on the top-secret set of Avengers: Infinity War, one of the few remaining instalments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Three, and the culmination of the 18 previous MCU movies to date. It’s the most ambitious team-up yet for a studio that pioneered the concept of assembling disparate heroes on screen in an ‘expanded universe’. At Chris ‘Star-Lord’ Pratt’s estimate, there are 22 superheroes uniting to face down the ultimate big bad.
What TF witnesses on Stage 9 is just a hint of the carnage that intergalactic villain Thanos (played by Josh Brolin, via motion-capture) will wreak when he comes to Earth to enact his grand plan. Fire. Twisted metal. Fallen trees. Soil and gravel everywhere. Crew members ensure that the fires are burning just where they need to be, as dozens of cast and stunt performers prepare to run purposefully out of a trench for a slow-motion shot.
Details are scarce as to what’s actually going on, but it’s fair to assume something big has occurred. Avengers rub shoulders with Guardians, as Wakandan warriors take up arms alongside characters who look like they’ve stepped through a portal from another realm entirely. Mark Ruffalo – in strategically spotted skin-tight pyjamas – has a mast attached to his head to indicate the Hulk’s eyeline and the scale of his CGI avatar. By any measure – creative, logistical, and presumably budgetary – this is the biggest Marvel movie yet. Hydraulic canisters hiss and bangs break out when action’s called and the cameras roll.
When we later catch up with the cast, snatching chats with handfuls of Avengers at a time, their bloodied and bruised faces attest to the trouble the superteam have found themselves in. But for now, the sheer scale of this diorama of destruction is jawslackening. “It’s truly like herding cats,” Captain America actor Chris Evans jokes to TF of the enormo-cast. “I look at the first AD, this poor guy. It’s just hard to get everybody focused.”
During a break in filming, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (of all three Captain America movies) explain how they solved the challenge of incorporating so many heroes into one film: making genocidal Titan warlord Thanos the main character. Having been teased since the mid-credits sting of 2012’s Avengers Assemble, Thanos is finally taking his place in the sun. (For more from the man himself, see page 70.) “The thing that separates it from other Avengers movies for me is that the antagonist is the main character,” says McFeely. “So in many ways, this is Thanos’s movie. It was the smartest way for us to accommodate all the characters and honour this [villain] that Marvel’s been teasing for so long.” When asked how high the stakes are, McFeely offers, “Is the universe high enough for you?”
The mad Titan has some highminded ideals about how the universe should be, and his plan involves wiping out about half of its inhabitants. In order to set his plan in motion, he needs six MacGuffins that have been seeded throughout the series so far: the Infinity Stones, which will slot into his golden gauntlet and give him godlike powers. “He wants six Infinity Stones,” explains Markus. “And once you get them you can do whatever you want.” It goes some way towards explaining why quite such an exhaustive roster of heroes is required to even begin to fight off such an omnipotent foe (and his “elite squad”, the Black Order). But, following the events of Civil War,
the divided superteam are at a low ebb. “I mean, the whole point of doing Civil War was that they enter this movie fractured and separated, and that will play a very integral part of the film,” explains Joe Russo, one half of directorduo the Russo brothers. In Infinity War, the core Avengers – Iron Man, Cap, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk et al – will be joined by Black Panther, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, the Guardians Of The frickin’ Galaxy and more.
ASSEMBLY LINE
So, after the head to head in Civil War, has the relationship between Iron Man and Cap improved at all? “I don’t know that it could have gotten any worse,” considers Evans when we catch him between takes, clad in his Cap suit, sans helmet and chest-piece, his face dirtied from the day’s action.
Robert Downey Jr. - the Iron Man star who was integral to kicking off the entire MCU 10 years ago – concurs. “I wouldn’t say he does [get on with Cap],” he explains, holding court with the laidback confidence of a talk-show host. “I’m saying that, because Thanos is the threat. I don’t think it can be underestimated. It’s not just what Josh Brolin is bringing to his portrayal of it, but there’s something about it where we’ve all agreed that this is the sum of all of our fears. It’s like gestalt therapy at this point.”
Currently dressed in a camo T-shirt and hoodie, the (fake) blood above RDJ’s eyebrow attests to a pretty physical form of therapy. “I think because the threat has risen to a new level – which is really saying something – that whether we want to band together or not, we won’t survive unless we do,” he continues. “So I think that’s a bit of a new thing. So it’s like, ‘Can these disparate heroes get along after all?’”
Chris Hemsworth – out of his Thor costume and wearing a dressing gown over a black T-shirt and jogging bottoms – attests to the scale of the threat. “I think that he’s the strongest thing we’ve ever faced, his force,” he says in his Aussie baritone. “And it brings out a whole other level in all of us, I think, and another stage or journey we need to embark on.”
Tom Holland strolls over to join Downey Jr. and Hemsworth. Munching on a banana to keep up his calorie intake, he’s clad in black mo-cap pyjamas (a requirement of his upgraded Spider-Man suit), with a puffa jacket to keep him warm in the empty neighbouring soundstage we’re now occupying, and he’s sporting a bloodied nose. Keen to avoid dropping spoilers (as he’s been known to do on social media), Holland’s staying tight-lipped about Peter Parker’s journey, although he does tease that “he matures a lot”, before Downey Jr. adds with a sly grin: “Things you wouldn’t expect are endured.”
Dishing out the cuts and bruises is Thanos, who’ll draw all the other characters into his orbit. Having a bad guy at the forefront will mark a real change of pace for the typically hero-heavy MCU, and means that Thanos needs the requisite depth to carry the film. “We were considering showing his backstory,” says Anthony Russo, “but ultimately felt it wasn’t necessary for the movie. However, the movie is told from his point of view. I think it’s a very interesting space for an audience to be in, because every villain thinks they’re the hero of their own story. We thought it’d be compelling to track a villain’s point of view through a movie.”
Anthony Russo goes on to call Brolin’s performance “stunning”, explaining that he brings “an intensity and a violence, but also at the same time, a charm and a sensitivity.