avengers infinity war

There may never be a Hollywood talker like Robert Downey, Jr. Even in his fifties, the actor possesses a nervous energy and patter that makes him seem like the youngest man in the room, barraging his co-stars and audiences alike with a flurry of self-deprecating jokes and unbridled enthusiasm for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His success as Tony Stark is synonymous with the success of the Marvel movies as a whole; while it’s technically possible to picture an Avengers movie without Downey, Jr. in the mix, there’s no denying it would probably be a whole lot less fun.

When you’re in the business of making movies as large as those in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even the first few days of production are a pretty big deal for fans. This is doubly so when you’re launching Avengers: Infinity War, a superhero crossover event unlike anything audiences have ever seen before on film. So last night, when Marvel released a brand new production video complete with new cast interviews and some key concept art, people rightfully lost their minds. You think you’ve seen movie hype? You ain’t seen nothing yet.

We already know that Avengers: Infinity War will have the biggest MCU ensemble to date — just the title of the film implies something epic. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo have discussed the size of the cast a few times, and numerous interviews with Marvel stars and various reports have confirmed a handful of heroes for the studio’s next crossover event. And if you were paying attention to Josh Brolin’s recent Instagram activity, the actor, who reprises his role as Thanos in the upcoming film, may have just confirmed another co-star.

Maybe I’ve watched too many episodes of The Wire, but with Avengers: Infinity War serving up the most complicated collection of movie crossovers we’ve ever seen, I’m sorely tempted to get myself a bulletin board and a bunch of string. You know, connect the various characters and the roles they’ll be playing in the next movie, circle some of them with a red magic marker and draw question marks over the characters we’re not sure about. Honestly, these days, it seems like the most straight-forward way of keeping track of this mess.

Because Doctor Strange is in the MCU, and because the good Doctor himself will be showing up during the Infinity War two-parter, and because we need to get all those Infinity Stones out in the open before the movie hits or it’ll just be a mess of confusion right out the gate, Doctor Strange needed to introduce the Time Stone. But apparently, according to director Scott Derrickson, the Time Stone didn’t actually figure into the plot of the movie at all until very late in the drafting process.

It’s a little too early to see any actual trailers for Avengers: Infinity War, especially since today marks the first official day of production for Marvel’s next big crossover event. To celebrate, directing duo Joe and Anthony Russo have shared a sneak peek at a bunch of trailers — but, like, the other kind. As for those other trailers, it’ll probably be another 11 months before the first one arrives.

As is typically the case when a new actor joins the MCU, there’s been plenty of speculation about who Peter Dinklage might be playing in Avengers: Infinity War. But recent photos of the actor’s new hairdo, of all things, may help narrow those numerous possibilities down to just a couple — unless, of course, Joe and Anthony Russo have come up with something a little less expected.

We know that Josh Brolin is playing the extremely big bad Thanos for Avengers: Infinity War, and we’ve seen Thanos in some short scenes before, but it looks like he’ll be getting a lot more to do in the next superhero team-up movie than sitting in a very large chair. We even saw him walking around during some preliminary motion-capture tests! We also know that the heroes traditionally get some subtle costume upgrades movie to movie, so it’ll also be exciting to see if Thanos is getting a new-ish look too.

It’s a new year, which means it’s time to get hyped for the latest batch of Marvel superhero movies hitting the multiplex in the next few months. In 2017 we’re getting the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel, which will introduce us to, among others, Kurt Russell’s Ego the Living Planet, aka Star-Lord’s long-lost dad. You might know him best as a really really big glowing head in the comics, but in the movie he’ll also have a human form. Probably a little easier on the budget.

When we talk about blockbuster movies with enormous casts, we often spend our time talking about the directors or the screenwriters or even the stunt coordinators, all of those people who help give the movie its distinct look and feel. But today I raise my glass to the behind-the-scenes administrators who help put together the budgets and shooting schedules. It can’t exactly be easy to bring together two dozen of the world’s most popular actors for one giant superhero brawl, but that is exactly what a few hard-working managers in Los Angeles are currently trying to do for Avengers: Infinity War.