It seems like only yesterday thatMarvel Studioswas getting started with a hero that was, let’s face it, merely C-list at the time. After years of film and TV properties of varying degrees of quality, which saw Marvel’s heroes tied up in various licensing deals with different studios,Iron Mankicked off what would become known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now, a decade later, we’re finally ready forAvengers: Infinity War. And it’s going to be massive.
EvenIron Mandirector Jon Favreau publicly wondered how the grounded real world of Tony Stark could possibly co-exist with the mythological realm of Asgard, but by the time Thor, Captain America, and Hulk joined the MCU with their own standalone movies, Marvel’sThe Avengersbrought it all together and smashed box office records in the process. The mostly costume adverse MCU of Netflix has kept it real with keeping it all real, while the movies have gotten wonderfully wacky without devolving intoBatman and Robinlevel absurdity.
Think about it: we’ve now had two movies withRocket Racoon! BIG movies, at that. Uniting Cap, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Iron Man in theAvengerswas a feat so magnificent, there have been multiple attempts at replicating Marvel’s success with shared universes from DC toGhostbustersto Universal’s Monsters inDark Universe. So how does Marvel top itself? WithAvengers: Infinity War, the big payoff to the universe building we’ve eagerly watch develop since Nick Fury showed up to talk about the Avengers Initiative in the post-credits scene attached to the firstIron Man.
We’ve already seen Vision, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, Falcon, War Machine, and Spider-Man work in various degrees of cooperation with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes inAvengers Age of UltronandCaptain America Civil War. So who all will we see united together against Thanos, the biggest big bad of the Marvel Cinematic Universe thus far? Marvel Studios has kept details so tightly guarded that even the cast members reportedly haven’t been allowed to see the full scripts forInfinity WarandAvengers 4. Here, we’ll go over every single character we know to be confirmed inAvengers: Infinity War.
12Iron Man
Well, duh, of course we’ll have ole' Shellhead inInfinity War. He’s the guy who started it all and served as connective tissue inSpider-Man: Homecoming, which rebooted the friendly neighborhood webhead franchise with cinematic studio synergy. Much as Wolverine went from sideman to central player over the years thanks to the character’s massive popularity and charms, Iron Man has risen to the ranks of de facto first or second in command. It seems like every iteration of the character has been some sort of a riff on Robert Downey Jr.’s performance since 2008, whether it’s in cartoons or video games. Now with that being said, speculation has run wild as to just how long Downey will want to hang onto the role. If ever there were a time to kill, recast, and/or reboot Avengers senior staffers, it seems likeInfinity Warwould be the time to do it, with the storyline’s galactic stakes in play. Astute comic book readers will recall that James Rhodes once donned theIron Manarmor. War Machine will be inInfinity War, so that’s a definite movie possibility.
11Captain America
Speaking of which, Captain America seemed to have given up the mantle to some extent when he left his shield behind, broke his Civil War faction of the Avengers out of jail, and dropped off his ole' pal Bucky Barnes in Wakanda. This could certainly be a step toward Falcon or Winter Soldier taking over the Captain America persona, or Cap peacing out of the films altogether for a bit. But Chris Evans will definitely show up forInfinity War, rocking a sweet beard for at least some portion of the movie. Evans has expressed his desire to direct and explore other roles. Only time will tell just how many more times we’ll get to see Downey and Evans in these iconic roles.
10Winter Solider and Falcon
When last we saw Cap’s old war buddy turned brainwashed Hydra assassin, The Winter Soldier volunteered himself for cold storage in the Black Panther’s kingdom of Wakanda, until such time as all of that pesky programming can be debugged. We know from theInfinity Warfootage unveiled at Comic-Con that Bucky Barnes will spring back into action in some fashion, but it remains to be seen exactly how. We’ll definitely get to see Cap’s modern day BFF, the Falcon, soaring inInfinity War, too.
9Black Panther
Speaking of Wakanda,Black Pantherwill have his own standalone film in theaters in 2018 before the release ofAvengers: Infinity War, on the heels of his awe-inspiring debut inCivil War. It’s likely we’ll see at least one or two of T’Challa’s supporting players make their way intoInfinity War, as well, including the awesome Man-Ape.
8Thor, Loki and Valkrie
Speaking of supporting characters, enduring Thor hang-around Loki will be on hand to wrap up the story arc that began with his attempted takeover of Earth in the firstAvengers. We already know Thor will reluctantly accept his adopted brother back into his circle in November’sRagnarok, just as he did inThor: The Dark World. Newcomer Valkyrie should be along for theInfinity Warride too, along with Thor’s sparring partner and space-faring road trip buddy, the Hulk. Rights issues between Universal and Marvel seem to have any future Hulk standalone movie trapped in limbo, but we should get a pretty nice dose of the Green Goliath in other movies.
7Spider-Man
Speaking of standalone movies and rights issues and whatnot, the Marvel deal with Sony, who has long held the license to Spider-Man, allows for the incredibly well received Tom Holland to make another Marvel Studios appearance inInfinity War, this time, most likely sporting the new armor teased at the end ofHomecoming.
How great was it to see Spidey interacting withAnt-Man in Civil War? Paul Rudd will return as Scott Lang inInfinity Warbut sadly, he won’t have Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Pym along for the ride. Marvel is saving the Wasp’s origin story forAnt-Man and the Wasp, which will arrive in theaters two months after Infinity War. The WASP is, however, expected to join the fourth Avengers movie, due in May 2019.
5Vision and Scarlet Witch
Speaking of male/female superhero duos, expect to see both Scarlet Witch and Vision return, hopefully with a heavier dose of the romantic pairing beloved by longtime comic book fans and only hinted at in a few tenderCivil Warscenes.
4Doctor Strange and Wong
We aren’t saying we expect to see Stephen Strange dating Wong, but we do know that both of them will be inInfinity War. In fact, the post-credits scene attached toDoctor Strangethat paired Thor with the Sorcerer Supreme is said to be actual footage fromInfinity War, making the timeline a bit confusing but nevertheless whetting appetites to see just how exactly Doctor Strange fits into fighting Thanos.
3Hawkeye and Black Widow
Hawkeye and Black Widow have been BFFs forever and they’ll both be on-hand, with Scarlett Johnson sporting blonde locks in place of the Widow’s signature red. It seems like just yesterday when Hawkeye made his debut via a short cameo inThorand we first saw Natasha kicking ass as a SHIELD agent inIron Man 2. Now we know all about Clint Barton’s farmhouse and Black Widow’s scarily dark assassin training. What became of her relationship with Banner will hopefully be explored a bit duringInfinity War, though it’s already hard to imagine how the movie will juggle all of these storylines. We’re rooting for you, Anthony and Joe Russo! After all, you’ve made two of the absolute best MCU entries with bothCaptain America: Winter SoldierandCivil War.
