Avengers 4 Title Change Explained: Why It's Not Infinity War

There’s a bit of a guessing game that goes into movie studios announcing things so far in advance. In Hollywood, even the best laid plans can go off the rails, but more often than not, things just change. Such has been the case with Avengers: Infinity War, which was initially announced back in October 2014 as Marvel Studios unveiled release dates for Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2. Marvel subsequently hired Captain America: Civil War directors Joe and Anthony Russo to handle directing duties on both films, with plans set to shoot both movies simultaneously so as to accommodate the schedules of the MCU’s massive and massively busy ensemble cast.

However, as Marvel approached the production start-date of Infinity War—which begins filming this December—the story of the saga had changed. As the filming date approached, screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely honed in on exactly what the scripts for both films would entail, and suddenly it became clear that the titles for these films simply didn’t fit anymore. Last month, Marvel announced that the titles for the films would be changing, with the first set as Avengers: Infinity War and the next film securing an “Untitled Avengers sequel” moniker.

captain-america-civil-war-chris-evans-joe-russo — Image via Marvel

Why, specifically, did the title change occur? And what can we expect from Avengers 4? The Russo brothers currently spoke with CinemaBlend, and Joe Russo gave a little insight into why the Avengers 4 title has changed:

“We wanted the movie to be very different and distinctive, you know. There’s certainly cross-pollination between characters and some story arcs, but you know, the first movie is very clearly Avengers: Infinity War and, in time, we will reveal what the second film is.”

When pressed when we might learn the title of Avengers 4, Anthony Russo noted, “You’ll learn that, but not for quite some time.” So it would appear that the title for Avengers 4 may be a spoiler of sorts, with the title quite possibly not being revealed until Infinity War hits theaters in 2018.

Both films are still on track to shoot at the same time, and I definitely don’t envy the challenge ahead for the Russo Brothers. By making these two very distinct films, one imagines it’s going to be touch to keep both visually and tonally different while shooting scenes from each movie day after day for a year.

avengers-age-of-ultron-team-shot — Image via Marvel Studios

What do we know about Avengers 3 and Avengers 4 so far? Well Marvel has previously teased that this will essentially be the culmination of everything in the MCU since Iron Man, with Josh Brolin’s Thanos likely to finally take the main stage and attempt to lay waste to all the MCU heroes. It’s also possible we’ll see the introduction of new heroes like Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel alongside all the returning MCU players.

It’s definitely going to be a crowded affair, but given the title change, it’s also possible the Infinity War will come to an end, or at the very least a significant turning point, by the end of that first feature, leaving that second film open to some really exciting possibilities.

For now, be patient. We’ve got a long wait ahead. For a refresher, here are all the upcoming MCU release dates announced thus far: