The team behind ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ explain how they picked who would survive

You’ve seen Avengers: Infinity War by now so there’s no need for a spoiler warning: loads of people die at the end including Spider-Man, yes Spider-Man dies. HE DIES.

But how did the team behind the film decide which of the best Avenger characters to kill at the end when the big wrinkly grape called Thanos snapped his fingers and destroyed half the universe?

Well, directors Anthony and Joe Russo, executive producer Trinh Tran and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely explain their thought-process on the special features of the DVD release. Anthony Russo said:

“In terms of our choices of who Thanos would end up eradicating with his snap, it was very story focused.

“How do we pay off each individual character story most profoundly? The first person to go is Bucky Barnes and it’s shot from Captain America’s perspective. We’re watching Cap go through the experience of watching him go away. We’re watching Okoye, whose number one mission it is in life is to protect the king. She watches the king go, in front of her.

“To see those characters react in those situations is very powerful and resonant.”

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Joe Russo added:

“The audience is so good at predicting stories that even just the smallest clue can tell them where the film is gonna go. So, we worked really hard to make sure none of the secrets of the film leaked.

“It’s about as massive a production as you can mount. About 6,000 crew members working on the film from around the world.”

Something they didn’t touch on, however, was something that you may have noticed - it’s the original Avengers that survived, ain’t it? Well, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige told io9 earlier this year:

“I think for a film series that is going on 10 years and is gearing towards a conclusion with Avengers 4, which you don’t usually have in these kind of movies, you can sort of do the math.

“And realise it’s the original Avengers that are left.”

So that’s how, basically. Trying to make the audience cry and that, weren’t they? All very cynical, especially when you consider that nothing of it means a single jot because they’re all obviously coming back to life anyway! Waste of time!

(Image: Disney)