insipid, uninspired Justice League, which has the same basic structure as Infinity War (giant CG alien comes to Earth looking for all-powerful artefacts; superteam comes together to stop him) yet left most unimpressed. And that only had six main characters, plus one pesky moustache, to deal with. Infinity War has around four times that number. At least. So it’s reasonable to ask if a movie can sustain that many characters and still function and flow as a narrative, without simply being a massively over-long series of vignettes in which superheroes do something cool before passing the baton onto the next. Working on this scale, anything can go wrong. Yet there’s a sense of confidence about this film. “Everything Marvel does now seems like the surest of sure things,” says Chris Evans, returning as Captain America. “There seems to be nothing they can’t do.” Evans’ assurance stems largely from the presence of the film’s directors, Joe and Anthony Russo. They got the gig, taking over from Joss Whedon when he exited left pursued by Ultron, after impressing with their handling of ensemble casts and ability to marry outlandish comic-book capers with grounded thrills as demonstrated in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War. Infinity War is even bigger than those films. But the Russos already seem to have nailed the horrible spectre of length. It seemed inevitable that it would clock in at over three hours, but the brothers have excellent news for arses everywhere. “I think you’re looking at, ballpark, twoand-a-half hours,” says Joe, hopping onto the phone with Empire in February, just a couple of weeks away from picture lock. “Somewhere in there. We’re very happy with where we’re at.” So, how did they achieve this? Turns out they had a plan, which always helps.
“ CONFLICT BREEDS CATASTROPHE” VISION, CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
IT WASN’T A plan they arrived at right away. “We probably spent five or six months exploring diferent narrative structures with this film,” reveals Joe Russo. “We sat there very early on going, ‘How the fuck do we tell the story of six MacGuins?’” They found the answer in the most surprising of sources. You might expect a movie with “war” in the title, and a cast this vast, to draw on the likes of The
Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far for inspiration. But you would be wrong. “There aren’t a lot of templates for a movie like this,” admits Joe Russo, “but we looked to some ’90s crime films as inspiration, like Out Of Sight and 2 Days In The Valley.” His brother Anthony smiles. “This is more like a heist film, really. Thanos makes a very strong, fast, aggressive move for the Stones in this movie.” In essence, Avengers: Infinity War won’t die wondering. Empire visits the set of Infinity War twice during the course of its mammoth nine-month shoot. And, as serendipity and the gods of scheduling would have it, both are companion sequences that illustrate just how the movie is hitting the ground running. First, it’s of to Edinburgh on a bitterly cold night last April, where the Russos — who spent time in the city as youths, and who nonetheless disarmingly pronounce it “Edinboro” — have commandeered Waverley station to stage a scene where the shit is hitting the fan, and fast. Long story short: Thanos wants the Infinity Stones, six multi-coloured cosmic gems that, when united, will allow their bearer to wield influence over time and space itself (and get 50 per cent of at selected restaurants). But with his attention engaged elsewhere right at the start of the film, he has sent four alien arseholes known as the Black Order to retrieve the stones that are on Earth. One of which just happens to be welded into the head of Paul Bettany’s android, Vision. And so we watch as two of those aliens, Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive (played by actors in mo-cap suits, with CGI drizzled over them later), beat the shit out of Vision and his girlfriend, Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), only for the heroes to be rescued by a last-minute intervention from some old friends. Namely, a bearded Steve Rogers, sporting a blacked-out Captain America outfit; a bottle-blonde Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson); and The Falcon (Anthony Mackie). It’s a brutal fight scene, not particularly heavy on dialogue. “We structured that scene more like a horror film,” says Anthony Russo. “We try to give each sequence in the film a slightly diferent tone and concept, based on the characters driving that sequence.” And then we hotfoot it, just a couple of months later, to Atlanta, where an entirely new set of characters drive the mirror scene. This one sees Tony Stark, Doctor Strange (Cumberbatch), his colleague Wong (Wong), and Bruce Banner (Rufalo), who has returned to Earth with a dire warning about impending doom. Too. Late. Because two more of the Black Order, Cull Obsidian and Ebony Maw, have parked a giant ship over New York, causing the devastation and destruction seen on MacDougal Street. “As usual, we’re just tearing up asphalt as need be,” laughs Downey Jr. And so it’s up to this ramshackle team to stop them. Or, at the very least, ask nicely. “You can’t park here, buddy. Earth is closed today,” says Stark in one take (this being Robert Downey Jr, the lines are fluid). “Take your tractor beam and skedaddle.” But Cull (played by famed mo-cap actor Terry Notary) is not in a skedaddling mood, precipitating a breakneck sequence in which Stark tries desperately to get Banner, who’s sufering from performance anxiety, to transform into the Hulk (“Don’t embarrass me in front of the wizard”). While it soon becomes clear that the wizard is the very specific target of the alien attack. “They want me, and specifically what I’ve got hanging around my neck,” says Cumberbatch, pointing to the Eye Of Agamotto (or Time Stone) dangling down his chest. “So a fight ensues, and it gets really fun and really silly very quickly. The scale blows from real-world jeopardy into reality jeopardy, and then unreality jeopardy. It’s very exciting.” Two scenes, two cities, two countries. And if we’re ❯ continuing the count, nine Avengers, four aliens. Already
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