Was fantastic to see this movie again on the big screen with a packed audience of Marvel fanatics. Now for the Q and A.
Here we go. 
The Russo Brothers said they would not be answering any Avengers 4 questions or trailer questions.
The Russo’s talked about visiting the set of The Mandalorian, praising Jon Favreau and saying the series is being shot in a way unlike any other tv show.
The Russo’s talked about recent things they’ve seen that they loved: The Haunting Of Hill House and Bodyguard.
The Russo’s joked that the only way they would return to making superhero movies after Avengers 4 is if they can make Secret Wars.
They originally planned to shoot both films at the same time but the stories got too complex and they wanted to treat them separately since they are very different films. So the decision was made a few months out to shoot them back to back instead as concurrent.
Crew in production meetings were getting confused about what scene was in what film and it was hurting the prep.
No one actually had the entire script. People who were in the film more than others had access to their scenes and knew more than others. There was also fake scenes and redacted scenes to protect secrecy.
They did three drafts of the film, one draft had Thanos as the narrator of the film and was non Linus’s in structure and had backstories for the Black order. That script was 250 pages. Writing out Thanos narration gave them insight on the character even though it didn’t make it.
They simplified the plot, made it more linear and let the character moments come through and that’s how they got to the final draft. They had a very tight script going into production but they were very open during filming and changed some things on set.
They had a draft of the script where Thanos had already secured the power stone but it felt like he had too many to start. So they instead decided to open with the attack on the ship, in the middle of his attack and plan.
Thanos was able to beat The Hulk in the beginning not because of the power stone but because he was smarter and more calculated.
They tried to plus the scene with Pepper and Tony, they shot a new scene in additional photography at the Starkhome with Tony sitting in a lawn chair fidgeting with Steve’s flip phone and Pepper comes home but it didn’t work out so they didn’t include it.
On how they got the Avengers 3/4 gig the Russo’s joked that they had to wrestle Joss Whedon: “there’s two of us, it lasted 12 seconds.”
Josh Brolin looked ridiculous on set, wearing a black and white and green pajamas with tracking ping pong balls all over it and a face tracking rig. There is a pole strapped to his back so that other actors can look up at the pole for the eye-line.
Nothing creatively changed due to the complicated scheduling, but it just made it more complicated to shoot some scenes and shoot out of order. For instance, the first day of shooting was the heroes on titan trying to come up with a plan.
Sometimes they would shoot one side of a scene with a standin and months later restate the scene and shoot the scene from the other side with the other actor and another standin.
Is Stormbreaker more powerful than the Infinity Gauntlet? Thanos didn’t know what was coming his way and if he did he would have been able to use the stones to better react to Stormbreaker.
Star Lord imitating Thor was actually something in the script and not improv’d on set.
The Russo Brothers learned in television that they like to move quickly and try a lot of things and they have taken that mentality to the editing room of the marvel movies. They edit many versions of a scene, structured in different ways.
They also do something they refer to as “screen f’n” where once they get the structure of the movie down, they start removing frames from shots and try to fast track the pacing of the film.
They try to get things right in the scripting process and that’s why there isn’t many deleted scenes on their Blu-ray’s. They are also very happy with their final cuts of the films, they are the director’s cut.
Red Skull has been on a journey since the events of Captain America. He is now a space to the stones, he is a ghost. They played around with it not being him but they kept coming back to it being Red Skull. The screenwriters, who wrote First Avenger, fought for it.
Hugo Weaving was asked to return to reprise Red Skull, that’s all the Russo Brothers would say. The Soul stone was the last stone in writing for them to come up with.
They talked about involving the Netflix Marvel characters in Infinity War, but they say it was too complicated to correlate story between not only the other marvel films in production but also the tv productions. They decided the best way to tell the story was to keep it MCU.
The Russo’s were asked about a fan theory that Bruce Banner is really Loki in disguise. They answered. That “Loki is dead.”
They would tell Stan Lee about his cameo before he came to set. Stan never turned down any of their cameos. Stan’s joke on set was “why do I always only get one line.”
They explored other ideas for the final shot but Thanos smiling at the sunset was an idea they came to very early on when the writers realized it was Thanos’ movie. He was serving an idea larger than himself, and that’s why Thanos is a hero in his own mind.
Civil War and Winter Soldier was shot mostly with three camera setups, while Infinity War was mostly shot with one camera setups. The three cameras facilitated the verite look of the Captain America movies, but they wanted Infinity War to look bigger.
When asked about the Spider-Man Homcoming “8 years later” the Russo’s said they didn’t make Spider-Man Homecoming and their film is right.
The Russo’s have been in a room with Imagineers giving a presentation about their films and explaining what’s important to them, but they are not actively involved in the Disney parks rides.
As fans and not directors, the Russo Brothers would have saved Peter Parker if they could have saved any of the characters who were dusted.
The Russo Brothers always knew which characters in Infinity War they wanted to be dusted at the end of the film.
The reason why the IMAX version of Infinity War is not on home video is “complicated” and reading between the lines it seems like it’s partly an IMAX decision. The Russo’s say that it doesn’t mean that the IMAX ratio version of the film won’t ever be available on hone video.
Beta Ray Bill has been discussed many times by the Russo Brothers but they could never find a good fit for the story.
Joe Russo’s favorite moment of Infinity War is Thor’s arrival in Wakanda.
Anthony Russo loves the emotional moment where Wanda is forced to destroy Vision’s stone.
Asked about the possibility of Latino characters in the MCU, the Russo Brothers say they don’t want to spoil anything but they think we’ll find the MCU will continue to diversify.
If there is a Winter Soldier and Falcon spin-off tv series for Disney + streaming service, the Russo Brothers aren’t involved.
According to the Russo’s, Marvel is looking for directors to come in with a strong point of view that is different from what they are thinking.
The Soul Stone has the ability to manipulate your soul and your essence of who you are. Thanks uses the Soul Stone to pull Strange out of his own body when he’s multiple Stranges. Thanos also uses the soul stone to talk to his dead daughter.
The Russo Brothers partly credit being dungeon masters playing Dungeons and Dragons as a kids for how they attained their storytelling abilities. Att: @JacobSHall
An example of a fake scene The Russo Brothers wrote to keep Infinity War secrecy, Gamora threw Thanos off the cliff in the Soul Stone sequence. I’m not even sure if they are kidding.
In Infinity War, Thanos says that all the children on Gamoras planet eat well after the purge but in Guardians, Gamora says she was the last of her race. The Russo Brothers were asked about this nitpick and they responded “Who do you believe? Do you believe Thanos or Gamora?”
Someone asked how much time has gone by from the climax of the film and Thanos on the farm in the final shot. Joe just responded “hhmmmmmmmmmmmm” and that’s all.
Joe says “it would be nice to make a film about one character” lol
Guardians 3 being put on indefinite hold did not change the Russo Brothers approach for Avengers 4 and where it leaves the Guardians because they had already finished shooting the movie.
