I don't know if you've heard, but Avengers: Infinity War has a lot of characters. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has built up an impressive roster in the last 10 years, and it is bringing characters from all 18 its films to bear as heroes from across the Marvel spectrum suit up for the battle with Thanos. But how many characters are actually featured in Avengers: Infinity War? A lot of numbers have been thrown around, but what's the real count? Well, CinemaBlend's own Eric Eisenberg sat down with Avengers: Infinity War screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely to find out. Here's what they said:
Christopher Markus: Is it good for me to say? I've gone through the script recently to see how many people have lines, that are faces you recognize from others movies. It's at least 40.Stephen McFeely: I can't think of too many people who didn't, you know. Justin Hammer.
Wow, that is a lot. We know that there are a lot of characters in this movie and that the MCU's huge cast of heroes will be in attendance, but for 40 people to have speaking roles is pretty remarkable. There aren't 40 costumed heroes in the MCU (not yet anyway), but as Christopher Markus told CinemaBlend, these characters are all people that we recognize from other MCU movies. So that means that on top of the titular heroes, a lot of the supporting cast of Marvel's vast universe will be getting some time to shine as well. Apparently, though, Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer won't be one of those in attendance. Marvel doesn't often bring villains back, and he wouldn't be a strong candidate if it did, so this isn't surprising.
This is also really cool because these are faces we recognize, and that amount of crossover in one film fulfills the promise of this bold cinematic experiment. It delivers the connected world that fans have enjoyed for decades in the comics. Seeing faces pop up that you forgot about or didn't expect is a big part of the appeal of Avengers: Infinity War, and seeing all of those faces, especially the more prominent heroes, interact for the first time is what we've all been waiting for.
Hearing that this many recognizable characters are present in the movie might seem a bit daunting, and it wouldn't be unreasonable to fear that Infinity War might be overstuffed. However, this is a long movie, and there is no way that 40-plus characters will be featured prominently. Most of them will probably only have a line or two. It will really be the core heroes that get the most to do, and we've heard that Thanos himself along with Chris Hemsworth's Thor will have some of the most screen time. CinemaBlend also sat down for an interview with Avengers: Infinity War directors Joe and Anthony Russo and got their take on the number of characters spread across Infinity War and Avengers 4. Take a look:
So it sounds like that 60+ number that was being thrown around for a while is really the count for both parts of Marvel's Phase 3 capper. That makes you wonder if Avengers 4 will have the full count or if there will be characters that show up in one of the films, but not the other. That certainly raises the question about characters who might not make it out of Infinity War, but suffice it to say, neither of these two Avengers films will be lacking in characters.
Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters this weekend. You should go see it and stay frosty about spoilers; you'll definitely want to go in as clean as possible. Keep an eye on CinemaBlend's MCU page for the all the latest from Earth's Mightiest Heroes and come back after you've seen the movie as we break down all the insanity.
