Heroes Will Have Varying Screen Times in Both AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Films
When it comes down to how the screen time will divide out between the speculated massive cast for Avengers: Infinity War, it's all about balance. Comicbook did a great breakdown of the interviews the Marvel team has given on the film where they still have yet to confirm the entire cast selection for the two-film saga and who will be at the either films' forefront. One thing that is certain is that Kevin Feige has faith in his screenwriters:
“Well it’s about the screenplay and Chris Markus and Steve McFeely — out of everyone we’ve worked with — have a very deft hand with balance...There are a lot of characters in [the first] Captain America; there are a lot of characters in The Winter Soldier, and of course Civil War has as many as we’ve ever had, so it’s in very capable hands [when] it comes to divvying up the storylines in a way that services a primary narrative but [also] showcases many characters.”
Feige also went on to say they don't have a definitive number of how many heroes you'll see on screen at once, but assured that those scenes where there are a massive amount of heroes are few and far between.
Screenwriters Chris Markus and Steve McFeely shared their opinion on the script, and compared it to Civil War:
“When outlining it we certainly had those conversations. I mean in the same way that in Civil War not everyone has the same amount of scenes or lines, I think you can assume that with so many characters we'll have to be as rigorous, right? Where we say, 'well these people will have sort of larger stories and these people will have smaller stories,' and hopefully, they can flip in some cases. I know a few right off the top of my head that have a small part here and bigger part here."
I like that. It's good to know not everyone is going to be thrown in all at the same time, and I think it keeps it interesting to have the film focus on a separate set of characters. I'm guessing this means different battles will be taking place simultaneously at different locations around the world...and maybe in space?!
As was reported last year, Robert Downey Jr. is rumored to be getting $100 million per film, so it's safe to say he's going to have a large part in both films. My guess is that there will be several smaller cameos with some other characters outside of The Avengers' core cast, and possibly the Guardians of the Galaxy.
If Marvel plans on bringing their entire TV and film cast into the film (which they've hinted at doing)...that's an insane amount of people. That's also an expensive list, considering the caliber of talent across the board! My only guess is that cutting down screen time would be the only way to take guys like Benedict Cumberbatch, and cut them a substantially smaller check than they typically net. Something interesting Chris Markus added to the earlier statement has me curious:
"Yeah, the people in the background in one will come to the foreground in the second one. You know there will be moments where every last damn person who is still alive will be in the same room, and those are just a nightmare to write because Marvel, being very good about hiring very good actors who like, the 15th person there has two Oscars, and it's like oh my god. So yeah, it's crazy."
So are people getting killed off? Sounds intense, but then again you almost have to end The Avengers films after this, because how will you top it?! I'm getting too excited just thinking about it. How do you think they'll make it work?