'Avengers: Infinity War - Part 1' And 'Part 2' Won't Be Called 'Avengers: Infinity War - Part 1' And 'Part 2'

Captain America: Civil War does a pretty great job of getting audiences pumped for the coming onslaught of Marvel Phase Three movies, capped off by Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 and Part 2 in 2018 and 2019. But prepare to adjust your expectations ever so slightly. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo say the films will probably change their titles, to reflect the fact that they're two completely different movies and not a single movie broken into two parts. 

The Russos let that detail slip when Uproxx asked them how they planned to split Infinity War into two parts. "The movies are two very different movies," said Joe Russo. "It's misleading," agreed Anthony Russo. Joe Russo then added: "The intention is we will change it, we just haven't come up with the titles yet. But, yes, we will change it. And, yes, that is a scoop: we will retitle them."

In itself, a title change isn't huge news. But it's a way for the Russos to signal that they intend for each of the next two Avengers movies to stand alone. (Well, to the extent that any of these movies stand alone at this point.) Studios have found mixed success with the tactic of splitting epic tales into multiple movies. It worked out great for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, but the Hobbit trilogy saw diminishing returns, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 made significantly less than Part 1. Audiences, it seems, are so thrilled about paying full price for what feels like half a movie.

As for what will actually be in those two completely separate, definitely distinctive movies, no one wants to say too much just yet. But in a chat with JoBlo, screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus indicated that they weren't planning to stick too closely to Jim Starlin's Infinity War and Infinity Gauntlet books. "We tend to take the ingredients and make a different meal out of it," said McFeely. "The Winter Soldier owes a great deal to the [Ed] Brubaker run but it's not the Brubaker run. Civil War owes a great deal to [Mark] Millar, but it's not close to the Civil War run. So we'll do the same thing with Thanos and his gauntlet."

Thanos hasn't proven to be a terribly interesting villain so far, but McFeely hopes that'll change with the Infinity War movies. "We get to take the biggest villain Marvel has ever has and try and do him justice," he said. In that sense, maybe having two movies will help. Asked about Marvel's difficulties fleshing out their villains, McFeely responded, "[I]n a 120-minute movie it is difficult, and Thanos will possibly change that, but you want time spent." Good thing they'll have closer to 240 movies to work with in Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 and Part 2, whatever they end up being called.

The next Avengers movie arrives May 4, 2018, and the one after that on May 3, 2019.