How The Guardians Of The Galaxy Fit In 'Avengers: Infinity War'

Avengers: Infinity War has a lot on its plate, not the least of which is uniting dozens of different characters who have appeared across the Marvel Cinematic Universe into one coherent storyline. That's a difficult task, especially considering how tonally different some of these films have been. So how will directors Anthony and Joe Russo incorporate the Guardians of the Galaxy into the equation as they come face to face with the Avengers for the first time?

Read on to hear the directors explain how they handled the proper balance of ingredients in their Guardians of the Galaxy Infinity War cocktail.

/Film's Peter Sciretta was on the set of Infinity War last year and spoke with the directors about this very issue. Here's what they had to say.

Each of these movies have their own tone in the MCU, but the one that really stands out as the most distinct is the Guardians, and you guys are bringing them in. What is the approach with getting them to mix together? Are they going to bring their own music?

Anthony Russo: Everybody does.

Joe Russo: [Doctor] Strange brings his own energy, Ant-Man brings his own energy, Thor has a whole different...Taika has a new approach to Thor, as you've seen in the trailer. So all that energy is combined. Specific to the Guardians, we have to find a way to bring those tones and honor them, but also make them work with what we're doing with the movie. Again, I think the way that we find the best way to do that is to filter these things through our very personal expression of them as characters. It's not dissimilar to what we did with Captain America: Winter Soldier. There is a movement of the characters towards a more "Russo brothers" execution.

What kind of role would you say they have in this film?

Anthony Russo: They have a great role in this film. Everyone is interwoven in this plot in a way where they have an emotional connection to the story, and are emotionally affected by the stakes of the movie. You can't tell a movie with this many characters and not have each of those characters show up and honor them from the different franchises if they are not motivated to be there, if they are not in life or death circumstances, if they are not fighting to save their belief system or their way of life.

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As someone who felt the Russos were pushing their luck with the number of characters in Civil War, the sheer number of characters they have to deal with in Infinity War has long been my biggest worry about the movie. But I must admit, their answer about incorporating the Guardians sounds promising – at least it sounds like they've put some real thought into it.

Because of the nature of the MCU's timeline, a lot of time will have passed in-universe since we last saw the Guardians team. How will that affect Infinity War?

You talked a little bit about timeline and how this film is very based on what happened at the end of Civil War, but this film takes place, by my count, five, six years after Guardians 2. Because Guardians 2 is set right after Guardians 1. So how have the Guardians changed when we come to them here, because they've now been a team for a long time, Groot must be...bigger. Right?

Anthony Russo: There are some changes-

Joe Russo: Groot has grown.

Anthony Russo: But I think changes are about chemistry and about camaraderie and the fact that they're closer, and they're tighter, and they've been doing it for a while. That's, if there's any change, it's in that when they may or may not intersect with the Avengers in this movie, they have cemented their chemistry as a team-

Joe Russo: The relationships have deepened.

Anthony Russo: And they would stand in contrast with the other teams. Potentially.

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So it sounds like we'll be seeing a more unified Guardians team in this movie than the bickering dynamic we've seen in their non-Earth-bound films. I'm sure there will still be some bickering – they are a bunch of a-holes, after all – but the idea of them being a tighter group than the Avengers themselves could have some interesting implications when the universe is on the line in this film. Will their tight-knit teamwork mean that more of them survive the battle against Thanos? We'll find out when Avengers: Infinity War arrives on April 27, 2018.