The tail end of Marvel’s Phase 3 may seem like worlds away, and in many ways it is. Between now and then, there are no less than a handful of movies until we start to reach the second half, and around 13 films that will make up Phase 3 in its entirety. The beginning of that second half, it seems, will be marked by the third AVENGERS film, which has been titled AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, as we REPORTED ON LAST WEEK.

As far away as that seems, however, the current Marvel schedule puts us less than two years away from what will undoubtedly be the most epic crossover to date. Given how quickly that film is coming up, one would think that the screenwriters are at least neck-deep in the writing process. Yes, Marvel has done pretty fast turnarounds on their films in the past (ANT-MAN and THOR: THE DARK WORLD come to mind), but with a movie that brings so many characters together, that’s the last thing you want to do.

So how far along are they? In a recent interview with screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (the men behind the amazing CAPTAIN AMERICA movies), and they had the following to say about their status.

One thing to note: while it’s been made clear by Marvel that the previously-titled AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR PARTS 1 & 2 will be two completely two-part different films (and not “parts” of a bigger story), the screenwriters appear to be working on the drafts simultaneously, which is interesting.

“We’re many drafts in.  We’re on the third draft of movie one and the second draft of movie two.  [We’re writing them in tandem] as much as we can.  On any given day, you’re only working on one but that doesn’t mean that next week, you aren’t working on the other one.  And certainly, notes are coming in and all sorts of production stuff is coming in, like for instance, ‘that thing over there is now a window not a door so adjust that.’  Or, ‘we’re not going to this town now, we’re going to this town.’  That kind of stuff happens constantly and will continue to happen for the next few months. 

It wasn’t entirely clear how many characters would come back for part one, and whether the massive team-up will be saved for the fourth AVENGERS film, but what was clear was that at some point, we will see pretty much everyone in these films.

“When we lock ourselves in a room with the Russo brothers and a couple of execs from Marvel, one wall has cards for movie one and the other wall has cards for movie two and another wall has little baseball cards of every character still alive in the Marvel universe – down to Darcy’s boyfriend in Thor 2 – literally, anybody who did not die and has been established as alive.  And then we looked at that began to shuffle the cards around.  So basically, the big scene is when Darcy’s boyfriend and Galactus get together and….[laughs].”

It’s important to keep in mind that the last part regarding Galactus was a joke, so don’t get too excited or appalled just yet at the direction the story is headed. Either way, it sounds like an epic time, to be sure. It was pretty much assumed that these two AVENGERS flicks would be movies where many of our favorite characters reunite, so this confirmation isn’t a huge surprise, but hearing it aloud does seem to help solidify the general idea in my mind. In other words, if we thought CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR was a crowded epic, then just wait.

What are your thoughts? Which characters are you excited to see more of in AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR? Let us know in the comments down below!

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR hits theaters on May 4, 2018.

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SOURCE: Yahoo! Movies (via Comic Book Movie)