With Avengers: Infinity War having begun production, Marvel Studios has released the first behind the scenes featurette on the film, and what follows is a transcript of what everyone enthusiastically had to say.
Chris Pratt (actor, "Peter Quill"/"Starlord"): This is our first day, here we are in Atlanta and it’s actually pretty unbelievable.
Robert Downey, Jr. (actor, "Tony Stark"/"Iron Man"): Day one of what promises to be a year of fun-filled lensing.
Tom Holland (actor, "Peter Parker"/"Spider-Man"): I remember going to see the first Avengers with one of my best mates, and I would never have dreamed I’d be in one of these movies let alone playing Spider-Man. I feel like I’m top of the world; this is just mind-blowing.
Kevin Feige (producer): What we’ve always tried to do at Marvel Studios is we’re building the cinematic universe; we look at the big picture, how can things relate across movies and across years. Avengers: Infinity War is the culmination of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe as started in May of 2008 with the release of Iron Man 1. And it really is an unprecedented culmination of a series of films inter-linked together, which at the time had never been done before. For us the important thing is making it all come together. We know they’re going to face Thanos; we’ve been setting that up since Avengers 1. How do you do that in a way that is unexpected, that pits The Avengers against somebody who’s more powerful than anyone they’ve faced, and yet make them completely unprepared to face them? Well, tear them apart, which is why we did Civil War before Infinity War.
Anthony Russo (co-director): As we were conceiving and executing Civil War, the end of that movie was very much a set-up of what these movies would be. We always had a sense of that.
Christopher Markus (co-writer): Tony is not talking to Steve, The Avengers are basically a name with nobody in it. The world is vulnerable.
Joe Russo (co-director): Tony senses this greater threat approaching, so he is doing everything in his power to keep the Earth safe.
Feige: Thanos shows us why he’s the biggest, the best, the baddest villain we’ve ever had, and the most frightening villain The Avengers have ever faced.
Joe Russo: The most exciting part is the incredible roster of well-developed characters, and it’s going to create a really combustible, exciting, massive scale adventure.
Feige: You know we’re on to something within the studio when we hit upon an idea or we see a piece of concept art, and all of us in the room go, “This is cool!” And in Avengers: Infinity War, The Avengers will meet the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Joe Russo: Because of what Marvel is, because of what they have done over the last ten years, these next two Avengers films will be an event like no one has ever seen on film before.
Avengers: Infinity War will be released 28 April 2018 in the UK and 4 May in the States.