If anything should be clear by now, it’s that Marvel Studios really knows how to tease their fans. In point of fact, a large part of the marketing for ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ has involved exactly that, describing the film in terms that hint at finality and hinting that not every fan-favorite character will make it out alive. But the teases haven’t ended with ‘Infinity War‘; they’ve also extended to its as yet untitled sequel. In fact, the biggest tease for ‘Avengers 4’ so far has been exactly that: its title. Originally announced as ‘Infinity War Part II’, the studio has since confirmed that it will receive its own unique subtitle, though when is anybody’s guess.
Of course, not every tease works as planned, and according to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, the ‘Avengers 4’ title falls firmly into that category. Speaking to IGN, Feige acknowledged that the title tease has “backfired” adding that “it’s gotten entirely out of hand. And now we’ll have no chance of living up to any expectations of what it’s going to be.”
While Feige and co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo have previously indicated that the title was being withheld because it was (or at least could be) a spoiler for ‘Infinity War’ (with the Russos going as far as to tell fans that the title should scare them), it turns out that’s not the whole story. On top of keeping a lid on any possible spoilers, Feige and company were also hoping to keep fans’ attention focused squarely on ‘Infinity War’. This, in turn, was a response to the conversation surrounding the previous ‘Avengers’ outing, 2015’s ‘Age of Ultron’. That film was released several months following the announcement of much of Marvel’s Phase 3 slate, including the then-two part ‘Infinity War’. As Feige explains, there was a sense that announcing ‘Infinity War’ at this stage caused it to overshadow ‘Age of Ultron‘.
“‘Ultron’ hadn’t come out at that point and I felt a tiny sense of, “Well gosh, we’ve gotta talk about the movies we have coming out next because that’s what we’ve been working so hard on and that’s what’s next available for our audience to see,” but when we talk that far ahead, that took a lot of attention out.”
No word yet on when the full title of ‘Avengers 4’ will be revealed to the public, but based on Marvel’s public comments it will likely be a while. The film will be released on May, 3, 2019.
