With 'Avengers: Endgame' now in cinemas, a lot of Marvel fans are revisiting its predecessor, 'Infinity War.'
After all 'Endgame' takes place pretty much immediately after 'Infinity War'. It focusses much on the aftermath of Thanos' snap which marked the finale of the superhero epic.
'Infinity War' was a monumental achievement. While 'Endgame' is earning much praise for successfully delivering to fans what they wanted and giving a satisfyingly emotional conclusion to 22 movies, it couldn't have had such an impact without 'Infinity War'.
Here's some useless trivia to make you appreciate 'Avengers: Infinity War' even more:
1. Apparently Benedict Cumberbatch initially ignored Tom Holland on set, thinking he was just an overeager crew member and fan. Until he realised he was his co-star.
2. Another Benedict Cumberbatch fun fact. The actor knew how many people wanted Doctor Strange and Tony Stark's interactions to include "No shit, Sherlock," given they both played the character, but politely declined thinking it was too cheesy.
3. Tom Holland meanwhile loved working with Chris Pratt but struggled in their scenes together because Pratt's tendency to joke in and out of character made it hard for Holland to keep a straight face.
4. The Russo Brothers confirmed the reason why Spider-Man's death dragged out longer than the other characters, was because his Spidey Senses could sense the snap starting to affect his body, triggering his healing process to slow it down temporarily. This is also why he was the last of the characters to die after the snap.
5. The conversation between Captain America and Thor in which they compared their facial hair was ad libbed. Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth figured their characters have known each other long enough to have that kind of banter.
6. The name "Thanos" is a short form of the Greek name "Thanatos", which means "death" in Greek. Josh Brolin based his characterisation on Marlon Brando's role as Colonel Walter Kurtz in ‘Apocalypse Now’.
7. More Josh Brolin trivia. He acted in this movie with a foam headpiece the size of Thanos' head, with a camera on his face for visual effects. He also had to wear various foam parts depending on what the scene called for. The other actors and actresses didn't get too close to his real body. This helped Thanos' scale to be retained. The most awkward bit? When Mantis has her hands on Thanos’ head and is reading his emotions, Pom Klementieff had to be lowered down on ropes to interact with a foam Thanos head that was supported above Brolin.
8. Early drafts of the movie included more backstory on Thanos' minions, the Black Order. The Black Order's powers were refined to better suit and play off of the heroes in the movie. For example, Ebony Maw, who goes up against Doctor Strange, combines technology and magic. And you may not have noticed it, but Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive are supposed to be married in ‘Infinity War.’
9. Sir Kenneth Branagh, who directed ‘Thor’, had a secret cameo. His voice can be heard issuing the distress transmission that the Asgardian ship was being attacked at the start of the film.
10. According to Chadwick Boseman, production on ‘Infinity War’ began just two weeks after production on ‘Black Panther’ ended. The ‘Black Panther’ actors actually advised the Russos about the Wakandan battle cries, what they meant and how to pronounce them.
11. Numbers time: At most, the movie takes place over two days. There are close to 3000 shots in the film, with almost 2900 of those being VFX shots.
12. At the time of release, it was the second most expensive movie of all time and in the MCU. Only ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ had a higher budget. It was the fourth movie to gross over $2 billion worldwide, after ‘Titanic’, ‘Avatar’, and ‘Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens’.
13. Thanos has the most screentime with 29 minutes, followed by Gamora with 19 minutes 30 seconds. After them comes Tony Stark (18 mins), Thor (14.5 mins), Doctor Strange (11.5 mins) and Peter Quill (10 mins 15 secs).
