Various reports are suggesting that "Avengers: Infinity War," the next major movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will feature all of the superheroes that have appeared in the gigantic film franchise.
Rumors about the actual number of superheroes that might appear in the two-part film, which is 67, actually came from directors Anthony Russo and his brother Joe. This figure may sound a bit overwhelming but given the number of films in the MCU, it's highly possible that all of the characters will make an appearance in the film.
After all, since "Infinity War" will be about the Infinity Gauntlet and each Marvel film had either a direct or indirect reference to the Infinity Stones, it will not come as a surprise if all of the characters in the MCU will be affected by the plot of the upcoming movie
But then, the Russo brothers clarified the actual number and said that this doesn't refer to the characters who will have lead roles in the film.
"'Infinity War' is meant to be the culmination of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe up to that point," the told ComicBook.com. "It's very ambitious in its scope, it wants to take everything that you've seen before and coalesce into some kinda climactic ending."
"It's complicated, ambitious storytelling," they added. "We're not talking about lead characters, just people that make an appearance."
Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, writers of the film's screenplay, offered another explanation as to how the number 67 came up. Currently, these two are compiling the resources that they can use for the movie. This, of course, includes the characters who will make an appearance.
So, right now, their process involves looking at the profiles of the characters which they think can be included in the film.
"That number comes from the fact that that's everyone who's already been introduced," Markus told Huffington Post. "If you line up all the characters who are available to use from the prior Marvel movies, it racks up to about 60 something characters, let along the ones you could bring in."
"We had our office filled with cards of everyone who was alive and available, and the [Russo] brothers came in and went, 'Whoa,'" Mcfeely continued. "So that doesn't mean that everyone is, you know, there's not going to be 67 lead parts."
Of course, although not everyone will get a leading role, one character that will surely the proper exposure that he deserves is Thanos, who is expected to play the main villain in the film.
As for "Avengers: Infinity War," the first part is scheduled to come out on May 4, 2018 while part 2 will be released on May 3, 2019.
