Although Marvel fans knew it was just a matter of time before all of Marvel's cinematic universe came together, the company recently confirmed that this would officially happen in the Avengers: Infinity War films.
That means that every character we've already seen in Marvel's superhero universe, plus characters from Guardians of the Galaxy and Netflix's The Defenders, will come together for two massive movies.
So, how many characters is that exactly?
"We have so many characters we're dealing with," said co-director Joe Russo at Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con. "We're breaking ground on Avengers: Infinity War. We have a board with 67 characters on it."
Having so many characters, as well as such an epic storyline, is probably why the story will get told across two movies instead of one. However, juggling all of those characters is tricky, and this news may concern fans that it's just too much. However, Russo assured fans that he feels the movie will give them what they want.
"We will say this: people will not be disappointed in the amount of characters in the movie," he said. "The concept of Infinity War is that the Marvel universe unites to battle the greatest threat to the world and universe that you've ever seen, and we're going to honor that concept."
Of course, because of the scale of the movie, it's still a few years away — Part 1 won't premiere until 2018, with Part 2 coming in 2019. There's also the matter of getting all 67 actors behind the characters together for filming, which will also prove tricky, considering their schedules (although most have probably signed contracts with Marvel and know to keep their time open). However, these movies are 10 years in the making and began with the first Iron Man movie that premiered in 2008 (although, chronologically, Captain America: The First Avengers begins the cinematic universe's story).
To keep with the big scope of the project, Marvel will shoot both movies completely on the IMAX/ARRI Digital camera.
Meanwhile, Marvel gears up for more releases from its cinematic universe this year, with Captain America: Civil War arriving on May 6 and Doctor Strange debuting on Nov. 4.
