SPOILER ALERT: this post contains spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War so read at your own risk.
Audiences left Avengers: Infinity War filled with questions: did [REDACTED] actually die? What does [REDACTED] really mean? Where is Hawkeye? (Just kidding, no one asked that last one.)
After weeks of speculation, a major Infinity War theory has been confirmed by the film’s director Joe Russo. Russo, who co-directed the film with his brother Anthony, was visiting his alma mater the University of Iowa, where he was participating in UI’s Lecture Committee series of speakers.
Earlier in the day Russo swung by local high school City High, where he fielded questions from students and fans about the record-breaking blockbuster. Russo spoke about the challenges of the film’s massive cast, and the grueling schedule that saw them filming Infinity War and Avengers 4 back to back. “We shot two of the most expensive movies ever made back-to-back with two weeks off between the two,” Russo said. “We basically shut down Hollywood the year we were making the film because of the amount of celebrities included.”
Russo also discussed balancing humor with the darker elements of the film, saying “We try to complicate things emotionally because our job as storytellers is to tell the best story that we can. Ultimately, you’re paying money to see it, and if the movie can make you laugh and cry and make you happy, sad and angry and feel catharsis, you’re getting a lot more for your money.”
The Q+A quickly turned to spoilers, with many fans asking about the film’s bleak ending and the deaths of several fan favorites due to Thanos’ Snap. Russo discussed the events surrounding the Soul Stone, confirming a popular fan theory that the final scene of Thanos and Young Gamora takes place within the stone itself.
“Yeah, it’s implied [that] it’s the Soul Stone. It’s all orange around, then he’s inside the Soul Stone with the amount of power that it took to snap his fingers – he has this out of body experience with Thanos. When he goes inside the Soul Stone he has this kind of conversation with the younger version of his Gamora.”
Russo went on to confirm that Gamora is still alive, albeit inside the Soul Stone. Is she sharing that space with the characters we saw get dusted into oblivion? Russo says:
“[When asked if Gamora is alive] She in fact is, yes. It was an attempt on our part – because we don’t like two dimensional roles or three dimensional villains every villain is a hero in their own story and as insane and psychotic and brutal and violent as Thanos is he’s a more complex villain if you go on a journey with him emotionally. He does care for things and it is complicated for him to execute his plan and it cost him something. He said at the end that it cost him everything and that it was the only thing he loved which was Gamora which is why we put him back with her at the end. I just want to reiterate with the audience that he does feel true emotion even though he is a monster.”
Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait and see what this means for Avengers 4, and whether alternate universes will come into play in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
(via Iowa City Press-Citizen, image: Jesse Grant/Getty Images)
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