When the Mad Titan Thanos snapped his fingers at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, half of all life in the universe turned to ash. As a result, many of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's superheroes died, leaving the original six Avengers -- Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk and Iron Man -- behind along with War Machine, Rocket Raccoon and Nebula.
As it so happens, this is not by simple chance. While Infinity War juggled more characters than ever before, Avengers: Endgame will bring the focus back on the MCU's original superheroes.
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"Infinity War had 23 people on the poster," co-writer Stephen McFeely told Empire. "That dictated a certain type of pace and a certain type of movie. There's only, what, nine people on the poster for Endgame? So maybe you can do a different type of storytelling."
Infinity War's cast was so large that one of the MCU's main players, Steve Rogers, didn't have a large role to play in the epic film. However, that is set to change in Endgame. "He's been our guy since we started at Marvel," co-writer Christopher Markus said. "He's the barometer for the team. You go look for Captain America and if he's still fighting, you keep fighting. But if he's sitting on his butt in the dirt, saying, 'Oh God,' that really, really means you lost."
"People would point out that that Cap wasn't in Infinity War a whole lot," Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige added. "And Iron Man didn't really speak for that last half hour because of what was going on. But those characters, and all of the original six, are very much the focus of Endgame in a very personal and emotional way."
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Avengers: Endgame is rumored to be the final film for some of the original six Avengers. While there is much about the film still shrouded in secrecy, at least we know that the MCU's latest film will bring the focus back on the founding Avengers -- but what will become of them when they face Thanos once again?
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Benedict Wong, Jon Favreau and Bradley Cooper, with Gwyneth Paltrow and Josh Brolin. The film arrives April 26.