Avengers: Infinity War's shocking cliffhanger was almost saved for Avengers 4

By now, you’ve probably seen Avengers: Infinity War. If you have, then you know it features the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most shocking moment. More than a month after the movie was released, I’m still recovering from what happened; I imagine audiences across the world feel the same way.

Surprisingly, Avengers: Infinity War’s ending was much different in early drafts. In fact, the movie’s key moment was nearly saved for Avengers 4, which doesn’t come out for another year.

Spoilers ahead

At the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos successfully collects all six Infinity Stones and, with the snap of his fingers, eliminates half of the universe, including Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and Groot. Needless to say, it was a shocking ending to the most exciting Avengers movie yet, leaving audiences with a major cliffhanger.

However, it wasn’t always going to be that way. According to screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the big “snap” was nearly saved for Avengers 4. You have to remember, Avengers: Infinity War was originally going to be split into two parts, so you can see why they might have saved the moment.

Thankfully, the writers decided to include the snap in order to make the ending to Avengers: Infinity War more impactful. Plus, without the big ending, that post-credits scene would lose some of its luster. The hope of Captain Marvel coming to save the day would be just another teaser.

It’s a good move on Marvel’s part, because it gives audiences a year to think about what happened. It also makes anticipation for Avengers 4 that much higher. At this point, it’s unclear how the Avengers will recover from what happened in Avengers: Infinity War. But we do some idea of what to expect.

Avengers 4 will be released on May 3, 2019.