Avengers: Infinity War directors say that missing characters could play a bigger part in the sequel

Directing brothers Joe and Anthony Russo have since assured fans that Hawkeye has a role to play in the story, but he’s not even the only noticeable omission in the new film, with the likes of Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie and Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury also largely absent from the footage and images we’ve seen thus far.

So where is everyone? Well, the Russos have now hinted that anyone missing you were hoping to see in Avengers: Infinity War will still probably be a part of the story – it just might be the case that we have to wait until the film’s untitled sequel is released next year before we see them join the fight in earnest.

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“We sat down and we found a way to work everybody in – but we have two movies that we're working with,” Joe Russo told RadioTimes.com for a new video interview (above), where he acknowledged the absence of Hawkeye from promo material.

“So we figured out a way to bring everybody that we wanted to bring into the storytelling, I think in ways that felt satisfying to us, and so we're happy with who we got to work with.”

And of course, Ant-Man’s absence can partially be explained by the fact that he has his own solo movie (with Evangeline Lilly’s The Wasp) coming out this summer. Assuming Avengers: Infinity War ends on a cliffhanger, wouldn’t it be weird for Ant-Man to just zip off, have his own adventure then tap back in for the big finale?

More likely, Ant-Man will take place slightly before the events of Infinity War, and conclude with the miniaturised hero going to join the fight for part two – and in any case, according to the Russos Ant-Man and The Wasp’s storyline will be more preoccupied with his last onscreen appearance in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.

“Civil War has a big impact on everything to follow it,” Joe Russo told us.

“In that movie there are characters who are on the wrong side of the government, the US government. And so the audience will get to see how everyone responded to being on the wrong side, and what decisions they made to allow them to move forward in their lives.”

In other words, some heroes’ choices led them up to where we find them in Infinity War, while Ant-Man’s led him to where he appears in Ant-Man and the Wasp. We just hope he can sort himself out in time to zip over to the big battle, then easily shrink the Infinity Gauntlet until it’s too small for Thanos to wear and permanently save the day.

Wait, unless THAT’s why they’re keeping him out of the action…

This article was originally published on the 18th April

Avengers: Infinity War will be released in UK cinemas on the 26^th April