Star-Lord and Thor confirmed for Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1 and Part 2 will be "very, very different" movies

From the moment it was announced that Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe would culminate with Avengers: Infinity War, there’s been speculation that the two-part movie will see Earth’s Mightiest Heroes teaming up with the Guardians of the Galaxy to battle the Mad Titan Thanos.

So far, Marvel has refused to be drawn into the speculation, but Captain America: Civil War and Infinity War co-director Anthony Russo has now seemingly confirmed the Guardians’ involvement – or Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, at the very least.

“The movies are intended to be a culmination of everything that’s happened before in the MCU so you don’t want to get into spoilers but I’m a big fan of what James Gunn has done,” Anthony told Comic Book when asked which characters he’s excited to work with. “[Joe Russo and I] are both big fans of what James Gunn has done. Star-Lord is a fantastic character and Chris Pratt is an awesome performer so you’d be very excited.”

Joe Russo then went on to confirm that Chris Hemsworth’s Thor will be making his return following his absence in Civil War and the events of Thor: Ragnarok: “I’m excited to work with Thor. They’re doing some really interesting stuff with Ragnarok and where he’s gonna be at the beginning of Infinity War is gonna be a very interesting place and I think very profound. I think he’s gonna have a real emotional motivation after that.”

Meanwhile, during a chat with io9, Anthony Russo also revealed that while Infinity War – Part I and Part II are going to be shot back-to-back, they will be two very distinct films:

“The movies are very, very different from one another. It’s not a part one and part two scenario, necessarily. They’re just two different expressions. I think it creates a misconception that we’re shooting them at the same time. For us there’s a through line from Winter Soldier, through Civil War, right to Infinity War. In our mind, the storytelling arc moves that way.”

“There’s an overarching story that’s going to be told through all four films,” adds Joe Russo. “And I think having the amount of characters we have in [Civil War] certainly prepares us to deal with probably triple the amount of characters in Infinity War.”

Avengers: Infinity War – Part I is set for release on May 2nd 2018, followed by Avengers: Infinity War – Part II on May 3rd, 2019.