...I completely disagree with the multi-villain route. Totally, utterly, disagree with every fiber of my being.
Why? After watching the abomination that is X Men Apocalypse, the biggest reason that movie licked donkey balls was because of the number of characters the film had to service. With the exception of important side characters, like Magneto's kid, there are SIXTEEN men and women in that movie. Waaaaay too many.
And if we look at the Marvel end game (Infinity War 1 & 2) just how many characters are we going to end up with? Let say we can disregard the Netflix & AoS folks, still we'll have Cap, Strange, Hulk/Banner, Thor and possibly Loki, Scarlet Witch, Stark and his IM suits, Rhodey, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Ant Man & possibly Wasp, Spidey, Black Panther, Winter Soldier, Falcon, Guardians of Galaxy guys (five of 'em!!), Vision, Nick Fury and his crew, and then, the villains Thanos and whoever else he brings along. Did I miss anyone?
My maths is pretty appalling, but even I can tell that's a lot of people. Way too many, I tell ya. Just because we know all these characters, that doesn't mean they can just sort of show up and start kicking ass right away a la Hawkeye in Civil War. Makes no bloody sense like that.
Even with the story split in half, even if each film has a running time of three hours, it will be a trainwreck with these many people on screen at once. Hence, please Marvel, kill off half the characters in the first movie, then introduce the rest into the narrative in the second film. Yes, I'm serious.
I think someone from Marvel already mentioned that we won't see all of the characters in the same place. Apart from a few shots where they stand together (similar to the circling camera in the first Avengers movie).
The problem with the other movies is that we didn't create any sort of relationship with the characters. If 90% of the characters died, nobody would care. There is not enough character development so people can relate to them or feel bad for their loss. The same happened with BVS, and only with what, half a dozen characters? Character development is the key. We have a ton of Marvel movies so far, the character development is fairly good in most cases, and pretty much all of them have a large fanbase behind them (whether is for the actor/actress portraying the character, or the character itself). Civil War had roughly as much characters as X-Men Apocalypse, and it was a great movie, with a good plot and enough time for each character on screen.
The characters have to be present in the movies, even if only for a brief appearance (I'm ignoring the characters from the tv shows, since they most likely won't appear).
In Infinity War, there has to be a sense that the rest of the characters still exist, unlike some previous movies (Thor The Dark World), where the world was about to end, and none of the Avengers appeared. Things have to make sense, even if it's an appearance as little as Rhodey/War Machine fighting Thanos's army off the White House or something. If a character like Hawkeye isn't killed, then there should be a mention that he is protecting his family.
Instead of killing half of the characters randomly, they should kill characters in a way that compels the surviving roster to fight harder and create new team-ups. They should not kill off 10 characters, just because they have 10 more to fill their place.
Like I said, not all the characters will appear on screen at the same time. Most likely to happen in the first movie, is battles involving the Avengers on earth (probably having two split teams, due to Civil War), Thor and other Asgard related characters fighting in Asgard, the Guardians between Xandar and Knowhere. You have almost all of the characters in one movie, but in different parts of the Universe. The second movie, could see a final team up with the surviving characters of each "team", back on Earth. We might see an half complete team of the Guardians, whether because some died, or choose to stay protecting their planet/home. The same goes for the characters from Asgard, Odin might die, making Loki team-up with Thor to fight side-by-side with the Avengers (as far as we know, we might even see a Doctor Strange/Loki team-up, to fight any extra-dimensional threat). With the Avengers something similar. Some might have to die, others might have to be "placed" elsewhere, since they can't do much against Thanos.
The deaths have to be handled really well. They can't just kill a character just to fill in with another one. Each death has to have an impact in the rest of the team. Cap could die, so we could feel what impact it has on Stark or Thor or even Hulk. Not "kill everyone in the first movie, add some random people in the second".
While true, we shouldn't take the titles of the movies too literally. "Age" of Ultron was what, less than a week?
I know, but that's my perspective of what would be ideal. I mean, having the first movie being a team-up versus Thanos on Earth, with the Avengers loosing, and the second exactly the same thing, with the Avengers winning, wouldn't make much sense.
An all-new Avengers team for the second movie could work though, and it wouldn't be with less powerful characters. Feige has already stated Captain Marvel will be the most powerful hero the MCU has seen thus far.
I don't think so. Apart from Captain Marvel, which characters in the "New Avengers" are stronger than the previous ones? Bucky, Ant-Man and Falcon are weaker than Cap. Both Falcon and Ant-Man are of similar capabilities as Black Widow or Hawkeye. Black Panther is about as strong as Cap, but has a ton of technology around him, which places right in front of Stark. Vision and Scarlet Witch were already part of the Avengers, and along the most powerfull characters. Spider Man is no way near as strong as Hulk. Hulk alone is stronger than half of the new Avengers, the same with Thor. Doctor Strange does not replace anyone, and isn't stronger than Hulk or Thor or Vision or even Iron Man in physical combat, it's a character with a completely different set of skills. Then remains Captain Marvel, so how powerfull will be? Doubt that she is stronger than Thor and Hulk combined.
The point is, most of the new Avengers that could replace the old ones, can't even scratch Thanos in their best day. Replacing Thor and Hulk with those characters, is throwing away two powerhouses that can actualy harm Thanos, for a bunch of characters uncapable of doing anything against him.
Genuinely believe the Infinity War movies are the ones most likely to end the successful run the MCU has had. Splitting something into two parts has never worked well, critically or financially — Deathly Hallows, Kill Bill, (apparently) Twilight — so I'm very wary.
They stated that this movie won't be a Part 1 and Part 2 movies anymore. Two different movies, with two different titles. Speculation says the second one might be called Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet.
I'd say the first one is focused on Thanos assembling the Gauntlet and all the Stones. It takes place in different parts of the Universe. The second might be focused on the big battle with Thanos himself vs all the (remaining) Avengers, and dismantling the Gauntlet. The first movie won't end up abruptly, instead it will have a proper ending.
A possible timeline for the end of the first movie: One of the members of the Black Order comes to Earth to gather Vision's Infinity Stone, but gets beaten. With this, in the second movie Thanos would have a reason to come to Earth himself. This would make it seem like a positive end for the first movie (on Earth atleast), but with more to come in the second. A bit like Civil War, the movie ended, but with consequences and doubts in the rest of the MCU.
Thanos arriving to Earth in the first movie wouldn't make much sense, if he had to leave the planet at the end of the first movie, sparing it, and then come back for the second movie to destroy it.