Thanos & Thor Have The Most Screen Time In Avengers: Infinity War

Thanos and Thor are the two characters that have the most screen time in Avengers: Infinity War. Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America: Civil War), and based on a script from screenwriting duo Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Civil War), the highly-anticipated third Avengers film comes on the heels of a record-breaking box office run by Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther. And it takes the Marvel Cinematic Universe to new heights by culminating the past 10 years worth of storytelling within the MCU.


The upcoming film marks the beginning of the end of the MCU’s first saga that launched with Jon Favreau’s Iron Man way back in 2008, and it’s something that will have lasting consequences on the overarching shared universe going forward. In the movie, the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes unite with the Guardians of the Galaxy as the universe’s last stand against the Mad Titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his Black Order, who are attempting to collect all six Infinity Stones. By doing so, Thanos will potentially wipe out half the universe with the snap of his fingers. But there’s a lot more going on in the film than just Thanos and his minions seeking out the Stones. After all, not many people know who Thanos really is (aside from comic book readers).


In an interview with Fandango, Joe Russo briefly discussed how the creative team broke down the amount of screen time each character should receive in Avengers: Infinity War. As it turns out, some characters received more screen time than others – which shouldn’t worry fans since the Russos still have Avengers 4 right around the corner – and those characters are Thanos and Thor.

“Interestingly enough, I’ll start out by saying Thanos, even though he’s not a character that had a huge preexisting story in the Marvel universe. He was a threat but he was not developed in any way up to this point. Thanos has an incredible amount of screen time in this film, in a lot of ways I would say it’s his movie. Our job when we make these films — and what we feel is important to us — is to surprise the audience. We wanted to tell a story that they weren’t expecting, and the story is told from the point of view of a villain, which I think is also really unique and risky for a commercial film that will surprise the audience. I think this is a market where the audience really enjoys innovation and disruption, and we want to do something innovative in this space. So I think Thanos has an incredible amount of screen time, and I think you’ll find that Thor has a really interesting arc in the film. He hasn’t been at the forefront of other Avengers movies but he certainly has a very important role in this film. So I’ll say, Thanos and Thor.”

The latest Avengers 3 trailer is evidence of Infinity War being Thanos’ movie. He’s shown fighting every superhero in the movie in at least four different locations: New York City (?), Wakanda, Titan, and aboard the Grandmaster’s vessel (from Thor: Ragnarok). There might be even more that hasn’t been revealed yet, which wouldn’t be too surprising. But in addition to spending time showing Thanos hunting down all the Infinity Stones, the film also shows Thanos’ past (as well as Gamora’s). Although the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building up to Thanos’ arrival since The Avengers hit theaters all those years ago, not much is actually known about the supervillain, at least not in the MCU; his comic book origins are obviously known by those who’ve read the comics.


As for Thor, it’s interesting that the Russos would single out him as the other character who’s receiving the most screen time in this film when he hasn’t been shown as much as the other Avengers in the movie’s trailers thus far. Plus, he’s on a side mission with Groot and Rocket Raccoon to construct Stormbreaker. (He did lose Mjolnir, after all.) But it makes sense since Joe Russo told Screen Rant in our set visit interview that Thor has the most compelling arc in the film. And seeing the character reinvented after Thor: Ragnarok will certainly be interesting to see in Infinity War. Still, though, there are a lot of characters in the movie, and saying that Thanos and Thor have the most screen time in Avengers: Infinity War may not mean that the other characters will be overlooked, but we’ll just have to wait and see.