Author: Lexy Perez / Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Avengers: Infinity War boasts the most star-studded cast of any superhero movie ever.
On Friday, directors Joe and Anthony Russo will reveal how they managed to give each of the dozens of characters their due in the Marvel Studios film.
Only slightly less challenging: giving the large cast their due on the film’s posters. Throughout its three Avengers movies, Marvel Studios has always given top billing to its most bankable hero — Robert Downey Jr. — but the other spots have been up for grabs.Why is that? First, let’s take a look at who got top billing for all the Avengers movie posters to date:
Avengers (2012)
Robert Downey Jr. , Chris Evans , Mark Ruffalo , Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Tom Hiddleston.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Don Cheadle.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch and Don Cheadle.
Now, let’s take a closer look.
First Billing: Downey
Downey is the undisputed leader of the Marvel Universe. He was its first star, the studio’s anchor since 2008’s Iron Man. Not only has Downey been billed first in the credits, but he has also taken front and center on many, many posters.
Downey is Marvel’s highest paid star and from a box-office perspective, that has made sense. Until February’s Black Panther, no MCU movie had crossed the $1 billion mark without Downey in the cast. Those numbers prove that Tony Stark is not only the group’s “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist,” but also the one deserving of center stage.
Second Billing: Evans vs. Hemsworth
In Avengers, Evans was credited second, which could be attributed to him having just made his Marvel debut in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. The film earned $370.6 million worldwide, resulting in Evans becoming a new force in the MCU. It likely helped that the coda of First Avenger led directly into Avengers, with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) showing up to give him a mission. (Hemsworth’s Thor opened two months earlier than First Avenger, in May 2011.)
But when Age of Ultron came around, Hemsworth dethroned Evans for the No. 2 spot, who fell all the way to No. 4 (Ruffalo made it to No. 3).
It was a curious move; just a year earlier, Evans’ 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier become of of Marvel’s most acclaimed films, and earned $714 million worldwide. (Hemsworth’s 2013 movie Thor: The Dark World earned $644 million and is Marvel’s worst-reviewed movie to date.) Still, Hemsworth’s career had more mainstream heat than Evans’, as he’d distinguished himself in Ron Howard’s Rush (2013) and signed up for a number of studio roles. Meanwhile, Evans had spent his time outside the MCU indulging in his passion for indie filmmaking with his…
The post Examining How ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Bills Its Sprawling Cast appeared first on FeedBox.