Avengers 4 Starts Production, Directors Release New Image

Although the plan to shoot the third and fourth Avengers movies back-to-back was changed last year, it doesn't mean that directors Anthony and Joe Russo are having any downtime. Avengers: Infinity War wrapped last month, and now the Russos have already started production on the currently-untitled Avengers 4. They marked the occasion by posting an image of a gloved hand raising four fingers, with the caption, "Beginning the end." Check it out below:

Avengers 4 will be released in May 2019 and won't just conclude the story of Thanos and the Infinity War--it will wrap up the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. "By the time we're at Avengers 4, 22 movies will have encompassed the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe," Marvel boss Kevin Feige said April. "And what happens after that will be very different. I don't know if it's Phase 4, it might be a new thing."

Although it is unknown what shape the next phase of the MCU will take, veteran Marvel stars such as Chris Evans (Captain America) and Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man) have hinted that they may not continue in their roles for much longer.

In an interview in June, Evans said, "I could have [left] after the third Avengers, but they wanted to make the third and fourth films as a two-parter. It's going to wrap everything up." Downey Jr, meanwhile, told Australia's News that he wants to "hang up my jersey before it's embarrassing."

Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on May 4, 2018, and will feature a huge number of heroes from the MCU. A first teaser was screened at San Diego Comic-Con in July, but it is yet to be released online.