What Do The New 'Avengers' Movie Titles Mean?

Marvel Studios have some typically marvel-lous news for us. If you've been wondering if they've been giving any thought to the Avengers 3 and Avengers 4 titles, I can now confirm: absolutely. I know, I know: We all thought Avengers 3 would be called Avengers: Infinity War Part I, while Avengers 4 would be Avengers: Infinity War Part II — but, according to Deadline, that's all changed, and Avengers 3 and Avengers 4 have new titles. Avengers 3 will now be known as Avengers: Infinity War and — no less significantly — Avengers 4 has gone from being dubbed Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 to being currently untitled. So what exactly do these changes to the titles mean for the movies?

We could assume from the title for Avengers: Infinity War that this suggests supervillain Thanos will take control of the Infinity Gauntlet (which is made up of six "soul" or infinity gems and which when worn make the person wearing it able to do whatever they want) and that this will lead to the titular war. The now untitled fourth movie is actually the more significant piece of news here. The fact that it was previously a part 2 and is now untitled means it'll presumably have a new storyline, and Infinity War might actually wrap up in the third movie.

We can also assume that hopefully the power struggle over the Infinity Gems will be over by the end of the third movie and the Avengers will be moving on to battle new issues in the fourth movie. Marvel isn't dumb — obviously there will be connecting elements between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Untitled. Also it looks as if this has been in the works for a while. Way back in May, Uproxx quoted co-director Joe Russo as saying, “the intention is we will change it, we just haven’t come up with the titles yet...But, yes, we will change it. The movies are two very different movies."

So really, this shouldn't come as a huge surprise to us.

It also makes sense in terms of maximizing the franchise. Part 1 and Part 2 movies can often seem to drag on a bit too long, so the promise of tight storytelling in the Avengers franchise is compelling. So, while this may seem minor, I would argue it's the smartest move the Russos have made yet in their planning of the next two Avengers movies.

Images: Marvel Studios; Walt Disney Pictures (2); Giphy