The fan-made MCU Supercut - The Road to Infinity War video recounts the past tens years' worth of developments in the Marvel Studios franchise. It's been a decade since Marvel Studios began producing their own films, starting with 2008's Iron Man. Now, the company has built a cinematic empire worth $14 billion - one that will reach its culmination next month with Avengers: Infinity War. Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, and written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the upcoming blockbuster promises to find a "narrative thread" in every MCU movie storyline to date. That will set the stage for next year's still-untitled Avengers 4 to serve as the bookend to a narrative arc that will span 22 movies, by that point.

Bringing together almost every key player in the franchise in one epic movie, Infinity War will finally pit the heroes of the MCU against the Mad Titan himself, Thanos. Dubbed the biggest and baddest villain that the MCU has ever seen, Thanos was first introduced to the franchise in 2012's The Avengers via a post-credits scene. While that means that the character has been gradually built up over the course of six years now, the creatives behind Infinity War are confident that Thanos will prove to be worth the wait. And as the MCU Supercut video illustrates, there's a whole lot more to the movie than "just" Thanos.

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Question is, how exactly did the MCU get to this point? Well, the folks over at MCU Exchange have released a lengthy "trailer" for people who want a refresher on everything that has transpired in the 18 MCU movies released thus far. Considering that a full blown MCU movie marathon would take between 24-48 hours to complete at this stage, this 20 minute recap video should come in handy for those who would like to revisit the franchise's past - but don't have the time to simply rewatch all 18 films before Infinity War comes out.

It's hard for long-time MCU fans to not get a little emotional while watching this supercut. It basically touches on every film from the franchise and shows how each of them played a part in the overarching MCU narrative leading to Infinity War. Sure, Edward Norton's The Incredible Hulk wasn't highlighted, and instead, the video establishes Mark Ruffalo as the only incarnation of Bruce Banner/Hulk in the film series, but since the movie was released early on in the franchise's history, the actor change-up doesn't necessarily affect the bigger story. If anything, Banner's inclusion is more character-based, as the video shows how he has evolved from a reclusive scientist who didn't want anything to do with saving the world, to a superhero who finds himself on a totally different planet in Thor: Ragnarok.

More than anything, the 20-minute video zeroes in on what makes the MCU work - its characters. The majority of the footage focuses on each individual's progression as a superhero, as well as their interactions with one another. Marvel Studios did it right when they made sure that their franchise key players are compelling enough that people will be interested in going on this long journey with them. And with some approaching the end of their roads, it's more than likely that tears will flow once the credits for Avengers: Infinity War start rolling.

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Source: MCU Exchange