Avengers: Infinity War concept art gives fans a look at the Secret Avengers in action. Picking up two years after the events of Captain America: Civil War, the film quickly established the fact that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes were still fractured with Iron Man and Captain America still not on speaking terms. Aside from the personal conflict between them, the issue of the Sokovia Accords forced some of the heroes to operate underground as the government deemed then vigilantes.

As a result of their refusal to sign the Sokovia Accords, Captain America, Sam Wilson/Falcon and Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow carried out their responsibilities as heroes discreetly. The tie-in comic book, Avengers: Infinity War Prelude revealed what the trio, dubbed as the MCU’s Secret Avengers, was doing during the two-year gap between Civil War and Infinity War. Apparently, they were fighting ISIS/ISIL operatives. While the movie didn’t show what that looked like, a new illustration offers an idea on how that may have panned out.

New Infinity War concept art features Captain America and Sam in a fight with men who are seemingly dressed like soldiers. Both heroes are not wearing their traditional battler armors.  Interestingly, the image also shows Clint Barton/Hawkeye with them, while Natasha is nowhere to be found. Check out the illustration below shared on Twitter by MCU Direct.

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo, alongside Infinity War writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, began developing the story shortly after they finished work on Civil War. That means that they had quite a long time to craft the movie’s story, so it’s not surprising that it went through a series of changes before arriving at the version that fans saw on the big screen. This aforementioned concept art depicts the idea of Clint potentially joining the Secret Avengers during their low-key adventures leading up to Thanos’ invasion, while Natasha isn’t part of the team. This would’ve drastically changed the trajectory of Clint’s arc since he skipped Infinity War altogether as he struck a house arrest deal to be with his family. He only made his return in Avengers: Endgame with a new persona as the ruthless Ronin.

All that being said, just because Natasha isn’t included in this particularly Avengers: Infinity War concept art doesn’t mean that the filmmakers didn’t initially have her join Captain America and Sam. As fans know from the upcoming Black Widow standalone film, Natasha spent a chunk of that two-year gap back at home to reunite with her other “family.”  focus on some unfinished personal business. Whatever that’s about is still a big question, and is something that will be addressed once the movie finally comes out this May.

More: Avengers: Age of Ultron Deleted Scene Explains Rhodey’s Confusing Endgame Line

Source: Marvel Studios (via MCU Direct)

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