Behind the Scenes of Avengers: Infinity War's Crushing Finale

Still reeling from the final moments in Avengers: Infinity War?

E! News has an exclusive look at Paul Bettany, Chadwick Boseman, Josh Brolin, Chris Evans, Danai Gurira, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Olsen and Sebastian Stan filming the devastating finale, culminating in—spoiler alert!—Thanos activating the Infinity Gauntlet and snapping his fingers, wiping out half the galaxy's population.

Black Panther? Bye. Groot? Gone. Spider-Man? See ya.

The final battle occurs after Thanos goes on a smash and grab across the universe to collect all six Infinity Stones, giving him unparalleled power. The Mind Stone is embedded in Vision's forehead, bringing Thanos to Wakanda—where the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy and a host of other superheroes are preparing to fight him to the death. "When Thanos shows up, we really wanted to make this the most powerful moment ever," executive producer Trinh Tran says in a bonus featurette (included on the digital and Blu-ray editions of the blockbuster). Of course, deciding which heroes would vanish was a challenge. "In terms of our choices about who Thanos would end up eradicating with his snap, it was very story-focused. How do we pay off each individual character's storyline most profoundly?" co-director Anthony Russo asks. "The first person to go is Bucky Barnes, and it's shot from Captain America's perspective."

Similarly, Russo notes that Okoye's "No. 1 mission in life" is to protect King T'Challa—making it more heartbreaking to watch as she "watches the king go in front of her." No matter which characters turned to dust, Russo says, seeing how the surviving heroes react "is very powerful."

Where will Captain America (Evans), Okoye (Gurira), Thor (Hemsworth), Black Widow (Johansson), Falcon (Mackie), Scarlet Witch (Olsen) and the other heroes go from here? That question won't be answered until the fourth and final Avengers film hits theaters in April 2019.

Other bonus features available on Blu-ray and digital include 10 minutes of deleted and extended scenes, a gag reel and audio commentary with the directors and the screenwriters. It also contains more than two hours of never-before-revealed details of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's unprecedented, 10-year cinematic journey—including a filmmakers round table.

Marvel Studios' Avengers: Infinity War is available digitally July 31 and on Blu-ray Aug. 14.