Marvel had a big surprise for fans who can't wait to see the latest installment of the "Avengers" series: "Infinity War" will now premiere a week earlier than scheduled.

The release date switcheroo -- from original date May 4 to the new date, April 27 -- was announced in a cheeky Twitter exchange between star Robert Downey Jr. and the official Marvel account. The public reasoning behind the change seems to be that now, the flick will have the same release date worldwide (typically, Marvel movies debut a week earlier internationally before they make their North American debut). Spoilerphobic fans should be pleased.

But May is also a very busy month at the multiplex, especially for Marvel parent company Disney, which is also set to debut the Lucasfilm flick "Solo: A Star Wars Story" on May 25. So it makes sense to try to prevent the films from cannibalizing each other's audiences, and give "Infinity War" some more room to breathe at the box office before Solo comes storming in at the end of the month. (Another bonus of changing up the "Infinity War" premiere date: No direct competition with the debut of rival -- for now, pending its proposed Disney merger -- studio 20th Century Fox's "Deadpool," itself moved up to a new date, May 18.)

"Infinity War" is the most-anticipated movie of 2018, so fans should be pleased that they won't have much longer to wait to finally see the big-screen team-up of the "Avengers" crew, the "Guardians of the Galaxy" gang, and the red-hot Wakanda heroes from current smash hit "Black Panther." "Avengers: Infinity War" hits theaters on April 27.

[via: Marvel/Twitter]