We're already asking the question that's going to be on everyone's mind once the credits
roll on Avengers: Endgame: what's next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Only time will tell, but like Doctor Strange, we've looked through 14 million possible futures
for the MCU and have a few ideas on what we might see in Phase Four.
Those of you who are slightly less obsessive about the MCU might be wondering what exactly
we mean by "Phase Four."
Basically, while each film walks a delicate balance between being a standalone feature
and a part of a much larger saga, the MCU movies are conceptually divided into "phases."
The idea is that while they might not necessarily be direct sequels, they each tie into each
other thematically and build to a climax that unifies everything that came before.
Phase One, which began with Iron Man in 2008 and moved through movies like Captain America:
The First Avenger, Thor, and the often overlooked Incredible Hulk, was all about introducing
each of the superheroes on their own before bringing them together in The Avengers.
Phase Two was about building a much larger universe around them, and reframing what a
superhero was by introducing cosmic heroes with vast adventures like the Guardians of
the Galaxy and micro heroes with much smaller scale adventures, like Ant-Man.
Thematically, the climax of Phase Two was Avengers: Age of Ultron, which also added
heroes like Vision and the Scarlet Witch to the team.
And then there's Phase 3, which has been about loss and about the dire consequences that
can come from noble intentions.
It began with the heroes fighting each other in Captain America: Civil War and then moved
through several films about heroes discovering lies and secrets in their past, such as in
Thor: Ragnarok... and in Black Panther... and in Captain Marvel.
Now, it's set to reach its endgame in… well, Endgame.
So what happens in Phase 4?
The future is shrouded in mystery, but one thing you can bank on is that the next few
years of the MCU are going to be focused on a very different set of characters than the
last few.
Part of that, of course, is the inevitable product of the march of time; Chris Evans
has mentioned that he'd like to be done with blockbusters and focus on smaller projects,
at least for a while, and Robert Downey Jr. has expressed some similar desires to move
on from Tony Stark.
That makes sense, too, because he's been at this for a while.
Even if you don't count cameos like the one in Incredible Hulk, and only focus on the
Iron Man movies and starring roles like the Avengers films and Spider-Man: Homecoming,
Downey has played Tony Stark in nine films over the course of 11 years.
Iron Man might be a character built for a medium that's meant to go on forever, but
at some point, you can't blame a guy for wanting to take a break.
"Okay, anybody on our side hiding any shocking and fantastic abilities they'd like to disclose,
I'm open to suggestions."
The flip side to that is that there's some good news: while Iron Man and Captain America
were the foundation of the MCU for its first decade, Phase Three went hard at introducing
a whole new crop of heroes.
One of the biggest introductions came when Marvel and Sony finally reached an agreement
to bring Spider-Man into the MCU, resulting in one of Marvel's best films in Homecoming.
If Spider-Man was big, though, Black Panther and Captain Marvel were downright massive.
Both of those films were the first solo outings for their respective title characters, and
both racked up over a billion dollars at the box office.
Add in Doctor Strange, and the MCU has more than proven that it can build an entire new
generation of superhero stars to carry the torch into Phase 4.
While Marvel has said they won't be officially announcing any Phase 4 projects until after
Spider-Man: Far from Home hits theaters in the summer of 2019, we do know a few characters
we're likely to see.
One is Adam Warlock, who was teased at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
He has traditionally been associated with the Infinity Stones, so it's unclear what
role he might play in Phase 4, but it has been previously announced that he wouldn't
be seen until Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 comes out.
Then there's The Eternals.
Created by the great Jack Kirby, The Eternals is set to star Angelina Jolie and features
a group of humans who long ago were experimented on and given tremendous powers by the cosmic
space gods known as The Celestials, who previously cameoed in Guardians of the Galaxy.
And finally, there's Shang-Chi, the Master of Kung Fu, who is the world's greatest martial
artist.
In the comics, Shang-Chi dedicated his life to defeating the world-conquering plans of
his father, an immortal Chinese villain.
The announced MCU film is reportedly going to be updated for modern audiences, though,
so just what role Shang-Chi, or any of these new faces, will play in Phase 4 is still unclear.
One idea that has only been touched on briefly in the films is the concept of the legacy
character.
In the comics, a legacy character is one where new characters take over existing superhero
identities once the original hero has moved on via retirement or death.
Jim Rhodes was the second Iron Man, and both Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes have spent time
as Captain America.
"You couldn't have done that earlier?"
"I hate you."
So far, the only hint of this in the MCU has been with Ant-Man and the Wasp, with Scott
Lang and Hope van Dyne taking over those identities from Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne.
But if Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. do indeed hang up their spandex after Avengers:
Endgame, it's very possible we may see Rhodey take over as Iron Man, or Bucky take over
as Captain America.
After all, what better way to pay homage to the founders of the MCU than by making sure
their names live on forever?
One safe assumption to make about the MCU going forward is that whatever storyline weaves
through and unites the next 20 movies, it won't be focused on Thanos and the Infinity
Stones.
Once you gather up the six of them, forge them into a giant golden gauntlet, and kill
half of the universe, after all, there's really no way to top it.
There's a reason beyond just a logical progression of events that leads us to think we're going
to be done with the stones, though.
Marvel Studios President of Production Kevin Feige collectively referred to the first 22
MCU films as "The Infinity Saga."
In addition to being a nice designation to fit on the side of a ridiculously expensive
box set of Blu-rays, that's a pretty clear indication that the stories built around the
Stones are coming to an end.
So what will the next MCU Saga be about?
Luckily, it turns out that there are plenty of possibilities.
One of the things that makes it so difficult to figure out where the Marvel movies are
going after Endgame is that eliminating the Infinity Stones doesn't really narrow down
our options for what might take their place.
In the comic book pages, Marvel has spent about 60 years creating a nearly endless supply
of MacGuffins.
If you're not familiar with the term, a "MacGuffin" is a term for a plot device that sparks the
inciting incident.
It's the thing that everyone's looking for, like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction or the
Maltese Falcon in The Maltese Falcon.
Or like the six magic stones that everyone in the MCU has been obsessing about for the
last decade.
Luckily, if Marvel decides to go the MacGuffin route again, there are plenty of candidates.
For instance, the Darkhold, which is the user manual for black magic and which appeared
in season 4 of Agents of SHIELD, would be a natural starting point for a saga involving
Dormammu.
The Casket of Ancient Winters, which briefly appeared in the first Thor film, contains
the infinite power of nature.
Then there's the Evil Eye of Avalon, the Nega-Bands, U.S. Archer's trailer truck… the list is
nearly endless.
With so many to choose from, it will probably go down to which best fits the bad guys they
want to use.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had more than its fair share of incredibly powerful
supervillains, from Loki and Hela to Ultron and Ego, the Living Planet.
But that's the nice thing about superheroes: they never seem to run out of villains.
If Marvel decides to bring in another cosmic threat like Thanos, Annihilus is one obvious
candidate.
There are also potentially more interesting directions they could take, such as the time
traveling warlord Kang the Conqueror, or the world eating Galactus.
Or they could go with a more mystical threat, such as Dormammu.
When it comes right down to it, there's really just one big villain that stands out above
the rest.
The only thing is, though, he comes with some baggage...
Probably the most exciting aspect of Phase Four is the possibility that Marvel could
finally introduce MCU versions of some of their most beloved heroes and villains, including
the Fantastic Four and their archenemy, Doctor Doom.
Of course, these characters have appeared on film before.
Three times, in fact.
But you can be forgiven for forgetting that, as most fans of the characters have tried
to convince themselves for years that those movies were all just a bad dream.
The three previous Fantastic Four films were made by Fox.
Now that Disney has purchased Fox, however, the rights have reverted to Marvel Studios,
giving them a chance to finally get these characters right.
And as we saw with Spider-Man; Homecoming, nobody knows how to do Marvel characters like
Marvel themselves.
As exciting as it will be to finally see the Fantastic Four done well, though, it's almost
more exciting to consider MCU versions of some of their supporting cast, including the
enigmatic Silver Surfer and Marvel's number one supervillain, Doctor Doom.
After all, if Marvel can turn a talking tree into a worldwide pop culture icon, imagine
what they can do with the coolest villain in comics.
For a lot of fans, the Fantastic Four pale in comparison to the big acquisition from
the Disney/Fox deal: the X-Men.
On their own, they're a franchise that's about as massive and complicated as the rest of
the Marvel Universe put together, and they also have their own sprawling, mostly successful
film franchise.
The MCU so far has gone out of its way to carve out a world without mutants, to the
point of referring to Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch by a similar but legally distinct
M-word when they showed up at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
"This is the age of miracles, doctor.
There is nothing more horrifying than a miracle."
Now that Marvel has the rights to the X-Men again, though, they are free to introduce
as many mutants as they want.
Or, not; as we've learned from superhero films, there are an infinite number of ways you can
get superpowers, so it's possible in the MCU, the X-Men won't be mutants at all.
And if the X-Men do show up in the MCU during Phase Four, they might just wind up being
used much more sparingly than they have been in their own film series.
If nothing else, it would allow fans who were still attached to the Fox X-Men series to
have some breathing room before reintroducing characters like Storm or Jean Grey.
Whatever Marvel does in Phase 4, though, one thing is guaranteed: we'll be first in line
at the theater to find out.
See you there!
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