Avenger: Endgame, the fourth film in the franchise brought an end to the story started in Infinity War, i.e., 3rd movie. It culminated the first 22-films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It was the end to the 10-year super-arc. The team has changed due the events that took place. So, it brings up the most obvious question, will there be an Avengers 5? (Check: My Hero Academia.)
Phase 4 and Marvel’s future
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MCU hasn’t officially announced any sequel to the Endgame yet. Leaving it aside, Marvel Studios has already got a lot of movies to complete that are on its schedule. The final Phase 3 movie, Spider-Man: Far From Home is to release in July 2019.
Then, for 2020 and beyond, there are movies already lined up to be released. Marvel is working on Black Panther 2, Doctor Strange 2, Shang-Chi, Black Widow, and The Eternals. Many of these have not received official notification yet.
That already sounds a lot of material to work upon, and watch hours for the audience. Disney has designated eight specific dates between 2020 and 2022 for untitled Marvel films. This leaves three slots empty. It means that all the above mentioned films could be released in that period.
Not all, but most of its projects are still in early stages. There is plenty of space to release another Avengers movie in that schedule. As the Avengers: Endgame has premiered, it seems the perfect time in which Marvel Studios can updated fans on the movies that they will be obsessing over for the next few years.
Too big to fail Now
Is there any Avengers film on the horizon? Or was Endgame the final chapter in the story? It was the best of Earth’s super team, flawed though. It created as much trouble as it has prevented. If you don’t believe, go thoroughly watch Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War once again.
Though, major changes took place in the end, Avengers is a brand that’s too valuable to not to proceed with it for long. All the four Avengers movies are in the top 9 highest grossing movies of all time. It makes MCU a combined box office collection of $6.64 billion. Endgame is still breaking all sorts of records.
Marvel Studios has created movies that went through a series of films towards a climax. The natural fit for that storytelling is a big movie featuring all its biggest heroes – an Avengers movie. That hype has successfully created the biggest movie franchise in history. So, it doesn’t make sense that Marvel will mess with that formula.
It’s well known that the studio has turned lesser-known and B-list superheroes into massive hits. The biggest example of it is the Guardians of Galaxy. Now, it is going to give the similar touch to the Eternals and Shang-Chi.
Black Panther reached close to the unstoppable success of the Avengers. It’s a time when reboots and sequels of established characters/movies are on the top of the Hollywood industry. So, in this time, it’s not possible to leave the Earth’s mightiest superheroes aside for long.
Avengers 5 Plot: how will it continue?
So, we can conclude that Avengers franchise will continue. But, how will Avengers 5 continue the story? The original has been almost deconstructed and changed. Black Widow and Iron Man are dead, Captain America is an old man now, and Thor has gone with the Guardians into the space.
However, we have seen in movies and comics, and has well established, that Avengers line-up is fluid. You can practically draft any MCU hero at any point of time.
It has been suggested that Brie Larson as Captain Marvel will take the lead of the MCU. So, if it’s not Avengers, then who? Please! Please! Don’t come up to the Defenders.
Leaving the mantle of Flacon, Sam Wilson has taken the mantle of Captain America. It leaves Haweye and Hulk as the original lineup. However, other heroes like Spider-Man, Valkyrie, Black Panther, War Machine, Winter Soldier, and Doctor Strange are still about. Marvel has a plenty of candidates for a new version of the team.
Even if Disney decides to retire the Avengers, there are many others from the comics who would continue the valuable name. Civil War established the MCU’s version of the undercover Secret Avengers when Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon, and company got separated from Tony Stark, and continued to work under radar.
According to the rumors, there are films based on New Avengers, Yound Avengers, and the evil version – the Dark Avengers in development. Marvel even can go with the West Coast Avengers, or even the satirical Great Lakes Avengers to refresh the Avengers legacy.
Disney has got many options to continue the Avengers’ stellar legacy on the big screen. The only way they would struggle is by not continuing at all.
