With the big ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ trailer released, it only makes sense that Marvel fans as well as Marvel’s cinematic orchestrator, Kevin Feige, begin to wonder about the future. With Marvel reaching the end of their ultra-successful Phase 3, fans are starting to ponder where the Avengers team will fit in for the coming years. Feige is notorious for his willingness to engage in speculation and he took to the press to release his thoughts. Feige chose his words carefully but, as you are about to see, he was deliberate in hinting at two major outcomes.
The release of the ‘Infinity War’ trailer as well as the increased focus on heroes like Doctor Strange and the Guardians of the Galaxy shows that Marvel is pushing increasingly toward the more ‘cosmic’ section of the comic book universe. With the story surrounding Thanos being one of the most famous from the comic book series, it shows the limits of our original Avengers: Captain America, Spider-Man, The Hulk, Thor and Iron Man. As the universe goes more cosmic, it leaves behind these old hands. Feige had this to say about life after the ‘Infinity War’, “If the Avengers survive, we will see more films with them in space.” Feige had been attending a Marvel themed panel at CCXP when he dropped this little nugget of information.
While Feige’s statement sounds like it is pretty open-ended, the reality may be anything but. Comic book fans know what Thanos can do and have every Avenger survive the iconic Infinity War arc would be, well, possibly the worst thing that Marvel could do. Joe and Anthony Russo, the brother-directorial team behind ‘Infinity War’, have dropped various hints to the media that things may not go great for the Avengers. The Russo Brothers are also the ones that gave us the critically revered, and darkest, recent entry in the series: ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’. If you can read the cards, it looks like Marvel is prepping us to love some of our beloved heroes.
No matter what Marvel decides in terms of their Phase 4, it looks like the future of the shared universe is in good hands. Feige has already vowed that Marvel will produce at least another 20 films and that can only mean big things for some of the deeper-cut characters from the franchise as well as characters like Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland, who have so much story ahead of them.
