The cinematic universe is different than the comic book universe, which has many options for retconning and for resurrecting fallen heroes. Among comic book fans, something similar to "Nothing ever stays dead for long in the comic books" gets said in just about every comic book store at one point or another. Marvel, and by extension, Disney definitely has a plan because they are releasing Avengers 4 in just one year. The previous Avengers movies have all been spaced out while Marvel released individual films building up to the next installment. They have also said that they are not running any comic book panel at San Diego Comic Con this year. I imagine that the reasoning behind this is because they want to keep some things under wraps until then. So what could it be?
Well, it may have something to do with what Doctor Strange said to Iron Man on Titan. "We are in the Endgame now." So Doctor Strange saw something in one of the ten million or more scenarios that he viewed with the time stone, but he also can't be a part of it. I can't even begin to understand that. So somehow all of what we just saw is going toward some kind of scenario where the Avengers can beat Thanos? That's what I'm thinking even if he seems pretty unbeatable at this point. Needless to say, I have no idea how that's even going to happen. As I said above, the cinematic universe is different, and I just have no idea how any of the movies or franchises are going to proceed now because of what we saw happen in Infinity War.
The things I do know are that the stories aren't done. We've got Ant Man and the Wasp happening in July. I imagine those events will be simultaneously happening in the aftermath of Civil War and leading up to Infinity War and the arrival of Thanos. There's Venom too, which will feature Peter Parker and not Spiderman, so it's obviously set in the past (just a wee bit) too. And then there's Captain Marvel in March, which we saw a brief spot in the stinger at the end of Infinity War. The story of Captain Marvel will take place in the 1990's and be an origin story before Infinity War (obviously). And then we have Avengers 4 in May 2019. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it all pans out.
If anyone has any clues as to how the Marvel cinematic universe will change because of Infinity War, please post in a comment :). I'd love to hear your thoughts.
I think what Dr. Strange said was key. He gave up the stone because he knew it led down the right path to beat him. (Plus Strange may be gone, but he can cross dimensions, so...)
ReplyDeleteAny movies before next year's release have to take place before the end of Infinity War, even if only by days.
I haven’t seen it yet, so no idea.
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to read my review tomorrow. Everything I have to say at the moment is in that. Though I am thinking I may need a second post.
ReplyDeleteI think these movies will have officially peaked. There's nothing to build to after next year's conclusion. They can maybe get a little more mileage out of sequels to some of the solo franchises, but short of starting all over again with the X-Men and Fantastic Four, they have officially played out the original characters once the actors' contracts expire, which as far as I know, comes next year. You can't recast those, and Spider-Man has already proven that you can't reboot easily in this era.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there's a plan. And it'll all make sense once it's all played out.
ReplyDeleteI heard someone call Infinity War the Empire Strikes back for this generation. That's high praise but for a movie with a sequel, Infinity War is about as close as anyone has come to Empire in the sci-fi/fantasy genre since maybe Two Towers. It's much better than I expected.
ReplyDeleteAs for the future path after Avengers4 - I have no idea. I know they are working on another Guardians, Black Panther, and Spiderman movies which I expect will get us through 2019 and 2020.
I expect Black Panther will be a big part of the next series as will Captain Marvel. A big question is how long will Chris Pratt want to play Starlord? I think he's only contracted for Avengers4 and the next Guardians movie - after that, does he bail?. Other options might be Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange but I'm not sure anyone is clamoring for either. One movie I'd love to see is Miss Marvel but Disney may avoid it as they want to avoid controversy. Is it possible we'd see some one-offs like Squirrel Girl or keep things like that on TV?
I do think they are waiting to see if they get the X-Men/Fantastic 4 from Fox before making any plans public. Fox has rebooted X-Men a couple of times and I know I'm not anxious for another Xavier/Magneto/Phoenix storyline. I hated the Fantastic 4 before any of the terrible movies so I'm a little biased on that point.
The other issue is bad guys and I'm not sure if there's a good choice that can pull everyone together. FF's Galactus might be a decent choice but I'm not sure the concept works on the big screen (and I hate Silver Surfer). That's why I suspect we will see a Captain Marvel story focused on the Kree/Skrull but that feels weak. Please no Dr Doom.
The bottom line is I think Disney is in trouble but only because they've set a bar so high. They've cherry picked the best story lines from their best superheroes which makes another ten years of success unlikely. On the other hand, they've surprised me with Guardians so perhaps they will surprise me again.
Don't know if I'll even see this movie; heck, I haven't even seen Black Panther yet though I do want to. But if I see Infinity War I'll probably just enjoy it and let the issues you raised just wash over me.
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