The Hollywood Reporter has a lengthy story up about what comes next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and while they don't mention any specific projects we haven't heard about at this stage, plans for Phase 4 are definitely starting to become clear.
For starters, despite what happened to her in
Avengers: Endgame, it's said that
Black Widow will indeed be released in 2020 and that Scarlett Johansson has worked out a unique deal in which she'll earn around $20 million to both star and produce the project (she now becomes the first actor in the MCU to take on a producing role).
Apparently, Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) have all negotiated new deals with Marvel Studios, separate from their movie contracts for their respective TV shows on Disney+. They will run from six to eight episodes and don't negate appearances in future Marvel movies.
Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) currently have one more option each, and sources say those will be used for sequels to their respective solo outings.
Which movies and TV shows does Avengers: Endgame
set up for the future? Click the "View List" button to find out!
Captain America: Man Out Of Time
Avengers: Endgame ends with Steve Rogers travelling back in time to return the Infinity Stones to their rightful place in the timeline. That was bound to be a challenge, and means the Star Spangled Avenger would have had to interact with The Ancient One and even visit Asgard to return the Aether and Mjolnir.
Steve obviously never comes back to the present and instead chooses to find Peggy Carter before meeting up with his fellow Avengers after living a long, full life.
While this may seem like the end for Chris Evans in the MCU, he could easily return for a movie that follows his adventures through the past and shows us what happened when he chose to stay behind with Peggy. After all, it's hard to imagine that he never suited up again, and he must have had that shield created for more than just a gift to Sam Wilson.
Asgardians Of The Galaxy
We know that James Gunn is now going to return to take the helm of
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but did his firing lead to Marvel Studios adding Thor to the team in the hope that Taika Waititi would take charge of the franchise?
That's a question we'll more than likely never get an answer to as we don't know what was changed in reshoots, but the God of Thunder is now in Gunn's hands along with the rest of the team (now dubbed the Asgardians of the Galaxy by Thor). His involvement shakes things up in a big way and will be a lot of fun to see.
We'll get to what this means for
Thor 4 a little later in this post, but Thor fits right in with the Guardians and it's easy to imagine Gunn doing a lot with this former member of The Avengers.
A-Force
During
Avengers: Endgame's epic final battle, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's female heroes all stand side-by-side before taking the fight to Thanos. It's a little on the nose, but a female-led team of Avengers like this is something fans have been crying out for for a while now, and providing Marvel Studios can find an organic way to make it happen, this could be a huge box office hit.
Ant-Man, The Wasp, & Stature
The
Ant-Man franchise has never been Marvel Studios' most profitable venture but the movies are still popular and definitely make Disney money. Throw in the fact that
Ant-Man and The Wasp was the first time a female superhero was named in the title of a release from Marvel, and it's easy to imagine a third instalment receiving the green light.
When that happens, Cassie Lang will be well into her teens and comic book fans will be well aware of what that could mean. Adding another female superhero into the MCU, the debut of Stature would be notable for a number of reasons and the storytelling potential there is huge.
After all, Scott is bound to have something to say about his daughter suiting up and her playing with Pym Particles is something that could have happened during the time he was lost in the Quantum Realm. Bear in mind that as young as he looks, Paul Rudd is 50 and it's logical to think he might pass on the "Ant-Man" mantle to Cassie down the line.
Valkyrie
With the God of Thunder rocketing through outer space with the Guardians of the Galaxy and Valkyrie appointed the leader of New Asgard, it would make perfect sense for Taikia Waititi's long rumoured
Thor: Ragnarok follow-up to shift the focus to her, Korg, and Miek.
After all, it would be really cool to see what happens next to New Asgard and Marvel Studios would almost certainly like to get another female-led superhero movie out there following
Captain Marvel's success.
Black Panther 2
Black Panther doesn't have a particularly significant role in
Avengers: Endgame, but during the closing few moments of the movie, we do see him watching over Wakanda alongside his mother and sister.
We don't know what happened to the country during the five years he was M.I.A., but M'Baku was more than likely King and is bound to have made some changes in T'Challa's absence. The people living there probably weren't happy with the way Wakanda was exposed to the world, either, and that could also be explored.
With Ryan Coogler hard at work on the sequel, the filmmaker taking the events of
Avengers: Endgame into account is a must and it will be exciting to see where T'Challa goes next.
Doctor Strange 2
Like Black Panther, Doctor Strange's role in
Avengers: Endgame is minimal and the door is open to him going pretty much anywhere when Scott Derrickson finally starts working on the sequel.
While the filmmaker has said that he would like to pit the Sorcerer Supreme against Nightmare, it's hard to imagine that the death of Tony Stark and the loss of the Time Stone aren't going to factor into proceedings, while Wong essentially serving as Strange's replacement for five years should also be key here.
Loki
Based on the way
Avengers: Endgame explains time-travel, the fact that Loki managed to escape with the Tesseract during the events of The Avengers now means there's a new version of the God of Mischief out there. It's worth noting that he still has an extremely villainous nature and hasn't been redeemed, so those details about his Disney+ series are starting to make sense.
It's said that show will revolve around him travelling to key points in time to change things for his own benefit, and that's an idea that may have been inspired by seeing Earth's Mightiest Heroes do the same.
Hawkeye
A solo series for Clint Barton is also in the works at Disney+ and it goes without saying that there's a lot this could deal with. For starters, Hawkeye has lost his best friend after witnessing her plunge to her death, and he spent five years going on a killing spree across the world as Ronin - something whch has to have made him some enemies along the way.
Reliable sources have claimed that the show will focus on Clint training a protégé, and while we all thought that would be Kate Bishop, it's makes more sense for his daughter to take on that role based on the events of
Avengers: Endgame (her name could actually be changed to "Kate Bishop" as part of a witness protection program or something similar).
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier
This one is now very interesting.
What originally looked set to be a spinoff series revolving around these two unlikely allies will now deal with Sam Wilson becoming the new Captain America. Common sense says that the six hour show will deal with The Falcon coming to terms with what Steve has asked him to do, and it could wrap up with Sam finally donning a new version of the suit before he returns to the big screen.
Young Avengers
Between Cassie being aged up, Hawkeye training his daughter, and Harley Keener appearing at Tony Stark's funeral, it definitely feels like Marvel Studios could be working on the formation of the Young Avengers.
This team first came together after Earth's Mightiest Heroes were "Disassembled," and considering the fact Peter Parker is still in high school, he could very easily take the lead.
Whatever happens, it would definitely be satisfying to see the Young Avengers enter the MCU because it would provide a very different take on the group and allows a younger (obviously) set of heroes to take centre stage and try being a superhero their way. It would be nice to see the main Avengers franchise continue, but this might be where things go next.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
There's been a lot of speculation about whether
Spider-Man: Far From Home is set in the present day or it's going to take place before the events of
Avengers: Infinity War, but
Avengers: Endgame seems to clear this up once and for all.
At the end of the movie, Peter Parker is reunited with Ned in school, and while some of their classmates must surely be gone because they weren't dusted for the past five years, it seems as if it will be business as usual for the wall-crawler and he no doubt wants to travel to Europe to try to forget what happened to his mentor and friend, Tony Stark.
With any luck,
Far From Home will provide a lot of clues about the post-Endgame MCU!
Continue reading below for a look at what did and didn't work in Avengers: Endgame.
Did Work: The Rules Of Time-Travel, Surprisingly
Time-travel is a confusing concept at the best of times, but
Avengers: Endgame does a good job of establishing some rules that work and aren't overly convoluted. Basically, changing the past doesn't change the future; that past would just become your new future if you stayed there and a different timeline would then be created.
Okay, that admittedly sounds massively confusing! But The Hulk does a great job of explaining it in the movie itself, and I'm now really excited about all the different ways this could be used from here.
While I don't expect time-travel to become a staple of these movies, I would be shocked if it doesn't fact into another adventure somewhere down the line, and the entire concept of creating new timelines and realities is a fascinating one that fans of the comic books will be all too familiar with.
Did Work: Revisiting The Past
Avengers: Endgame revisits the events of
The Avengers,
Guardians of the Galaxy, and
Thor: The Dark World. It also takes us back to the 1970s for a glimpse at that era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This is fascinating for a number of reasons. For starters, we get to revisit certain movies from different angles and see moments after the camera cut. For example, remember when Loki asked for a drink after being defeated by Earth's Mightiest Heroes? Well, we see what happens next and it's awesome!
Honestly, I can't imagine anyone being dissatisfied with how the Russos handled this.
Did Work: Farewell To Captain America And Iron Man
Alas, with this era of the MCU at an end, we're forced to say goodbye to some beloved fan-favourites.
Iron Man dies using the Infinity Gauntlet to stop Thanos and while it would have been nice to see him get a happy ending, he actually has that before deciding to help his fellow Avengers travel back in time. The fact he sacrifices a happy life to set things right makes sense for his story arc, and he definitely goes out on a strong note.
As for Captain America, he's lucky enough to receive the ending he deserves. Travelling back in time to return the Infinity Stones to their rightful place, Steve Rogers ultimately decides to remain in the past so he can live his life with Peggy Carter. As an old man, he passes his shield on to The Falcon and it's a truly great moment.
Didn't Work: Thanos 2.0
To say this didn't work seems a tad harsh, but the new version of Thanos who is introduced halfway through the movie feels too much like just another standard Marvel villain to me (which is obviously a let down after how layered the character was in
Avengers: Infinity War).
First, let me explain; Thanos is actually killed by Thor fairly early on but when the 2014 version learns of what the heroes are up to, he travels to the present day to get the Infinity Stones and create a new universe in his image.
It's a clever idea, but I think I would have preferred seeing the team face a new threat in the final act rather than reusing Thanos, especially as his story ends in the first act. This is a minor nitpick and he serves his purpose well, but I definitely think there was some room for improvement.
Did Work: Professor Hulk
We don't get to see Bruce Banner's transformation into Professor Hulk as it takes place off screen during that five year time jump, but that doesn't make what follows any less satisfying and fun.
Now the perfect mixture of brawn and brains, the Green Goliath delivers some of the biggest laughs in
Avengers: Endgame and just so happens to be a genuine scene stealer as this Hulk is so different to what we've seen on screen before now. Ruffalo is clearly having fun, and I'm glad he lives to fight another day.
However, with an arm badly injured from using the Gauntlet, who knows what comes next.
Did Work: Some Big Surprises
I've followed
Avengers: Endgame extremely closely over the past year and feel like I know about every toy, rumour, and theory out there. Despite that, I was still surprised by the movie, and it was a smart move by Marvel Studios to keep so much of it under wraps.
There are a lot of cameos from the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe (
find out more about those by clicking here) which I never expected to see, while the Russos deliver a lot of crazy moments I couldn't have ever imagined being brought to the big screen.
It's always nice to be surprised, and there's no getting around the fact it demands multiple viewings because I'm sure there's more to see. Personally, I don't think I'll ever forget the way my jaw dropped when Thor cut off the Mad Titan's head during the first twenty minutes.
Didn't Work: Shortchanged Superheroes
Again, I feel like I'm nitpicking with this complaint but the downside of focusing on the original six Avengers (which is a smart move by the Russo Brothers) is that when those dead characters return, many of them become background extras. That was inevitable and for the best in some respects, but Doctor Strange's screentime is ridiculously short after his importance in
Infinity War.
I guess the aftermath of being dead for five years is something that will be covered in the solo movies of these heroes; glossing over it will be a huge blunder on Marvel's part, that's for sure.
Despite this, I will give the film its due for doing its damnedest to make sure that everyone gets a chance to shine in the final battle - however, I do think we should have visited Wakanda at least once to see how T'Challa's disappearance changed things!
Did Work: Dead Means Dead
While the dusted heroes inevitably return, I have to give Marvel Studios credit for not conveniently bringing back some of the other characters who died. Like Gamora before her, Black Widow makes the ultimate sacrifice on Vormir but The Hulk points out that while he tried to bring her back when he snapped his fingers and used the Gauntlet, he simply could not.
Allowing Earth's Mightiest Heroes to bring back the dead would have been too easy. After all, undoing Thanos' actions is one thing but magically resurrecting the likes of The Vision and Loki would be a lazy move that makes it clear that death doesn't matter in the MCU.
Thankfully, there are still consequences in this world and I'm now far more intrigued to find out if the Loki that escaped from Thor's custody in 2012 is the one we meet in his Disney+ TV series, as well as what comes next for the version of Gamora who hails from 2014 and has none of her dead counterpart's memories.
Did Work: "Avengers...Assemble!"
I'm not going to say too much about this one, but the second Steve Rogers finally says "Avengers...Assemble!" is one you will never forget and a scene I can't wait to watch over and over...and over!
Didn't Work: Captain Marvel's Minor Role
Despite the unnecessary negativity surrounding Brie Larson, she's a fantastic Captain Marvel and pretty much everyone wanted to see more of her in action after her solo outing. Well, while she's present in the first act, the hero has left Earth by the time we jump forward in time and is nowhere to be seen until halfway through the final battle.
Now, she admittedly gets some cool moments to shine there (particularly going head to head with Thanos) but if Ant-Man and War Machine could travel back in time with the original six, why couldn't Carol?
It's almost as if the fact that she's so powerful and hadn't starred in her own movie yet left the Russos unsure of what they should do, but, on the plus side, I think her new costume is amazing as is her hairstyle. We definitely need to see a lot more of both in future movies.