Where Do The Avengers Go From Here After ‘Infinity War’ [No Spoilers]
Ahmad Childress muses four possible storylines for the Avengers to continue after Infinity War ends in the MCU.
This year the Marvel Cinematic Universe celebrates its 10th year and releases its 19th film, Avengers: Infinity War. The film marks the beginning of the end of the cinematic story that began with 2008’s Iron Man. Next year, Marvel’s Phase 3 will come to an end, with the release of the untitled film formerly known as Avengers: Infinity War Part 2, and now billed as Avengers 4.
The next two Marvel films won’t offer too many clues as to what's to come, as both films take place before Avengers 4. Ant-Man and the Wasp follow the heroes in the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War (occurring two years before the events of Infinity War), and 2019’s Captain Marvel is set in the 1990s.
Marvel has decided to keep the new title of the fourth Avengers film a secret for now (they say the title is a spoiler), even going so far as to skip a Hall H presentation at San Diego’s Comic-Con this year. Avengers: Infinity War and Captain America sequel directors, the Russo Brothers have teased that the title of Avengers 4 should scare fans.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU for short) has on occasion borrowed titles directly from the comics, like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok. In other cases they have lifted storylines directly from the comics, most notably in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and now with Avengers: Infinity War.
With all of that in mind, we are going to look at four storylines from the Avengers comics that could sensibly fit into the post-Avengers: Infinity War MCU, and who knows, maybe even provide an early look at the title of Avengers 4.
Avengers: Disassembled
Released in 2004, this series featured an Avengers team mirroring the MCU version, including Captain America, Scarlet Witch, the Vision, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, the Wasp, and Thor. The vast story includes Tony Stark as the Secretary of Defense, the Falcon receiving a Wakandan suit upgrade, some time travel, the altering of reality, and final fate of Thor’s home of Asgard.
The series concludes with the dismantling of the existing (and classic) Avengers team, and leading to the formation of a new team, which coincidentally includes new MCU characters, Spider-Man and Captain Marvel.
With Marvel concluding the current series of films after Avengers 4, and many of the lead actors contracts expiring soon, this storyline could be a good way to close the chapter on the old team and build an all-new group of Avengers.
The Kree-Skrull War
This 1971 series is one of the most well known of the Avengers storylines. An epic space saga that puts the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the middle of an epic battle between the Kree (Ronan, the villain from Guardians of the Galaxy, was a Kree) and the Skrulls, a shapeshifting race of green aliens who first appeared in back in 1962.
The storyline also includes a character named Mar-Vell, who is directly connected to the superhero origins of Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel. The introduction of Captain Marvel to the MCU opens the door to the Kree-Skrull war. With Marvel Studios President, Kevin Feige already revealing that the Kree-Skrull war is a huge part of the mythology of the Captain Marvel film, you can expect to see some version this story onscreen sooner rather than later.
New Avengers: Breakout
In 2005, this follow-up to Avengers: Disassembled shows the formation of an all-new Avengers team. The story starts when a group of super-powered villains escapes from The Raft (a prison for super-powered beings, last seen in Captain America: Civil War), necessitating the formation of a new group of Avengers.
The New Avengers included Spider-Man, and later Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Bucky Barnes (filling in as the new Captain America), and a character named "Ronin," which is an alias occasionally used by Hawkeye, a character notably missing from Infinity War, but confirmed for Avengers 4.
The inclusion of so many of the new MCU heroes in this story, and Marvel’s Feige's mention of the Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel being a global film could pave the way for this storyline to appear on the screen.
Secret Invasion
The 2008 storyline, Secret Invasion involves an insidious and decades-long plan by the shapeshifting alien Skrulls to take over the Earth by impersonating and infiltrating various Avengers, and members of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Having the Captain Marvel film set before the first Avengers film provides an opportunity to show the origins of a Skrull infiltration on Earth.
The introduction of the shapeshifting Skrulls in the upcoming Captain Marvel film and the inclusion of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be an interesting mix of elements from across the MCU.
These four storylines are our best guesses as to where the MCU could be going in the future, but we won’t know for sure until May 3, 2019, when Avengers 4 is released and the third phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes to its epic conclusion. In the meantime, we will just have to watch Avengers: Infinity War for clues.
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Ahmad Childress is a Native Angeleno and Professional Blerd. You can find his film and TV work on IGN.com, and he is currently the host of The Atlanta FX Podcast. He can be found talking smack online @AhmadChildress.