Because of this, I haven’t been able to write any substantial movie blog posts. Unfortunately, the only drafts of blog posts that I have are for two TV series reviews (Once Upon a Time Season 3, and True Detective 2). While I still plan on putting those reviews out, as you know, TV reviews take much
longer because there’s a lot more to cover.
However, I did want to put something out for this month and hopefully put myself in a good habit so I can work, work out, sleep, AND post on this blog.
So I wanted to do a quick but hopefully thoughtful rant on the New Avengers and what the line up of those movies are going to look like after Infinity Wars.
You’ve got the culminating event in Infinity Wars, I’m guessing a lot of people are going to die, but the Avengers will no doubt be victorious. They’ll pose in front of a sunset or an American flag, jets will fly overhead, and the music will swell to the credits.
But more and more, people are talking about Phase 4, or the string of movies that will happen after Infinity Wars is complete.
Now before I move on I should mention that a lot of this is speculation, none of this is confirmed, Marvel has not stated whether or not they are going to have any movies coming out after Infinity Wars, but… c’mon… its Disney. If Infinity Wars brings in the money that everyone thinks its going to bring in, there’s no way they’re going to just quit. Disney will dig as far as they can into this gold mine and we are going to be getting superhero films until the day we die… or as long as they’re not profitable anymore.
So the question that has started to permeate in everyone’s mind is, what are the Avengers going to look like after Infinity Wars. Who is going to survive the final movie in Marvel’s phase 3, and who is going to face off against the future evils that threaten our way of life?
Well lets take a look at the people we have right now and make a call on whether or not they will make it to phase four or not, and if they do, are they going to remain on the Avengers starting line up.
However, I don’t think he’s going to make it to Phase 4. And it’s mainly due to the fact that paying for Robert Downey Jr. is probably the most expensive thing Marvel pays for when it comes to these movies. When you look at how much money he makes for these movies, it’s insane how huge the pay gap is. And to a certain extent I would say that he deserves it… sort of.
Listen, Robert Downey Jr. is an iconic role in the Superhero world. He’s up there with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, especially since by the time Infinity Wars comes around, RDJ will have been playing this role for almost fifteen years. That’s crazy. And the unfortunate thing is that Marvel just can’t always front the bill to have RDJ in their movies and there is no way that RDJ would ever accept a
What I could see happening though is Marvel deciding not to kill Tony Stark but instead just retiring him. Maybe during the Infinity War he is injured in a way that makes it impossible for him to be Iron Man anymore. He could make a cameo here and there but nothing substantial for him to any kind of permanent role.
I also think it would be kind of interesting for him to sit back with Captain America at some point and look at the new Avengers and they can have their sort of old man moment, where they realize that they are now the relics. The way I said that makes it sound sadder than it actually is.
However, as much as I want to see Tony Stark as the Spock of the new Star Trek movies, I just don’t see a circumstance that would force Tony into retirement. I think it is more likely that he will die a heroes death and get a statue or something like that at the end of Infinity Wars.
I know I never gave my full analysis of Age of Ultron, but the truth was a lot of it was self contained. Yeah there were references to future movies, there’s foreshadowing here and there, however at this moment, Captain America is leading the “New Avengers”.
I suppose I should take a moment and talk about these apparent “New Avengers”: War Machine, Vision, Scarlett Witch, Falcon, with Cap and Black Widow training them in. (I’m not totally sure if Hawkeye is in it).
I guess I never really did talk about these guys and what I thought of them. Personally, I don’t think anybody truly believes that these guys are the “New Avengers”. Sure they may be the new group right now but we all know that Tony Stark, Captain America, Thor, and Hulk are all still in play and they will come together again before the end of Phase 3. I’m guessing a tag line in one of the trailers will be them all looking at one another and saying, one last ride, or something cliché like that. But the main story is going to be how that original group is fragmented from Civil War and must come together to fight the ultimate evil. The main purpose for these new Avenger is to start the Civil War storyline and set up easier for the divide in The Avengers when it comes to that point.
Back to Captain America, I mean he’s not going to die in Civil War… but he could die in Infinity Wars. I get an odd feeling he won’t because I think there needs to be some kind of connection with the new Avengers to the old ones when they make that transition after Infinity Wars. And the reason I think that connection is going to be Captain America is because he’s a strong leader figure and he doesn’t cost as much as RDJ.
Now, I think he’s still fair game once Infinity Wars, and honestly, a part of me wants him to die because it would show the gravity of the situation how much damage Thanos has been built up to so at this point its really 50/50 on whether or not Captain America makes it to Infinity Wars.
The difference between him and Tony Stark is that I don’t see them using him as a wise mentor for the New Avengers once Infinity Wars ends. I just see Steve Rogers as the kind of person who would fight until the end and would never retire. I could be wrong, but I don’t feel like they will retire him.
This is a little bit of a tangent not on topic, but when Hugh Jackman said that he was going to be leaving the character of Wolverine, the first thing everyone said was, “Who is going to play Wolverine now?” And yeah its fun to speculate with who could take up such an iconic role, and I myself even play that game, but my thought process is, in the case of Wolverine, why do we need someone to replace him?
The X-men franchise really looks like they’re going in a good direction with the new cast like Michael Fassbender and James McEvoy as Charles Xavier and Magneto. And it looks like they’re building up a new cast of characters in the younger versions of Cyclops, Storm, and Jean Grey. I really don’t see a need for Wolverine at this point. I think Hugh Jackman can retire, he can have his one last Wolverine Stand alone film, and then we can let Wolverine disappear for a little bit. Do I want him to come back? Yes, eventually. But right now, lets let Hugh Jackman’s performance go unchallenged for a little bit.
Tangent over: But you get my point. By the time Chris Evans leave the role, whether its Infinity Wars or later, he’s going to be doing it for close to a decade. Lets let his legacy as Captain America stand for a little bit and let someone else rise on their own merits, not on his name.
Moving on!
A great example of this is The Hulk showing up in Thor Ragnorak. To tie in some recent news, it was announced that Mark Ruffalo is going to be filming as the Hulk in the new Thor solo film and the movie takes place on a planet that isn’t Earth and it also isn’t Asgard… AKA Planet Hulk.
Of course nothing is confirmed yet except the fact that Hulk is in it but c’mon. All they have to do is figure out some way that Bruce Banner was plucked from his mopey zoo lion routine that he was in at the end of Age of Ultron (Maybe an intervention by the government/Tony Stark?) and he ends up on a Planet with Thor and it’s a good time all around. Thor gets some more star power to a movie that I don’t think anybody was incredibly excited about a few months earlier. Fans gets their pseudo-Planet Hulk and we lead up to what could possibly be Thanos using The Hulk against the Avengers in the first part of Infinity Wars. Its perfect!
On top of all of that, its becoming more and more clear that Marvel is okay without making a Hulk standalone film. I think if Hulk has a presence where he just shows up in standalone movies here and there and he continues to be badass in the roles that he has in these team up films that we love, I don’t think we need a standalone Hulk film.
It also pretty much confirms that the Hulk is going to survive Infinity Wars.
The only counter to that argument is the idea that Hulk dying could really bring gravity to the situation with Thanos. If he’s able to kill the Hulk, the Avengers have one tough fight ahead of them.
However, I think he’s too valuable to not have him spice up some of the future properties. So I am about 95% sure that Hulk is going to survive Infinity Wars.
For example, if Hemsworth’s new movie The Heart of the Sea does well and is a commercial success, Hemsworth may believe that he can be successful without having to play Thor. If it doesn’t do well and he can’t find something else to make a lot of money on, he might just stick around as Thor.
Here’s a trailer for The Heart of the Sea. Short review. It looks awesome. (This is how I tie in all the things I haven’t done reviews for in the past few weeks)
So it all depends for Hemsworth. It will also depend on the reception of Thor Ragnorak. Now I have historically been wrong about the Thor movies. Every time one comes out I’m thinking that its going to be a lame film and every time I am of course proven wrong. Now this one I am excited for because it’s the story line that basically brings on the apocalypse in Asgard, Loki is coming back, and its going to have the Hulk in what is probably going to be Planet Hulk smashed in there as well. So, yeah, I’m excited for Thor Ragnorak. But as the Marvel films have come out, the Thor movies really get overshadowed by the other films. They haven’t been the money makers and when it comes to Phase 4, Marvel might look at their slate and realize that they have other new properties that they could explore instead of just rehashing another Thor movie every few years.
Does that mean Thor is going to die? Ehhhh…. Maybe?
There’s nothing incredible story-wise that tells me that Thor is destined to die. But there’s also nothing saying that he’s destined to live. I think Thor could die, and we would all be sad, but I don’t think people would riot hoping that Thor would come back. He’s a good character and I think he would serve the story well whether its through him dying or through him living and retiring after Infinity Wars.
That being said, I could just as easily see him defeated by Thanos.
I have no idea what his role will be in Phase 4 but I personally hope that it’s a diminished role. I think that Marvel just has so much more going on for them in the future, a lot of which I will talk about once I’m done talking about the original Avengers members.
But since the movies from Phase 2, especially Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron, these two have really become lovable and almost irreplaceable characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Black Widow became a vulnerable but also incredibly likeable character in both her interactions with Captain America in the Winter Soldier, but also her small and somewhat random romance with Bruce Banner (Whether or not that’s gonna continue to be a thing, I have no idea). And Hawkeye, who almost had a count down to when he was going to bite it in Age of Ultron, now has shown that he’s apart of the team and will probably be in the team for the foreseeable future.
However, while these two have become developed characters and loved, I am almost certain that at least one of them is going to die in Infinity Wars. I go back and forth because it really could be either. Both of them have become such great characters I think it would be equally tragic. Hawkeye has his family and Black Widow has just been in more and has exposed herself more to us.
But the weird thing is, both actors are in a position to stay with Marvel in any capacity by the end of Infinity Wars. Both of them could maintain a supporting role in Phase 4 as much as they could maintain a cameo awesome insert role. I was going to say that its likely that both of them won’t make it, but that I’m not totally sure about either. They’re definitely not safe, but they could benefit Marvel in both life or death so while I am more sure about other like Hulk or Iron Man, Hawkeye and Black Widow are more question marks. I’m pretty sure at least one of them will die but I can’t for the life of me decide who is more likely to die and furthermore, I can’t even definitively say that either are going to die. I’m sorry if that’s a lame answer, but there it is.
Nick Fury could die but something tells me that he won’t. If you want a reoccurring symbol of the old guard once Phase 4 comes along, Nick Fury might be a good symbol. On top of that, I just imagine Samuel L Jackson just hanging out with Marvel as long as they’ll have him. He doesn’t even need to do much, he could just be the craggly old Nick Fury over in the corner.
Unfortunately by this point, Nick Fury’s whole fake death in Winter Soldier kind of makes his death not mean as much because the audience will kind of wonder if he’s actually dead.
Maria Hill could definitely bite it, but she could also be the one who steps up if Nick Fury gets axed off.
The common theme with both of these characters is that they are tertiary characters enough that they could be the cannon fodder in future movies. They’re like the Phil Coulsons. They could die and it would mean something, but it wouldn’t mean as much as if one of the Avengers died. I wish I could speculate more but frankly, if one of these characters from SHIELD dies, I’ll be sad, but it won’t change the way I look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe once Phase 4 comes around. A death in the Avengers changes the dynamic of the movies, sadly, Nick Fury dying is just something that probably should have happened in Winter Soldier… sorry Jackson.
But now we get into the part that was the real reason I started this post. I wanted to talk about who I think is going to be on the lineup of the actual New Avengers once Phase 4 comes rolling around.
In my mind, there’s a large handful of candidates, but this team cannot be incredibly huge. I think that it needs to be anywhere from 5 to 7-ish members and it mainly needs to be new people as they will be the future of the franchise, however it should have some recall back to the original. It also needs to have diversity as that was one of the complaints about the original Avengers. Here’s my list of potential candidates. This of course is all based on if they survive Infinity Wars, for now, I’m throwing everyone in there as potential candidates.
Misc: Guardians of the Galaxy, Bucky Barnes (The Winter Soldier), Inhumans?
I want to talk about the characters in the “New” Avengers, but first I want to get this out of the way. None of The Guardians of the Galaxy will be in Phase 4 Avengers. I think everyone will come together in Infinity Wars, but James Gunn has his thing going pretty well for Guardians, there is no need to cross over if its working for them to stay out in the Galaxy and do their thing out there. Same for InHumans. I don’t even know if this movie is happening still and I have no idea what its going to focus on, but from the sounds of it, it sounds like another team up movie and if you’re in one team, I don’t see the point of having someone be in multiple teams. Could it happen? Sure, I don’t know. I don’t know anything about the Inhumans. Apparently they’ve been a thing with Agents of SHIELD but I stopped watching that a long time ago so I am in no position to make any claims about the Inhumans role in The Avengers in Phase 4.
I’m just gonna close out my miscellaneous category because I already talked about Bucky a little bit. I don’t want him to become Captain America, as much as I like Sebastian Stan I don’t think he’s material for the A-Team and I don’t really want him on the starting lineup for the Avengers.
But let’s start with the “New” Avengers. I call them this because I really don’t think they’re going to last that long as the main team for the Avengers. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of these guys get axed off by Thanos or even as early as Civil War.
The synopsis of Civil War makes it sound like these Avengers have an incident in the beginning that makes the government start installing the Hero registration act or something of that nature. This causes the divide between Captain America and Tony Stark and it causes the Civil War. So while its fun to let the B-Squad do their thing for a little bit, they obviously don’t last. In fact I’m going into a theory tangent.
But whether its Civil War or Infinity War, I’m guessing the Rhodey is on the path to death, so I do not think he is going to be headlining in Phase 4.
Falcon is kind of in the same boat. I think he could die anytime between now and Infinity War and he’s also an acceptable loss. It all depends on what Marvel has planned for him and if they want him to take over Captain America’s spot. Last time I’ll say this, I don’t want anybody taking over another Avenger’s title. That being said, it all depends on Anthony Mackie’s career and how the fans respond to him. I think people like him but I don’t think we’ve accepted him as a member of the A-Team quite yet.
Scarlett Witch is pretty much safe. I don’t think she’s gonna die, especially if she becomes a fan favorite character like I think she’s going to turn into in later movies, especially in Civil war. Of the “New” Avengers, I think Scarlett Witch has the best chance of
So as far as the “New” Avengers go, I think Scarlett Witch is the closest person to staying pretty safe and having a pretty solid chance at earning a top spot in the new Avengers line up. I think Rhodey is going to die. And I’m not sure on Falcon or Vision.
As for new characters introduced in Phase 3, I do need to preface this by repeating, this is all speculation. While I say Scarlett Witch has a spot in Phase 4, I have no idea. She could die. This is just me basing it off of industry news and where I think the story could go. But with these guys, it’s even more conjecture because most of them haven’t been in a movie yet.
But on top of it all, the end credit scene at the end of Ant-man with Wasp really made it seem like Marvel has plans for Evangeline Lily’s character and really want to make a push for female superheroes in the future. I think that Ant-Man and The Wasp will be an indicator on whether or not Evangeline Lily’s character remains popular and whether or not she will nab a spot on the Avengers.
As for Ant-man, I mean he’s the goofy character that could replace the humor that is usually provided by Tony Stark. I think Scott Lang’s Ant-man is a pretty clear contender for a permanent spot on the Avengers in Phase 4.
Now a lot of this is dependent on how the character is introduced in Civil War and where he goes from there to his standalone film to Infinity Wars, but if I were the writers at Marvel, I would give Black Panther a prominent role in the universe but almost make him on a higher level than the Avengers. He’s the king of a country. Aside from vigilante justice, he’s ruling a whole country. Does he really have time to fly in to attend Avengers meetings.
So while I have little doubt that Black Panther is going to survive Infinity Wars, I don’t think that he will take up a spot on the Avengers.
If you’ve seen any of the pictures that leaked from the new Doctor Strange movie, you’ll see that there’s a whole other universe being developed that will open up a whole new branch of the Marvel Universe, and that is the world of the mystical. Doctor Strange is going to be dealing with things that we have never seen done before in the Marvel Universe. Its kind of like when they introduced Thor. Suddenly a world that was grounded in reality is suddenly populated by Norse Gods and Marvel needed to find a clever way to explain that.
While I have no doubt that they will explain it perfectly with Doctor Strange, I just don’t see the mystical wizarding world of Doctor Strange as a good fit for The Avengers and I don’t see him as much of a team player.
Now, for both of these two characters I have just talked about, I do say these things with a little bit of reservation. As I’m writing this, I am formulating the list of characters I would probably like to see as the new line up and I’ll explain why they are there. Black Panther and Doctor Strange could fit in certain categories that I have already filled by certain characters The reason I didn’t put Black Panther or Doctor Strange in either of those roles is because I think the characters I did put in there fit better as a team and I would rather see those two in prominent standalone roles as opposed to permanent members of the team.
But I will get back to them when I make my final list.
Now I want to talk about the character that I am actually probably the most excited about even thought they haven’t introduced who is playing her or what her role is going to be like in the larger Cinematic universe, and that is Captain Marvel.
First, I’m pretty sure they’re gonna try and get Emily Blunt to play her. This is exciting because I really like Emily Blunt. Her role in Edge of Tomorrow, her talent in Into the Woods, everything that I have seen Emily Blunt in, I have loved. Eventually someone is going to get her to play some kind of superhero and if Marvel is as smart as I think they are, they’re going to give Blunt a role that is probably going to make her the most prominent female superhero in the business outside of Wonder Woman. And if Gal Gadot bombs (which I don’t think she will) the ball can easily be picked up by someone who is strong like Blunt. While there are a lot of talented actors out there, I don’t think there’s anybody as talented and up and coming as Blunt is. It would be silly of Marvel to miss this shot.
But the second reason is that I think Marvel is trying to set up Captain Marvel as the new leader of the Avengers. Now I really have nothing to base this on but when I bring up the list of people I think the Phase 4 Avengers will be, I’ll elaborate on that more.
It probably goes without saying that there’s no doubt in my mind that Captain Marvel is going to survive Infinity Wars and if that’s the case, I think she’s definitely going to have a permanent spot on the Avengers.
Now the last person I’ll talk about would seem like he’d be a no brainer and would obviously be on the new line up for the Avengers. I’m of course talking about Spider-man.
Again, like Black Panther and Doctor Strange, Spider-man is a prominent enough character that he is probably going to get a couple of standalone films and will no doubt fight with the Avengers, whether its against Thanos or some other entity. But is he guaranteed to end up on the Avengers officially. A strange part of me thinks not.
Here’s why. Despite what everyone says, Sony still owns Spider-man. Marvel and Sony were able to strike a deal that would make Spider-man appear in Marvel films as well as Marvel characters being able to show up in Spider-man films.
Now Sony is hurting enough that there’s no doubt that someone from the MCU is going to show up in the standalone Spider-man film. Some people have said Iron Man, but it could be anyone. The point is, Sony needs all the help from Marvel they can get so its almost certain that Marvel will have a presence in this new Spidey’s world. But there’s not really a guarantee that Spider-man will have a presence in The Avenger’s world.
Scenario 1: I actually wrote about this scenario in my post on why Spider-man still might fail at Marvel. In short, Civil War does well, but the standalone spider-man film underperforms. Sony is the only one who suffers and Marvel can move onto other films without really caring whether or not Spider-man is popular or not. They don’t own him.
But back on track, this works out well because everyone still gets what they want. Sony is still suckling at the teet of Marvel because they need Marvel star power to keep them a float, and Marvel gets to test out lesser known heroes.
Scenario 2: This is the scenario that in all likeliness if we’re being optimistic, will happen. In short, Spider-man is successful in both Civil War and his own standalone films. Now the route that everyone thinks will happen in this case is that Marvel will just envelope Spider-man in the shenanigans of the Avengers and he will be a main part of the core group. Now this could very well happen… but I have a slight feeling that it won’t.
I mean what if Sony recovers from the financial state that they’re in and they no longer see the need for the partnership with Marvel? I mean you can keep Spider-man in the universe, but he’s going off doing his own thing like fighting the Sinister Six that he doesn’t have time to be a permanent member of the Avengers.
Personally, my guess is that Spider-man is going to have a prominent role in the universe, again, like Black Panther and Doctor Strange, but whereas those two could possibly still be apart of the core group, I actually think there’s a better argument saying that Spider-man will just show up in Marvel films here and there and have his own adventures on the Sony side of things.
Of all the tangents I’ve been on, I have the potential of being wrong the most on this one because I really have no idea what Spider-man’s role is going to be in this new MCU. But for some reason I just don’t think he has an automatic spot like I used to.
I don’t think I ever did an official post about my thoughts on Tom Holland as Spider-man. And if I did I won’t be putting this section in the post. However, if I didn’t, I should say a few things right now.
I honestly don’t know enough about Tom Holland to really say whether or not it’s a good choice for him to be Spider-man. I think that he is actually going to be in The Heart of the Sea so there’s another reason for me to see that movie. However, I don’t know enough about him to say whether or not he’s a good actor or a good fit for the role. While I was opening up to the idea of that guy from the Ender’s Game, Asa Butterfield, I’m glad they didn’t go with him. Tom Holland seems like he has a little bit more of an older look and I want this Spider-man to be as old as they can swing it (Get it… swing it). I haven’t really been a huge fan of the idea of Spider-man beginning his career as a superhero when he’s in middle school but that’s the way they’re going and there’s not much I can say to change it. At least until the next reboot (SHAZING). However, I’m looking forward to his role in Civil War and I’m really looking forward to them integrating him into the movie.
By the way, the trailer for Civil War is suppose to be coming out by the end of the year along with the trailer for X-men: Apocalypse. I can promise you I will be writing posts for that immediately after I see them.
Now I guess this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for. I have a list of people I think are going to be the new A-Team for the Avengers in Phase 4. I chose these people because they really do have the potential to carry their own movies if they haven’t or aren’t slotted to do so already. But furthermore, they fit into the type of character that have already been set up by the original Avengers but are different enough characters that they can fill that role but not feel like they’re just recasting the same role. (Hopefully that will make sense as I explain it).
One last thing worth mentioning, this is a world where none of the original Avengers are permanent members of the team. This doesn’t mean that they’re gone or they’ll have an incredibly diminished role, but I do think they will be more mentor roles and not the actual members of the team. This way we can have a young and vibrant group and Phase 4 can be a new leaf for the MCU, a leaf they will probably need to turn over by 2020.
Put aside the fact that both of them have the title of Captain, I feel like Captain Marvel would be a great choice for a leadership role in the group. I already mentioned how if they choose Emily Blunt you’re already setting yourself up for success, but how would it look for Marvel to not only integrate more females into the Avengers, but actually have a woman lead them.
I don’t know the backstory of Captain Marvel so I’m not basing this off much, but from what I’ve seen, she basically looks like a female Superman of the Marvel Universe and I think if this Phase 4 Avengers is going to survive in the 2020’s, we’ll need to shake things up big time.
Following up the leader is the comical but intelligence edge of the team that Iron Man filled and that would be replaced by Ant-man. Paul Rudd showed us in Ant-man that he’s ready for the big leagues. The fact of the matter is, nobody is going to be the new RDJ. Nobody can replace the Tony Starkisms that he brought and gave some comedic effects to the movie while also being serious. I think Scott Lang is a good choice to replace Tony because he’ll be have the comedic chops to help the group out but he will also use his intelligence to actually help the group. He’s filling the same role as Tony did, just in a different manner.
If we’re looking for a Thor-like character who is more in the mystical realm and has immense power that comes from something other than a machine, I think Vision is the right choice.
Now there are a couple reasons why I’m bringing Vision into this line up. This is one of those choices that I could see being replaced by Doctor Strange. The reasons I chose Vision over Doctor Strange is because Vision does have a stronger tie to the Avengers than Doctor Strange does in the comics. Again, Doctor Strange seems a little bit more like a standalone hero who may have a cameo with the Avengers here and there but has more than enough strength to go off on his own.
Now, I still think Vision is going to die in one of the Infinity Wars movies when Thanos takes the Infinity stone that is on his head. But the thing with that is that we don’t know taking the stone will kill Vision, and we don’t know how permanent that death would be. Plus, when you’re dealing with an infinity stone, anything can happen. While I’m pretty sure Vision is going to die, I think Marvel is going to continue their streak of not really killing anybody and bring him back.
And while we’re kind of on the topic, I think you know the next choice for the lineup and that is Scarlett Witch. Now Scarlett Witch could be considered a role that fits with the kind of character Thor created, but I do think that she actually fits better in the category that Bruce Banner/The Hulk created.
Now I do think that Bruce Banner is still going to have a presence in the new Marvel movies, but if they’re looking for someone who can cause immense destruction but at the same time seems like a weak person on the surface, Scarlett Witch is a great option for that. The things she can do with her powers are incredible and she would make a great juggernaut for the group. And probably more manageable than the Hulk is.
Now when it comes to a standalone film for Scarlett Witch, I have a theory. If they are going in the direction I think they’re going with Scarlett Witch and The Vision, these two are going to end up being a couple. And with that, I think these two would make a good team up movie. I don’t know how many of those Marvel could get away with, especially since it sounds like they’re already doing that with Ant-man and the Wasp. However, if they develop these two more, I could definitely see them getting their own standalone film and they could really delve into the whole human and robot dynamic.
I don’t know for sure, but it does condense some of the workload for Marvel so they are more open to making standalone films for prominent superheroes that aren’t on the main team, like Doctor Strange and Black Panther.
Like I said, I think that Marvel has a lot planned for Wasp in the future of the Universe but I just don’t see her getting her own film. I see her more as a supporting character in an Ant-man sequel, similar to the supporting role Black Widow had in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. On top of that, she’s already proved herself as the martial arts badass, like Black Widow… are you seeing the similarities here? I don’t think Black Widow needs her own standalone film and I don’t think Wasp needs her own standalone film. These two probably fit the mold pretty well and Wasp will make a good replacement.
While I’m still unsure on Sam Wilson’s future with the cinematic universe and whether or not he’ll live through Infinity Wars, the fact that he’s on the Avengers now, kind of makes him a veteran of the team so he can welcome in Captain Marvel, Ant-man, and Wasp when they take up their mantel.
On top of all of that, he brings some diversity to the group. However, for that reason, I do think that he could be easily replaced by Black Panther. Now Black Panther, from what I’ve heard about his character, does not fit into the mold of Hawkeye. So there the similarities are only skin deep. However, I do think Marvel can benefit from that as they don’t need to fit into the molds that they’ve already created, especially if they want to do something different. The team no doubt needs some diversity, and I think even with all the females in this team, it probably needs some more, so having either Falcon or Black Panther is definitely necessary, especially since I am pretty certain that Rhodey is going to die.
Now the caveat with this is that the team doesn’t have to only be 6 people. This list was just trying to decide who would be a good replacement for the old crew without totally throwing the audience off with new archetypes. More people on the group could also make room for the Chris Hemsworths if they don’t have a career after Infinity Wars. Of course, I could be totally wrong. In fact, a part of me wants to be wrong so we can get that totally new dynamic. However, if they want to do what has been successful without doing the exact same thing, I think this handful of characters, supported by the Doctor Stranges and the Spider-mans who are prominent members of the universe but not permanent members, could make Phase 4 something new and refreshing.
This post just exploded a lot more than I thought it was going to. I thought I was just going to give my thoughts on who should be the new line up for Phase 4 but apparently that’s a task that took up 15 pages on a Word Doc.
The overall take away from this is that I don’t think Marvel is done after Thanos. That is becoming more and more clear each day. And with a new deal with Sony and access to a whole franchise full of villains, I don’t think they need to be done.
But what do you think? What do you think of my line up for Phase 4 Avengers? Who do you think is going to die and who do you think is going to live through the Infinity Wars. Please, I know I always say this, but this is a topic that I would love discussion because I love hearing other people’s thoughts and ideas when it comes to this stuff. And yeah for now its just speculation, but I find it fun and I hope you do too. So comment and Discuss below. You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter to @cmhaugen24 as well as give me requests for future reviews or topics I should talk about. I promise, if you give me a request, I will make time to write about it. If you want updates on more movie news and reviews, follow me on Twitter.
I’ll leave you with this. I thought about it for a long time that I was going to do a review for the new Warcraft trailer... of course I don't know much about Warcraft at all so I can't say that its anything incredible towards that knowledge. As far as stories goes, it looks like a combination of Lord of the Rings and Avatar... and I'm not overly excited for this movie. However, I am sort of interested. For now, I'll just leave this here and you should let me know your thoughts on the movie. Enjoy!
