Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was recently asked for more information regarding where the Marvel Cinematic Universe is heading after Phase 3 wraps up. And inadvertently, the film producer dropped some hints about what may actually happen in "Avengers: Infinity War" and maybe even "Avengers 4."
While talking to the Toronto Sun, Feige was questioned about anything that he could possibly reveal regarding their plans for the MCU's Phase 4. As of now, the known timetable for the franchise is only until May 2019 with the still untitled "Avengers 4" serving as the conclusion of the current stage in the expanded universe.
"Where we go after Avengers; what those 2020 films are, we're pretty sure what those are going to be... but if I tell you that, we're getting into spoilers," Feige said, creating rumors that just maybe the films scheduled for Phase 4 are for the characters who will be surviving the massive battle against Thanos (Josh Brolin) and whatever immediately comes after it.
Should the two upcoming cumulative movies be the setting for some of the fans' favorite superheroes' demise, it would be quite a bittersweet ride, especially for the Phase 1 characters. This includes Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man/Tony Stark, Chris Hemsworth's Thor, and Chris Evans' Captain America/Steve Rogers. After all, Feige has also been open about following the story thread in the comics having other personas take over some of these superhero mantles. The only risk, however, is whether MCU followers will be accepting of these changes like the comic book readers. The actors have been the embodiment of these characters and they are very much interchangeable for fans who are not exactly attuned to their comic book roots but love them on the big screen.
Feige also briefly discussed the formula that they will be using in Phase 4 and he only name-dropped relatively newer characters in terms of future projects.
"Once we get into 2021, 2022, 2023... it's the same balance. We want to continue stories in unique ways with characters that we've established. There's facing the crossroads of how to adapt characters after they've had five or six or seven appearances. Then there's choosing the new ones, like Guardians, like Ant-Man, like Doctor Strange... and we certainly know what the handful of those are going to be," he said.
Then again, this can be a case of just reading too much into things but at this point, when fans are clamoring to know what is next especially with Benedict Cumberbatch's "Doctor Strange" having been released recently, everything is possible.
"Avengers: Infinity War" is set to debut on May 4, 2018, with "Avengers 4" following the next year, on May 3, 2019.
