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What’s in store for The Avengers over the next five years?

The future of Thor, Captain America, Iron Man and the rest of the Marvel team.

Dream team... Avengers have futures mapped out (Credit: Disney)

To say Marvel Studios’ Avengers experiment has been a success would be underselling it slightly. The risks they took in bringing Iron Man, Captain America and Thor to the silver screen (and then throwing them all together) paid off wonderfully – and superhero blockbusters changed for good.

[Who is the best paid Avenger?]


With Thor’s latest adventure ‘Thor: The Dark World’ out this week, we’re looking at what the future has in store for Marvel’s record-breaking superhero team.

Marvel have made clear they want to expand their cinematic universe (MCU) post-‘Avengers 2’ with new characters, but abandoning their three biggest assets – particularly the two with trilogies yet to conclude – seems unlikely.  So where next?


Iron Man
‘Iron Man 3’ concluded in such a way as to make future standalone ‘Iron Man’ films seem unlikely. He blew up his suits, he removed the shrapnel from his chest and overall he seemed pretty content to start a proper life with Pepper Potts.

If rumours regarding ‘Age of Ultron’ are to be believed it will be Stark who creates the titular android villain, which while not in line with comic lore (Ant Man creates Ultron) it does give Stark’s character purpose to don the suit once more.

When the credits roll on ‘Avengers 2’ and Ultron has presumably caused Earth more than a little distress, it would make sense if Stark blamed himself and spiralled out of control. It would be a neat way of setting up the character’s most famous tale – Demon in a Bottle.

Marvel owners Disney would naturally be apprehensive about turning such a popular character into an alcoholic, but it’s an adaptation people want to see. It would also give Sam Rockwell another shot at playing Justin Hammer, and after being the best thing about ‘Iron Man 2’ we’d be happy to see him again.


Captain America

Captain America was the least successful of the three new franchises established in Phase One, but the film and lead performance from Chris Evans were still well received. A new film on his own would probably have done perfectly fine but Marvel, taking no chances, have decided to add Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow to the mix for ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, out next April.

An aspect of the character that made him unpopular in the comics at one point was his undying loyalty to the US of A. This perception may also have been why the film was less popular than ‘Thor’ outside of America.

A third film testing that loyalty could do wonders, and for inspiration Marvel would do well to turn to Mark Gruenwald’s lengthy story – ‘Captain America No More’. The story sees Cap go against the government who take possession of his superhero identity after a mission in which Rogers kills a terrorist and calls his status as a national icon into doubt.


Thor
Thor’s future depends chiefly on the fate of his conniving brother Loki in ‘The Dark World’ (you’ll have to see ‘Dark World’ to find out).
Should he survive then he would surely play a pivotal part in a third Asgardian epic – particularly given the character’s popularity - which sets up a few possibilities. Given that Thor is short on standout individual tales, the best place to look for inspiration would be his rogue’s gallery.

Two villains stand out. The first is Surtur the fire giant. Walt Simonson’s introduction of the character culminates in battle that involves Thor, Loki and their father Odin too, which would be a scenario wrought with potential. Secondly there’s Hela, who claims to be the daughter of Loki. She’s also unhinged, enough so to earn the ominous titles “Death queen” and “Mistress of Darkness”.


Hulk
Hulk is a tricky one. His films have failed to catch on in the past but with Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and with the help of Joss Whedon’s writing, the character could finally break free of what held back the other two films.

Marvel are still hesitant however, and may well be holding out purposefully to build anticipation.  It would seem a standalone Hulk outing is inevitable, but where exactly do you take the character?

He has a ton of villains yet to make their way to the big screen, most notably The Leader whose origin was covered in the 2008 film when Tim Blake Nelson’s character came into contact with some gamma-radiated super-juice. However I’d take a look at the current “Indestructible Hulk” run of comics for the premise at least.

The current run sees Bruce Banner and his alter ego operating as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, which in the film world would fit given the organisation’s stature and Banner’s connection to them. Also given that Banner is relatively in control of the beast within he may be more willing to use it as a weapon for good.



Guardians of the Galaxy


Marvel’s craziest film yet is also their biggest gamble. In the grand MCU scheme however ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is of huge importance for one reason – Thanos. The Mad Titan seen in ‘Avengers Assemble’s credits scene will likely be the main villain in the third ‘Avengers’ film and so far all the evidence points to that film being an adaptation of Marvel’s Infinity Gauntlet tale.

The Infinity Gauntlet holds six Infinity Gems that when held at once affords its wielder control over all of reality. Thanos wants it, and to pose some kind of threat to The Avengers, he’ll likely get it.

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ will set up the wider universe glimpsed at in the ‘Thor’ films and will further set up Thanos’ ploy.


The Rest
Right now “the rest of The Avengers” means Black Widow and Hawkeye, but it soon it will include Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver, who are set for roles in ‘Age of Ultron’ as well as ‘Ant-Man’, whose own film is now in pre-production for a 2015 release.

With Edgar Wright at the helm it seems ‘Ant-Man’ will be closer to a comedy than any Marvel film before it, and it is rumoured the film may be a heist movie as well. Over the years the Ant-Man character has been defined by two things: his relationship to Wasp and his creation Ultron.

With the Ultron part out of the equation (it appears he will be Tony Stark’s creation instead), where this Ant-Man movie goes is really anyone’s guess, but in Edgar Wright it would seem to be in capable hands.

Plans to bring Doctor Strange and Black Panther into the fold have been pretty much confirmed in recent weeks as well. Doctor Strange would introduce the mystical side to Marvel’s cinematic universe, including the concept of demons and an actual hell – which would tie into a potential villain for his film, Mephisto.

‘Black Panther’ would be notable for bringing to the world of superhero cinema the first major black superhero since Wesley Snipes’ tenure as Blade. In relation to the MCU it would introduce the fictional African country of Wakanda, over which Black Panther, real name T'Challa, rules. 

Beyond even that there’s the fact that Marvel Studios have regained the rights to the Daredevil and Punisher properties, both of which are likely to be thrown into the mix in the near future.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is growing faster with every film, each adding new elements for studio president Kevin Feige and his team to juggle. Managing the increased complexity of their never-ending tale will only get tougher as the years roll by and they could well falter along the way – however whatever they do, it’s going to be a hell of a ride.