Most fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are aware that the untitled fourth Avengers movie and follow-up to Infinity War marks the end of the current slate of Marvel films. That doesn’t mean an end to this continuity or set of characters, but it does close out the ongoing narrative they’ve been building to for the past decade. So far, the only two post Avengers films to be confirmed are the Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel and the third Guardians Of The Galaxy film.
Spider-Man is supposed to set the tone for the Marvel films that will follow, but James Gunn tells The Hollywood Reporter that the third Guardians film will change the direction for the team as well. Not only will it mark the end of the current team structure, mirroring its comic book counterpart a bit, but it will also do more to expand the cosmic properties for the MCU into the future. As for who the new focus will be, Gunn seems to hint that the Ravagers introduced at the end of Vol. 2 will play a larger part, including an elevated role in the third film. The Hollywood Reporter speculates that they could be the replacements, but Gunn doesn’t seem to be tied down by either that team or the comic book history behind them:
“I’m definitely interested in the direction that these characters are headed and their roles in the Marvel Universe…
“I always do what’s best for the movie. A lot of times, that means taking things from the source material and other times it’s changing things,” said Gunn. “I’ve changed a lot already from the comics with the Guardians. Groot’s personality in the first Guardians, which people loved, was nothing like his personality in the comics. He didn’t have that puppy dog innocence that we love about Groot. I don’t restraint myself in any way when it comes to using stuff from the comics or not using it.”
Sylvester Stallone’s Starhawk and his fellow Ravager leaders were members of the original Guardians in the comics, complete with some time travel elements as THR points out. None of that will likely make the films according to Gunn, not to mention the MCU Starhawk is a criminal and slightly different than the team we’re used to.
It raises questions about who could come in and take spots on the team. You’d have to expect that Rocket and Groot would stick around, but the rest could phase out follow Avengers 4 with new characters getting introductions soon after. Adam Warlock will be introduced, but Gunn says that the discussions are already happening over who can come in next:
“Those scripts are already in the works. Kevin and I talk about it all the time, we just had a meeting today. Discussing what is the next iteration of cosmic characters and where are the characters that’ve we’ve already created going to go in the next batch of films,”
Still quite a while until we reach this point for the MCU. The final Avengers film doesn’t hit until 2019 and Guardians won’t drop until early 2020. Some folks used to think we’d be driving around flying cars by then, but in reality we’ll be watching movies and probably fighting off some super bug. That’s if we survive whatever war breaks out.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)