Now that almost everybody has seen Avengers: Infinity War at least once, they’ve seen the ending and are faced with a rather glaring question: What’s next, not just for the Avengers, but for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole, both plot-wise and creatively? It’s a good question, not least because it seems not even Marvel likely really knows the answer just yet.
Before we dig too deep into this, there will be spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War, especially the ending, so if you haven’t seen it yet, and wish to remain unspoiled, have a lovely parting GIF:
Still here? OK, then let’s talk that ending.
Avengers: Infinity War ended with half the population of the world dissolving to ash, after Thanos kills a fair chunk of the MCU in battle. That said, as sad as it is, we all know it’s not going to end on that note, not least because there’s an Avengers 4 coming about a year from this writing. With Guardians of the Galaxy 3 coming 2020, and the untitled Spider-Man movie coming in 2019, and Black Panther is still in the box office top ten after coming out in mid-February, it’s safe to assume most of those who died won’t stay dead.
But surprisingly, for the first time in a while, the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is nebulous. We’ve yet to learn what it’s up to beyond 2020, with a franchise that’s usually riling up fans with movies announced years ahead of time. And while it’s certainly not going anywhere, it may be a matter of figuring out what direction to head in.
The most basic creative problem is the Avengers probably need to retire. What greater threat can they face than a villain who wants to kill half the universe and actually pulls it off? After they save half the universe, it’s tough to see where the franchise goes from there, and it’s also facing a lack of Avengers. Chris Evans has said he’s finished with Cap after Avengers 4, and other members of the cast have implied that they’re done as well, although nothing as concrete as Evans. The Avengers might die so the rest of the universe can live.
Even as Avengers movies have set a path for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they’ve also held it back, to some degree, simply because there are so many plots to juggle. Avengers: Infinity War ties into plotlines that started in several other movies, including Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, and Thor: Ragnarok. For the first Avengers, it worked, in part because it was all designed to lead up to that movie. But since then, it hasn’t quite fit with Marvel’s approach of hiring a talented filmmaker and giving them a degree of freedom to put their own stamp on it, an approach fans increasingly seem to prefer.
And that might be why we don’t know quite where all of this will land, beyond the almost certain salvation of a few of our heroes, because Marvel doesn’t know yet. It might be that instead of solo movies leading to big team-ups, it truly becomes a shared universe, with more buddy comedies like Thor: Ragnarok and mentor-protege relationships like in Spider-Man: Homecoming, when appropriate, or more of the heroes on their own, with a few light nods, like in Black Panther. Either way, Thanos won’t be the end of the Marvel universe, and it’ll be fascinating to see where it goes next.