WARNING: THE POST BELOW IS ENTIRELY SPECULATIVE AND IS NOT BASED ON ANY KNOWN FACTS OR PLOTLINES REGARDING THE FILMS IN THIS PHASE OF THE MCU. HOWEVER, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR EVENTS IN AGE OF ULTRON AND MANY OTHER MCU FILMS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED...
Well, with Age of Ultron out and making mountains of money and Ant-Man on the horizon, it's safe to say that Phase II of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is complete. While it did not contain the best Marvel movies, it was certainly a roller coaster ride of both joy and misery, which included the absolute character botching of one of Iron Man's greatest villains, a very dreary and unlikable Dark World, the revelation of Hydra's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D., the odd yet epic team known only as the Guardians, and how Tony Stark almost brought doom upon the people of Earth again.
Phase III seems fully prepared to bring about two of the greatest stories in Marvel Comics history to the big screen: Civil War and the Infinity War with Thanos and the gauntlet. It will include an assortment of disastrous scenarios that can play out for many of the Avengers, along with adding almost an entirely new team to the group of superheros added to the MCU, including Dr. Strange, Captain Marvel, Spider Man, and Black Panther. We may very well see many of our beloved heroes lose their lives and die in battle, some may not even make it to the final battle (more on that later).
In this post, I will be looking closely at some of the most important films in this lineup, along with some character studies and potential events to happen within Phase III (I'm looking at them solely as films and not as the comics), and what might happen in order to make the MCU once again leaps and bounds ahead of DC (which while it may need to step up their movie game, they better not botch a run at the Justice League). This is an in depth look at a few of the most important films coming in for the MCU...
1. Captain America: Civil War
This is one of the darkest, most controversial comics in the history of Marvel. The central conflict in the comics, from what I've gathered, is a registration act for the superheros that have lost control of the many situations and have caused major damage to the public and civilians. It pitted the two leaders of the Avengers against one another (Tony Stark and Steve Rogers), and ended with a grim reminder of not only how much power and control corrupts people, but how there is nothing in the world that can be directly placed in the black or in the white. It resulted in many famous moments, such as Spider Man unmasking himself in public and Captain America getting gunned down while on his way to prison.
This movie version is going to be very interesting. I don't see a registration act being the problem for the rise of Civil War, but more of a control problem. What I mean, is that the film will likely tackle directly either a disastrous event caused or further enhanced by the Avengers during the film itself (such as a major civilian casualty list or someone major dying), or directly based off of the events of Age of Ultron. The public will likely be growing sick and tired of the Avengers and their disastrous attempts to keep peace and the consequences of all of their actions (Hulk running amok in Africa, Stark creating Ultron, Romanov's dark past, Thor's inaction towards the creatures running amok during the actions of The Dark World, etc.) and may want the government to control these "god like" characters. Stark, fearing that his actions will still cause the destruction of the Earth (thanks to Scarlet Witch's powers), will likely agree to it and be the driving force for this, while Captain America (sick of the covert government actions in The Winter Soldier), will oppose it along with many of his allies (likely Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Falcon).
A rumor floating around points to Bucky Barnes (AKA The Winter Soldier) being linked to a major event in the history of the MCU (such as the assassination of Howard Stark) which could further dampen the mood between Tony and Steve. Tony would likely want revenge on Barnes for his father's death, while Steve would want to protect his friend and save him from all of Hydra's plans.
Speaking of Hydra, considering this is a Captain America film, it will likely bring Hydra back for one final go around. But with Red Skull MIA and Baron Von Strucker dead thanks to Ultron, this likely brings the main villain role in this film down to the infamous Baron Zemo, who alongside Thanos, Ultron, Magneto, the Green Goblin, and Loki are some of Marvel's biggest villains. Zemo is likely the one pulling strings in many of the events of this film and could likely be the driving force behind many dark events leading up to Infinity War.
The conflict surrounding these characters will likely bring many new superheros into the mix. Instead of giving every new character in the MCU an origin story (like how Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Hulk got), these new characters will get standalone movies, but not origin stories (Vision and the Maximoffs did not get origin stories, so I guess it's okay). The heroes most likely coming are Black Panther, Dr. Strange, and Spider Man (though Spidey might have to wait and may actually be the one who gets an origin story.). There are many ways in which these characters can get their intros (one idea stems from Tony Stark wanting to keep the vibranium supply in Wakanda from falling into enemy hands and causing him to come into conflict with Black Panther). The film will also have to keep building the characters of Scarlet Witch and Vision, who I believe had a romance between them.
But this leads into the biggest question the film will bring up: will Steve Rogers die in this film? Are either Anthony Mackie or Sebastian Stan being set up to take on the role of Captain America? It's a very likely scenario, as Chris Evans' contract wears off earlier than any of his other MCU acting friends (Downey, Ruffalo, and Hemsworth have at least three more films), and he has shown very little interest in continuing past his contract's expiration (a la Harrison Ford in Return of the Jedi). But will Marvel kill off one of it's faces? Some doubt it, but I think eventually, Sebastian Stan (Bucky), will take up the role and be the new Captain. This could lead to more conflict with Tony Stark, but I think they'll patch things up by the time.
2. Spider Man
While I am indeed excited that Spider Man will be joining the MCU with his own movie and role in the Infinity War, I will not deny I am hesitant to be overjoyed at this. After the debacle of SpiderMan 3 and the equally bad Amazing Spider Man 2, I think people are starting to get a little tired of seeing the same origin story for Peter Parker keep coming up again and again. I'm all for them just jumping into Spider Man, but I do think he at least needs some set up as a character, be it in Civil War or his own film. But will they lean more towards the comic book, or the more recent movies? Will he be with Gwen Stacy or MJ? Will Norman Osborn be introduced as a potential super villain again? Will they set up classic villains like Doc Ock, Venom, or the Sandman, or will they bring forth newer villains? This is the only one that can be really speculative in it's inception, as Marvel has only recently acquired the rights to portray Spider Man in their films (while they wait patiently for X Men Apocalypse to end the X Men saga and for the next Fantastic Four film to bomb). But I do think that Spider Man will have a much bigger role in the MCU than other heroes, such as the Guardians of the Galaxy. Speaking of which...
3. Guardians of the Galaxy 2
The sequel to the original Guardians of the Galaxy film will likely be one of the two biggest films setting up Infinity War in this Phase, but this film will likely set up the battle ground for both the Avengers and the Guardians to rise together to team up against Thanos. It's most likely that Thanos will be the main villain in this film, as they have set him up in both Avengers films and Guardians. With four of the six infinity stones already found, it is likely that one will be found in this film to make the total five. While I cannot say exactly what the plot will be, I;m thinking this will most certainly be a direct line to Infinity War. But one of the fan theories I will buy into for this film is the fact that Mark Ruffalo (Hulk) could appear in this film as a potential ally/adversary to the team as they try to keep the galaxy safe from the forces of evil. I like that, because Mark Ruffalo has an enormous slate of films left on his contract, so he will likely be in many more films to come. This is one I think he'd appear in likely prior to Infinity War.
4. Thor: Ragnarok
This is likely going to be the biggest connection piece to Infinity War. With Thor not appearing in Civil War, it is likely that he will be a driving force in setting up the Avengers next meeting. The plot of this film is foreshadowed in Age of Ultron, when Scarlet Witch warps Thor's mind into seeing that he will likely lead Asgard to ruin and brought to Thor's attention the number of Infinity Stones found in the last several years (the Tesseract, the Aether, etc.) and has brought him back to Asgard. It is at this time that he will find out that Loki is alive and has taken over his kingdom and will likely learn that Odin has died during his time on Earth. This will bring the two brother's war to full drive, and could bring about an apocalypse the Nine Realms cannot contain.
The first major question for this film is who the villain will be. There are two paths that Kenneth Branagh can take for his film: the first is to take the literal comic line of Ragnarok, which had a major war brew between Asgard and the Fire Giant, Surtur, who's conflict ultimately caused the destruction and subsequent rebirth of Asgard and all of the other Nine Realms.
But the one I think is most likely to happen is that Thanos will be the main villain of this film. With Thor already suspicious of the emergence of the Infinity Stones, it would come as a surprise to me if he did not have an interaction with Thanos prior to Infinity War. This could also set up Thanos coming to claim his revenge on Loki for his failed attempt to bring him the Tesseract and the massive failure of the invasion of Earth with his Chitauri army. I do seem to remember the Other warning Loki that his failure would result in his demise...
One other question for Thor is his love life. It is unknown if Natalie Portman will return for a third movie, considering her lukewarm reception from The Dark World. It's also unlikely, because most of the plot will likely happen in Asgard and may not involve Jane at all. Plus, with Jane Foster's character wrapped up in her studies, it did not seem at all that she and Thor were on the best of terms in Age of Ultron. This could open the door to Sif, who is probably Thor's best compatible option. But that will lead me to my biggest point...
And that is being will Thor and all of Asgard actually follow the scripted role that the comics and Norse Mythology have for the epic end of all things that Ragnarok promises? It is unlikely that if Thor dies, it will be for good. Not only was Thor a major player in the Infinity War crisis, but Chris Hemsworth has two more films (Both Infinity Wars films) on his contract, so it is unlikely that he would give up early on that contract, since he has both been praised and loved by fans as Thor. But in all likely hood, Sif, the Warriors Three, and Loki could very well die in the film. Although they'll be reborn in the film, I think Thor will be left out of the whole "death of Asgard" thing. Since Ragnarok is coming out a few months prior to Infinity War part I, he may be forced to come down to Earth following the devastation Thanos brings to Asgard.
5. Black Panther
Not many of the superheros being introduced have much buildup before Phase III, but some of Black Panther's storyline was built up during Age of Ultron and another fair amount should be built up leading into Civil War. The buildup began with the introduction to one of Black Panther's most infamous villains, Ulysses Klaue, who had been the one stealing vibranium in Wakanda and ultimately sold it to Ultron for his world destroying plan. Klaue loses his arm after comparing Ultron to Tony Stark and is likely still hunting more vibranium to help build the mechanical arm he had in the comics. With all of that vibranium up for grabs in Wakanda, it is likely that outside parties will seek to utilize the Black Panther's resources for their own purposes (Baron Zemo in Civil War) but especially Klaue, who will almost certainly be seeking more following his shrewd deal with Ultron.
Panther will likely have a small Vision-sized role in Civil War, only to be expanded upon in his own film. It is currently unknown how major a role he will have in the Infinity War, I want him to be awesome, as I have started to appreciate his comic role a bit more with each issue I read...
6. The Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 and 2
And finally, we come to Infinity War. Everything that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building up to since Iron Man burst onto the screen in 2008 is finally coming...in two parts...in 2018...and 2019. The ultimate battle of the forces of good (The Avengers, Ant Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, etc.) vs Thanos and his Chitauri army. There are a few things that interest me right off the bat. In order for Thanos to fully assemble the Infinity Gauntlet, he will require all of the Infinity Stones. This will include him getting his hands on those in Asgard, but more importantly, the Mind Stone within the head of Vision. There are two big things that worry me about that fact: one is the fact that no matter what happens, Vision is doomed to fall at the hands of Thanos, which is sad because I actually really liked Paul Bettany as Vision. The second thing, which is even scarier from a fan standpoint (but an awesome thing to think of as a fan of the MCU) is that if the Mind Gem is removed from Vision's head, this could potentially revive Ultron, considering the Vision is technically a part of Ultron and that most of his consciousness was uploaded into the body. Anything to bring back the awesome villains in the MCU...I will be happy.
But in order for Infinity War to truly happen, the conflicts in Civil War and Ragnarok have to be completely resolved in order for the Avengers to truly come together to battle Thanos. I cannot see Steve and Tony overcoming their differences and becoming friends after what happens in Civil War, that is if Rogers even survives. Thor may be the one who rallies them together, as not only can he tell them of Thanos's schemes, but his actions also stopped Tony and Steve from killing each other during Age of Ultron. He too, will likely change through the actions of Thanos and Loki in Ragnarok, potentially thinking of himself as the last Asgardian and out for blood against he who wiped out his species.
Exactly who will be in this epic war has yet to be determined. Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, the Guardians, Black Panther, and perhaps a few others are likely, but some of the older actors, like Evans and Renner, along with Scarlet Johansson, could perhaps sit out the war, not having the kind of power to fight alongside the others, although they do play key roles in the fight.
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