Well, we knew this was coming. The papers haven’t even completely rested on the ground from DC’s big movie release news a couple of weeks ago and Marvel sends the comic book nerdsphere into another hurricane. Announcing movies for new and familiar characters all the way through 2019, you know the crew had some thoughts about that.
It didn’t take long for Marvel Studios to overshadow the momentum that DC had built up after announcing their films for the next six years. Previously, Marvel had only revealed a handful of dates with no titles. Now? They put all of their cards on the table and announced their entire Phase 3 line-up, which includes a long line of films to keep fans busy for a while, then gave everyone the “now what?” smirk. Culminating at the end of Phase 3, we’ll have the two-part Avengers: Infinity Wars, expected for May 2018 and May 2019 releases.
This comes as a confirmation that the Marvel films are going in the direction we were all pretty sure they would–the introduction of the Infinity Gauntlet. The Infinity Gems, crystals that individually are pretty badass and make the possessor the same, have appeared in films like”The Avengers,” “Thor: The Dark World” and most recently “Guardians of the Galaxy.” When these are all placed together on a golden glove they make the possessor *cough* Thanos *cough* something between a demi-god and the unmatched ruler of the universe.
Given that this is still five years in the making, there are plenty of directions that Marvel could go with and any one of the films could completely change the route. But no matter what twists and turns we come across there are some things that you can’t leave out of the story–no matter how bad we want it to happen, Spider-man isn’t one of them.
Firstly–sorry if this comes off as morbid– we need to meet Death. For those unfamiliar with the Infinity Gauntlet storyline, the main reason Thanos *spoiler* kills half of the living creatures in the universe, as well as some other pretty awesome, evil things, was to win the affection of Death. Although this Tim Burton-esque romance didn’t go as Thanos may have planned, *spoiler* we still need a justified reason as to why Thanos is even doing this in the first place. Love is always a good excuse.
Secondly, you can’t even begin to touch this story without including Adam Warlock, or someone that can fill his role *looks at Doctor Strange*. Warlock was the closest thing to an expert on fighting against the Infinity Gauntlet and was the mastermind behind the cosmic battle that almost destroyed the galaxy. If Marvel Studios can’t find a way to fit Warlock into the storyline in these next five years they can definitely make Doctor Strange “the guy that teaches everyone about mystical stuff” and serve the same purpose.
Lastly, we need some kind of closure here, people. I love living in the golden age of superhero films probably way more than the next guy. But whispers of “Infinity Wars” being the end of the Avengers storyline have people worried. By 2018/19 it’s safe to say that the circa-2012 core group of Avengers will be obsolete and a couple key figures will have been replaced. By the end of the second “Infinity Wars” film I expect we’ll either have a completely new batch of Avengers to grow with or we’ll see the end of an era.
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