Avengers: Endgame brought an end to a massive chapter of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, giving a proper send-off to the original MCU heroes such as Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man and Chris Evans' Captain America. The hit 2019 blockbuster capped off the first three phases of storytelling of the MCU which was later dubbed as the Infinity Saga.
As the successful superhero franchise enters a new chapter, the state of the Avengers is still unknown after the departures of its mainstays. WandaVision gave a sneak peek at the in-universe state of the MCU, showcasing the fact that everyone appears to be familiar with who Thanos really is and a select few know about the final battle of Endgame.
Spider-Man: Far From Home showed that everyone who fought Thanos and his army in the Avengers HQ was acknowledged, but it wasn't until The Falcon and the Winter Soldier when certain issues in the post-Blip MCU were addressed. While the star-spangled series didn't explain the true whereabouts of Steve Rogers, it managed to show the ramifications of the Blip from a political standpoint.
The Avengers weren't mentioned in the Disney+ series, but this further hints that Earth's Mightiest are nowhere to be found. The first trailer of Eternals even acknowledged that the famed superhero team currently has no leader, and this could also mean that there is no core team.
Now, the head of Marvel Studios has shed some light on this intriguing subject.
KEVIN FEIGE TEASES AVENGERS' CURRENT STATE
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige sat down with CinemaBlend to talk about the current and future state of the Avengers.
Feige first acknowledged that it was a great question, teasing that it would be addressed soon:
"That is a great question. And I think you will see that question addressed, and people struggling with that very question, within the MCU right now."
Feige then continued by laying out the questions lingering in the background such as the next leader of the team and its financier as well as the tease that these queries would be "lingering in the background" for a while:
"I think post-Endgame and with Tony being off the board and Steve Rogers being off the board -- Sam Wilson is a new Cap, of course. But what does it mean to be an Avenger? And is there a core team? And who's leading it, and who's financing it? That is very much an undercurrent that will, while not at the forefront of many of the current movies, is certainly a question that is lingering in the background."
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE AVENGERS?
Feige previously shared that Marvel Studios "want[s] there to be a reasonable amount of time" between what fans witnessed in Avengers: Endgame and a potential Avengers 5 down the line. Now, Feige's latest comments have solidified his reasoning by laying out the crucial questions that will be addressed throughout Phase 4.
Still, it's a safe bet that another Avengers film will be released in the future, especially after the franchise's success at the box office.
During the Infinity Saga, Marvel Studios didn't rush to release every Avengers film. In Phase 1, it took five movies before 2012's Avengers was released while it took four films before Avengers: Age of Ultron. It was a whole different ballgame in Phase 3 since it had two Avengers films in the lineup, meaning that the projects required a careful amount of setup due to their interconnected nature.
This goes to show that the franchise needs a proper setup before unleashing the team-up of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The same is true for Phase 4 because the MCU is back to square one when it comes to reintroducing the concept of avenging.
Given that the MCU is in the age of transition due to the emergence of new heroes and powerful threats, many would agree that it's good for the franchise to take a step back and focus on individual projects like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Films like Shang-Chi and Eternals are set to introduce fresh faces, but they also have the potential to introduce concepts that could change the landscape of the MCU like never before. Meanwhile, projects like Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man: No Way Home are poised to update fans with the lives of familiar faces while also setting the stage for the heroes' return in a future team-up in the future.
From a potential showdown with Kang the Conqueror to a faceoff with Contessa Valentina's Thunderbolts (or the Dark Avengers), there are many story possibilities that the next Avengers film will likely dive into when the time comes.
For now, it's safe to say that the focus of the studio is establishing the new MCU characters while pushing the previous heroes to the forefront in their own respective adventures.
The Infinity Saga is streaming now on Disney+.
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