It's an extremely exciting time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 10 years and 18 films led up to Avengers: Infinity War, which brought all of the shared universe's characters together for an epic battle against Thanos. The MCU as we knew it ended with a snap of Thanos' finger, with the franchise's future very much up in the air. Avengers 4 will complete Phase Three, with many of the universe's stars coming to the end of their contracts in the process. But does this mean the end of the Avengers franchise? Disney CEO Bob Iger recently addressed this concern, saying:
We meet on a regular basis with our Marvel team, and we've plotted out Marvel movies that will take us well into the next decade. I'm guessing we will try our hand at what I'll call a new franchise beyond Avengers, but that doesn't necessarily mean you won't see more Avengers down the road. We just haven't made any announcements about that.
While it seems the the overall format of the Marvel Cinematic Universe may be making some changes in the wake of Avengers 4, that doesn't mean that we won't see Earth's mightiest heroes unite to defend the planet once again. The first three phases of the MCU were bookmarked with Avengers movies, so it should be interesting to see if they end up becoming more sporadic installments in the shared universe moving forward.
Bob Iger's comments to THR are sure to excite the OG Marvels fans out there who aren't ready to say goodbye to the Avengers franchise. These massive blockbusters seemed like an impossibility a decade ago, and they each serve as major payoffs for the moviegoers who have shelled out money to see every installment in the MCU. Infinity War has done this famously, bringing together almost every single major player from the past 18 movies.
During his same conversation about the future of the Avengers franchise, Bob Iger also cited the films' massive box office appeal as a reason why it's probably not going to end after Avengers 4. He said,
Given the popularity of the characters and given the popularity of the franchise, I don't think people should conclude there will never be another Avengers movie.
The man has a point. Avengers: Infinity War has been cleaning up at the box office, making it to the $1 billion mark in record time. The blockbuster made more than Justice League's entire run in just one weekend, so Disney and Marvel would be remiss to completely abandon the property altogether. But it's clear that the MCU is going change things up in the future, which is a great way to keep the fandom invested after a decade of movies.
Avengers: Infinity War is in theaters now, and the next installment in the MCU is Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6, 2018. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
