Thoughts on Where the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Heading
SPOILERS FOR THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE
So, we’re not getting an Iron Man 4. However, we are going to see Robert Downy Jr. reprise his role as Iron Man/Tony Stark in Captain America 3. And with that announcemnet, the interwebz goes nuts over speculation that we’re going to get the MCU version of the Civil War story line, specially with the news that Marvel and Sony are trying to come to an agreement to bring Spiderman into the Marvel film lines. That’s a big deal, because currently, Marvel doesn’t have the film rights to the Spiderman character. And all this comes on the back of the announcement that it looks like Avengers 3 will now become Avengers 3 and 4.
So… with all this… where does that leave the Infinite Gauntlet story line we’ve set up in pretty much every Marvel movie with the possible exception of Captain America 2?
For those of you unfamiliar, here are the story lines in a nutshell: CIVIL WAR: Captain America and Iron Man each lead a group of super heroes on opposing sides of the government requiring super-powered humans to register with the government. INFINITY GAUNTLET: The mad titan Thanos, gets his hands on all six of the Infinity Gems (We’ve seen four) and puts them together in the Infinity Gauntlet (which we saw for like two seconds in Thor), giving him power over pretty much all of existence. The heroes of the MCU have to come together and stop him.
These were two major stories that crossed over almost every comic title Marvel had going when they ran each of them. I remember how giddy I got when I saw Thanos at the end of Avengers 1. I got even more giddy at the end of Thor: The Dark World when they eluded to the infinity gems and not wanting to keep them any two in one place. Then my younger comic nerd nearly jumped up screaming when Guardians of the Galaxy actually confirmed calling them the infinity stones.
Then I heard about Robert Downy Jr. and Captain America 3 and Civil War…and I thought…but….but…my Infinite Gauntlet story…Nerd rage level rising!!!!! See, I was still heavy into comics when Marvel ran the Infinity Gauntlet story. I’d gotten out of comics when Civil War came along. I know conceptually how powerful the Civil War story will play out, especially with the caliber of actors and writers involved in the MCU…BUT…BUT… it doesn’t hold the same level of geeky nostalgia as my precious Infinite Gauntlet.
Nerd rage continued to rise… further… further… and I almost went on the blogging warpath, much like I did when I heard about Batfleck. Luckily, I’m not feeling well, and it’s stunted my motivation to rant, and so I took the evening to breath and chill the hell out for a bit. It also helps that I have a HUGE rant in the works over something going on in my personal writing world that’s got me going, but that’s another post. Anyway, after taking the night to sleep on it, I have come to a conclusion about all this news and it’s affect on where the MCU is going, specifically in regards to my precious (read that in the voice of Gollum) Infinite Gauntlet.
It doesn’t affect it at all. Not a bit. In fact, I think it will improve things. Especially with the rise of another, potentially even more awesome group of superheroes in the MCU… Looking at you Guardians of the Galaxy.
At the end of Avengers 1, we have the whole team working together. They’ve learned that while they have their difference, they can set those aside for the greater good of humanity. I’m pretty sure, we’ll get even more of that with Age of Ultron. This leaves us with the problem of them being too cohesive when they have to take on Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet. Yeah, they will have their work cut out for them fighting against someone who is pretty much omnipotent, but the story will be that much more compelling if they also have to overcome some inner turmoil and conflict as well. In Avengers 1, the biggest tension is between Captain America and Iron Man. Now, how much more tension will we see if the whole group, with a much bigger roster, has to choose where to stand on the line drawn between the two big personalities of the team. Because then, they don’t have to worry just about getting the Infinite Gauntlet away from Thanos, but they also have to worry about who else on the team might happen to pick it up. Do we really want to think about Robert Downy Jr’s Tony Stark becoming omnipotent?
I see the Marvel movies set on earth in “Phase Three” (Ant Man, Captain America), heading toward the Civil War story line, and I expect it to be ZOMG EPICZ!!! But where does that leave my precious (again, read that in the voice of Gollum) Infinity Gauntlet story? I think it’s in good hands with Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and possibly Thor 3 and Doctor Strange. With the rumors of Avengers 3 being split into two movies, we’ll probably see the culmination of Civil War in Avengers 3 and then in Avengers 4, where we get all the major, and most of the minor players in the MCU, grouping up for the final showdown with Thanos.
Anyway, that’s my fan theory based on the information that we have now. I’m very excited to see where they are going with everything, because it’s very obvious that Marvel cares about telling great stories in each movie AND over the long game as we’ve seen building up over their whole universe. What do you guys think. Are you excited, or concerned about what you’ve seen in the media?
Oh, yeah, and I say we give the Infinity Gauntlet to Phil Coulson.
