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Hard-core comic book nerds were melting down on social media yesterday because Marvel threw a massive press event where they unveiled their Phase 3 slate. In just one hour, Marvel revealed massive spoilers for their next 11 films, introduced a new superhero, and affirmed that they are in fact committed to making the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or MCU) a diverse and inclusive place.
How did they do all that? Simply, by announcing this:
- May 1, 2015: The Avengers: Age Of Ultron
- July 15, 2015: Ant-Man
- May 6, 2016: Captain America: Civil War
- November 4, 2016: Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch was NOT confirmed for the title role)
- May 5, 2017: Guardians of the Galaxy 2
- July 28, 2017: Thor: Ragnarok (Tom Hiddleston will return as Loki)
- November 3, 2017: Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman was confirmed for the title role)
- May 4, 2018: Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1
- July 6, 2018: Captain Marvel (No actress was announced, but it was confirmed that Captain Marvel’s alter ego is Carol Danvers)
- November 2, 2018: The Inhumans
- May 3, 2019: Avengers: Infinity War, Part 2
Wait. I don’t know what all this means. Why are nerds FREAKING OUT right now?
Are you sure you want to know?
**MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT. WHAT FOLLOWS IS BASICALLY A RUN-DOWN OF SOME BIG, SPOILERY EVENTS THAT TAKE PLACE IN THE COMICS, AND A HEALTHY DOSE OF NERD CONJECTURE. READING THE REST OF THIS POST MAY OR MAY NOT RUIN THE NEXT 11 MARVEL MOVIES FOR YOU**
YES. TELL ME!
It means that a lot of stuff is about to change. Your favorite heroes may die and new villains are about to rise up. Oh, and by the time Avengers: Infinity War rolls around, we may be looking at a completely new Avengers line-up. Instead of Iron Man, Captain America (as played by Chris Evans), Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, there’s a good chance we’ll be watching Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Captain America (as played by Sebastian “Winter Soldier” Stan), Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel take on Thanos.
How did you—what? Where are you getting all this from?
…from the comics. Most of the movie titles that Marvel announced correlate to existing comic book stories. So, if Marvel sticks to the comics, well…oof.
Why “oof?” Wait, did you say that Chris Evans might not be Captain America anymore?
Yeah, about that… Captain America 3 is going to follow the Civil War comic book arc. That storyline saw our favorite heroes fighting each other over whether or not superheroes should report to the government and be monitored, or if they should be allowed to maintain private lives and secret identities.
Now, there aren’t secret identities in the MCU right now, but there is friction now between the government and our heroes. In Civil War, the two split sides were led respectively by Iron Man and Captain America. Iron Man, as we’ve seen, is fine with working with the government, provided he gets paid. Captain America, though, was last seen questioning the government’s warmongering and intrusion of privacy. Obviously, these two are being set up to butt heads. It will be Captain America versus Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War, and our favorite heroes will pick sides.
Yeah, but why “oof?”
Because, in the comic books, Steve Rogers is killed at the end of Civil War.
But that’s just in the comics! Marvel might do something different in the movies!
Right, but Chris Evans only signed a contract for six films. And Captain America: Civil War is his sixth credited film. Sebastian Stan, whose character takes over as Captain America in the comics, is signed on for nine films and has only been in two so far.
OOF.
Uh-huh.
So, that’s why Chris Evans probably won’t be in the third and fourth Avengers movies, but why would they change the whole line-up?
It has to do with the villain they will be facing in Avengers: Infinity War, Parts 1 & 2.
Explain.
It’s Thanos.
Who’s Thanos?
You’ve met Thanos.
No, I haven’t.
If you’ve ever watched The Avengers all the way to the end, you discover that some scary guy sitting on a throne in the middle of space was the real big bad guy. That same big bad guy was played by Josh Brolin in Guardians of the Galaxy. That’s Thanos.
He looks scary. Why is everyone afraid of him?
He’s practically a god, but what’s really dangerous about him is the Infinity Gauntlet. It’s this fancy glove that can harness the Infinity Stones, which are crazy powerful cosmic gems that can alter reality. We’ve seen a few of these in the films. There’s the Tesseract in Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers. There was that Aether that almost killed Natalie Portman in Thor: The Dark World. The Guardians of the Galaxy held hands and contained that purple one.
Okay. He’s got a fancy glove with fancy rocks.
Yeah, but he’s pretty much unstoppable with it.
Who can stop him? The Avengers?!?!?
Not the ones right now. They are far too human. We’re going to need superheroes with the crazy cosmic powers to beat down Thanos.
Like who could do that?
Well, Avengers: Age of Ultron is going to introduce two new characters named Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). They have special powers that go beyond wearing a tricked out suit or being injected with a super soldier serum. She can kind of alter reality and he can run really fast, or if you’re fancy, bend time and space.
Doctor Strange, whom we know we’ll meet in 2016, is the Sorcerer Supreme and actually can cast spells and face down foes from alternate dimensions. Black Panther, who we know will be played by Chadwick Boseman (who was most recently seen hobnobbing with Chris Evans and Robert Downey, Jr.), has superhuman senses and wears an entire costume made out of the indestructible metal that Captain America’s shield is made of. Captain Marvel, who is also known as Carol Danvers, is a kick butt military officer who comes in contact with a cosmic force and essentially becomes super strong, fast, and gets the ability to fly.
And then there are Inhumans. Don’t even get me started on the Inhumans…
Who are they?
They are super humans who walk through these mists and the mists activate powers in their DNA… Look, the important this is we’re going to be meeting more and more people with much-needed crazy cosmic powers, and less and less characters who are simply good at archery. I mean, I love Hawkeye, but come on…
I still have so many questions! What’s a Thor: Ragnorak? That sounds silly!
Ragnorak is the Norse end of days. It’s basically the end of Thor and Loki’s world. Traditionally, everyone dies. Thor might die. Loki might die. All the Asgardians might die. Or they might not. We’ll see…
Why isn’t there a Black Widow movie?
Because of the patriarchy.
Ugh. Really?
Sort of. There’s still a sexist notion that people don’t want to see women as the leads of action films. We’re getting a Captain Marvel movie, though.
Why?
Because one, there’s been outcry from the fans for a female-led superhero film, and two, unlike Black Widow, Captain Marvel’s cosmic powers fit into the bigger fight against Thanos.
Any more questions?
Yeah! What about Ant-Man?
Eh. Don’t worry too much about Ant-Man. It’ll be a fun action movie starring Paul Rudd as a guy who can shrink to the size of a bug. In the meantime, check out this cool fan footage from the event — including a teaser for The Infinity War.
[youtube https://youtu.be/X8lUCbRi6QQ?t=10m45s]Like what you see? Follow Decider on Facebook and Twitter to join the conversation, and sign up for our email newsletters to be the first to know about streaming movies and TV news!
[Photos: Everett Collection and Twitter]
